The decision to pursue a higher education degree is commendable, but you may be wondering how to manage teaching while pursuing an educational leadership degree. Going to school at the same time you are working can be challenging. This is especially true when you are working at a job that has fairly traditional working hours. When you have strong time-management skills and a true desire to learn, then you will have an easier time managing this task.
Choose Non-Traditional Education Programs
Taking classes during the morning and afternoon hours is not going to work with your schedule as a teacher. Instead, you should look into some non-traditional educational leadership degree programs. Obtaining your degree online will give you the chance to pursue the program when you are not teaching (please see: 15 Most Affordable Online Master’s in Educational Leadership Degree Programs). Also, many on-campus educational graduate degree programs take place in the late afternoon and evening hours because schools realize that students are working.
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Plan out Your Schedule
Even if planning ahead was not really your favorite thing to do in the past, you’re going to have to set the time aside to do so now. Purchase a planner or use a smart phone calendar to record all of the times you need to be somewhere. Then, you should also record when all of your assignments are due. For the classes that you teach, give yourself deadlines. For example, you can say that you want to ensure all of Monday’s prep work is done by the Thursday before. As a result of this type of planning, you won’t find yourself trying to put things together at the last minute. You will always have a guide to let you know what to do next.
Prepare Work Ahead of Time
Procrastination is going to be your greatest enemy when you are trying to balance a teaching job with the pursuit of your educational leadership degree. Do not leave any work for the last minute. As long as you are following your schedule, you should be able to finish with everything on time. You need to allow yourself some time to enjoy life, but you also do not want to fall behind with your work. Do not compromise your job for your schoolwork or your schoolwork for your job. A balance must be maintained.
Give Yourself a Break
Teaching classes is absolutely a lot of work, and so is going to school for a degree in educational leadership. Try to work the situation so that you are putting minimal pressure on yourself. For example, take classes toward your degree when you are off from teaching in the summer. Make your classwork work for you by tailoring your graduate projects to your actual everyday job. Remember that also during the school year, you need to leave yourself time to relax. As long as you are staying with the schedule, you can plan out fun activities to do over the weekend and on breaks from school. Having some time to just do things that you love will really help you to recharge.
When you are working toward a degree in educational leadership and teaching your own class at the same time, you can feel a great deal of pressure. Fortunately, by following these tips for how to manage teaching while pursuing an educational leadership degree, both of these areas of your life can be successful.