Saying no to extra duties

[nsl]

This was my first full year at my current school (I was hired mid-year after we moved across the country in summer 2015), and I wound up saying yes to WAY too many extra duties that earned me brownie points with my administrators, but drained my dry emotionally.  Class sponsor, regular chaperone, special guest star in the school musical, etc...  It was too much.  I'm sticking with my sponsorship next year, but vowed to say no to everything else for the sake of my sanity next year.

Well, I was just asked to be a PLC chair for my main prep.  It's a job I did for many years at my last school, but expectations for the position are different at my current campus, and there's A: no stipend, B: a lot of pressure as this PLC is part of the School Improvement Plan, and C: some pretty ridiculous paperwork involved.  The part of me that says yes to everything wants to agree to do it, but another part is looking at my long-term career goals and realizing that at this point I don't need to pad my resume with this sort of title. 

I'm going to talk to my department chair in the morning about my concerns, but thought that this was an interesting question to pose to this new board as well:  to what extent do you feel pressured or called upon to perform extra duties, and how do you balance them with your primary job duties?

[thejackpot]

I try to align my extra responsibilities with my overall professional goals. When I was class sponsor, I only sponsored one additional club because it was something I was passionate about. I try to look at what I will gain from an experience and if I have done anything like it before. If I have done it before and feel that I learned all I needed to learn, I don't repeat it. If I have never done it but I don't see it as something I am interested in or I will grow professionally then I pass. I think you respected for having boundaries.

[imimahoney]

Besides our contractual duties (which we are paid for), all other positions are voluntary. My principal will often call for volunteers for committees and once and awhile I will offer up my time.

I only join things that I think are worth it. Whether it's part of our scheduling committee or the group prepping for our accreditation visit, I only participate if I feel like my voice is needed/will be taken seriously.

My time is valuable (small kids, husband works a lot) so I won't just join anything.

I do have colleagues who do anything if they are asked but they often regret that decision and resent the extra work.

I find that I am much happier as a teacher when I am not spread too thin.

[cabbage10]

PLC leader is one of the few additional responsibilities that I feel is truly worthwhile. We have never had a stipend for ours but I love having an idea of what the big picture is at school at the leader usually gets that information before the others, especially if it's part of the SIP. But if you are already over involved I would not feel bad passing it on.

I made the mistake 2 years ago of being PLC leader, mentor for 2 new teachers, had a student teacher and served on the SIT and found I just did not do any of the jobs to the best of my ability. I passed along a few of them to my other colleagues who were looking for extra leadership and explained to my admin my reasoning. They were respectful of my decision. I hope,your experience is similar

[bethaboo]

This was the first year that I really tried to only do the things that I found professionally fulfilling or that pushed me towards my future goals. For me, being a PLC leader would check both of those boxes but if they don't for you, I think it's acceptable to come up with some version of "thank you for thinking of me but at this time I prefer to focus on xyz."

[flamingeaux]

Could you explain that to take on the job would spread you to thin, but that you would be happy to share your experiences with the new PLC if they need some guidance?

[nellgirl]

I hear you. I feel bad saying no, especially because saying no at my school often means that whatever I'm saying no to simply won't happen since we're a small school. I feel bad saying no and then the kids don't get to have a basketball team or track or whatever. Others seem to have no problem saying no, but community is one of the things that I love most about our school, and these are all community fostering things.
My compromise is that my work bff and I have decided to sign up as a team. The advantage is that we can rely on one another.
It's a lot, though. I have a young toddler at home who also needs her mama!

[cherryvalance]

We are in a murky area with this right now. I'm in NJ, with a strong union, and we take contractual obligations vs. unpaid (precedent-setting) work seriously. However, since we started our new evaluation system, a whole host of committees and volunteer work have cropped up and people want to join because they think it will help their overall score. Everything else like class advisor, etc are stipend positions.

Our plan is that union leadership takes part in each committee to police contract violations before they happen, so I happen to have served on a few committees. The only one that was truly useful was ScIP; otherwise our admin essentially tries uses teacher volunteers to justify all kinds of extra work ("None of the teacher members of the committee had any issue with it!").

That doesn't seem too close to your situation, but I say all of that to say that I'm very careful about what I'll join and how vocal I am on each committee. If you don't need the extras, don't feel bad about sitting them out. You need a work/life balance, and IIRC, you're an English teacher going back to school.

[doctorchick]

Perhaps an "I'm interested in this position, but I don't have enough time to do the job well because I am already doing X, Y, and Z" would work in this case? If your department chair really wants you as the PLC chair and would reassign X, Y, and Z to someone else, would you be then be interested?

Alternatively, are there any younger teachers who *do* need this experience on their resumes and could do a good job? Another great way to decline is to ask if your chair had considered So-and-so, who is so enthusiastic/wonderful/what-have-you and would do a great job and would benefit from the opportunity. (This approach is also great from a "look at how you promote your coworkers" perspective.)

[lo]

What is a PLC leader? We have PLCs 4 days a week and have to keep a detailed binder but no leaders or chairs.

[Jalapeñomel]

Up until I received tenure, I did all the brownie point things. Now, nope, if I am not compensated, I just cannot afford the time away from my lesson plans, curriculum planning, and grading.

[hippygirl]

No. I'll do extra duties for extended pay. I don't give away my time & expertise for free.

[erbear]

Well, I'm at a small private school so I: teach 6th grade social studies, teach 8th grade social studies, teach 8th grade health, am an 8th grade advisor, am the 8th grade dean, am the diversity coordinator, run the PRIDE group, run the GSA, coach soccer, coach basketball, etc etc etc. So, yeah, saying no to extra duties can be challenging when they need to be done. I'm the wrong person to ask; when you figure it out, let me know.

Fortunately, I've been teaching long enough that lesson planning and running my class doesn't generally require a huge amount of prep anymore, for the most part.

[nellgirl]

Jul 6, 2017 22:19:59 GMT -5 erbear said:

Well, I'm at a small private school so I: teach 6th grade social studies, teach 8th grade social studies, teach 8th grade health, am an 8th grade advisor, am the 8th grade dean, am the diversity coordinator, run the PRIDE group, run the GSA, coach soccer, coach basketball, etc etc etc. So, yeah, saying no to extra duties can be challenging when they need to be done. I'm the wrong person to ask; when you figure it out, let me know.

Fortunately, I've been teaching long enough that lesson planning and running my class doesn't generally require a huge amount of prep anymore, for the most part.

I hear you! I'm at a public school, but small, and I find that I end up getting roped into a ton of things because if I don't, they don't get done. I know that I shouldn't care, but I do...