Alicia entered the world of international school teaching in 2010, straight out of university and never looked back. She loves the challenges of living in and getting to know new cultures.
Teaching students from all over the world with different experiences and perspectives has been a wonderful experience. Unfortunately, after being unappreciated and worn down by poor, uncaring administration and the stressful and difficult situation she is in because of COVID-19, Alicia is taking the opportunity to exit teaching and pursue a new career.
She is exploring opportunities that allow her to continue to work with children and families who live abroad outside of their home cultures, before, during and after the transition to a new place.
Alicia supports "Expat Families" to leave well, arrive well and live well in their new cultures through 1:1, family, and small group coaching programs, debriefs, and workshops.
Instagram: @mothering_in_motion @expat_family_coach
Facebook Groups: https://www.facebook.com/groups/motheringinmotion
https://www.facebook.com/groups/supportingourtcks
Aired on May 5th 2021
——
For show-notes and other resources, visit https://www.larksong.com.au/podcast
For all podcast episodes, visit https://getoutofteaching.buzzsprout.com/
Get Out of Teaching website (Larksong): https://www.larksong.com.au
Join the ‘Get Out of Teaching!’ Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/getoutofteaching
Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/get-out-of-teaching/id1498676505
Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-diacos-career-transition-coach-for-education-leaders-get-out-of-teaching/
Connect with me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.diacos
This podcast is a member of the Experts on Air podcast network https://expertsonair.fm/
Alicia entered the world of international school teaching in 2010, straight out of university and never looked back. She loves the challenges of living in and getting to know new cultures.
Teaching students from all over the world with different experiences and perspectives has been a wonderful experience. Unfortunately, after being unappreciated and worn down by poor, uncaring administration and the stressful and difficult situation she is in because of COVID-19, Alicia is taking the opportunity to exit teaching and pursue a new career.
She is exploring opportunities that allow her to continue to work with children and families who live abroad outside of their home cultures, before, during and after the transition to a new place.
Alicia supports "Expat Families" to leave well, arrive well and live well in their new cultures through 1:1, family, and small group coaching programs, debriefs, and workshops.
Instagram: @mothering_in_motion @expat_family_coach
Facebook Groups: https://www.facebook.com/groups/motheringinmotion
https://www.facebook.com/groups/supportingourtcks
Aired on May 5th 2021
——
For show-notes and other resources, visit https://www.larksong.com.au/podcast
For all podcast episodes, visit https://getoutofteaching.buzzsprout.com/
Get Out of Teaching website (Larksong): https://www.larksong.com.au
Join the ‘Get Out of Teaching!’ Facebook group: https://www.facebook.com/groups/getoutofteaching
Listen and subscribe on Apple Podcasts: https://podcasts.apple.com/us/podcast/get-out-of-teaching/id1498676505
Connect with me on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/elizabeth-diacos-career-transition-coach-for-education-leaders-get-out-of-teaching/
Connect with me on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/elizabeth.diacos
This podcast is a member of the Experts on Air podcast network https://expertsonair.fm/
Elizabeth Diacos 0:01
Welcome to Season 3 of the Get Out of Teaching Podcast. I'm your host, Elizabeth Diacos. In each episode of this season, I'll be coaching a teacher around one aspect of their move out of Education, you'll have the privilege of listening in on the powerful coaching conversations that move people closer to a life they love. So come along for the ride as we get out of teaching.
Episode 7.
Hi, everyone, and welcome to the show. And on today's show, I'm very pleased to be interviewing - or not really interviewing, but having a coaching conversation with Alicia. Thanks, Alicia for coming today.
Alicia 0:37
Of course, Elizabeth, thank you for having me.
Elizabeth Diacos 0:39
So Alicia, just, can you just briefly fill in the audience about how we know each other?
Alicia 0:46
Sure, um, I've been in International Education for about 10 years, and I have felt a change coming. And my current situation, I'm in Vienna, Austria, I was hired to work in China, but never made it. And waking up extremely early in the morning, to teach remotely into China, trying to keep a toddler and a house together during the pandemic, the whole thing just kind of came together, and to make a space and open a window for me to finally kind of move forward with this career change that I've been thinking about. And I found the group Get Out of Teaching on Facebook, I was really inspired by a lot of the other teachers, did the triage call with Elizabeth and we connected, we hit off and started working together.
Elizabeth Diacos 1:41
Mm, nice. And we've been working together since just before Christmas, like only a few days before Christmas. And, and, and you're in my, my coaching program that's going to end in June. And from there, well hopefully you'll be moving as well to Africa. If all things go well.
Alicia 2:02
Yes.
Elizabeth Diacos 2:03
The plan is in place. Yeah.
Alicia 2:04
Yeah.
Elizabeth Diacos 2:06
Okay, so you're, you were gonna come on this conversation today with a topic that we could try to resolve in about 15 to 20 minutes. So what have you brought to the table today?
Alicia 2:19
I am having a really hard time between, I'm still teaching into China, but part-time, I dropped back, othering my toddler, being a good wife to my husband, doing all the stuff that goes along with that teaching, but then also really trying to dig into this career change, figure out where I'm going, making plans, taking courses, and just really balancing all of the things that are going on right now. It's a lot of stuff.
Elizabeth Diacos 2:48
Okay, so what would make this an awesome conversation for you, then? What would you like to go away with?
Alicia 2:57
I'd like to go away with some practical strategies about how to figure out kind of a weekly, daily plan, like how do I structure my time, so that I feel like I'm getting everything I want to get done, done. And that I'm being responsible with the extra time that I've given myself stepping back from teaching, but also being a good mother and wife and playing all of the roles that I have to play as well as I can.
Elizabeth Diacos 3:27
Okay, so there's a real sense of maybe sort of a balance issue. Or if you think about it, it's like, you know, when you've got a sound system, and you you raise the levels of different, sort of, the treble and the bass. And that's, that's all I know about, I don't know any further than that.
Alicia 3:43
Make it sound right.
Elizabeth Diacos 3:43
The sound aux, whatever they are, yeah, to make the sound balance. And so it sounds like there's kind of like, you've got to make some adjustments in your week in order to get that balance right. And that's a challenge, because you've got to get up super early, because you're actually teaching remotely into another country altogether in a different time zone. And, but you've still got to function in the the world of the time zone that you're in.
Alicia 4:13
Oh, yeah, for sure.
Elizabeth Diacos 4:14
So it's a pretty like unique situation, and quite challenging. And I know that you've, you've been working really hard to get all this working together. But - and I do have some inside information that Alicia hasn't shared just now that she just had underestimated somewhat, how long it would actually take to do her prep for the next couple of months in order to be finished, like have all their preparation done till the end of the school year. So that I know that there was a bit of disappointment around that for you.
Alicia 4:48
Oh, for sure. I just also forgot like how much time projects take so my kids just had a really big project with reports that were due and just grading, takes me forever. I'm I've too particular when I grade and so it takes me ages. And even something that helps me to grade faster. I don't know, I just have to make sure that I'm more, I use my time well.
Elizabeth Diacos 5:16
Right. Okay. And so is that something you want to talk about just for a minute the grading? Because I totally have been where you're at.
Alicia 5:25
And we both teach very subjective subjects, right? So design and art. I'm a design teacher, and you look at it have to grade it and you're like, I don't, it's very subjective. And I've done it for six years, and I've struggled with it for six years. You know?
Elizabeth Diacos 5:37
Yeah, yeah. So do you have an assessment rubric for that?
Alicia 5:41
Mm. Yeah, I teach IB. So it, but it's like, they state it, they describe it, they analyze it? So there's no, yeah, there's description words, but it's, it's not right or wrong? You know?
Elizabeth Diacos 5:56
Yeah.
Alicia 5:56
The amount of detail they use in their answers. So it's, it's a hard scale to work with.
Elizabeth Diacos 6:02
And you're giving them like a number out of 100 or something?
Alicia 6:06
The number, the top number is 8. So it's a 0 - 8 scale.
Elizabeth Diacos 6:09
Okay, and they, are they getting that for every part of the rubric?
Alicia 6:13
Uh hm. So there's four parts to usually one assignment and you grade all four kind of pieces. And then you look for an overall grade for the assignment.
Elizabeth Diacos 6:24
And is the overall grade in addition of the four parts?
Alicia 6:29
It's a best fit grade. So if they forget one, you give that part zero, but if they do really well. And another part, you have to find the best fit. So it's not an average. And it's not an addition of all of them.
Elizabeth Diacos 6:42
Right.
Alicia 6:43
So it becomes subjective again, at the end.
Elizabeth Diacos 6:45
Yeah, of course. Okay. Okay. So, but the rubric part's okay?
Alicia 6:52
Yeah, I get the rubric. It's just, it's hard for me to look at a piece and know what it is without reading every single sentence. And, you know, you have how many kids and then each assignment is five pages long, and it just gets overwhelming very quickly.
Elizabeth Diacos 7:09
Yeah, yeah. Do they do any, I guess they can't do self assessment. It's a bit hard when you're not in the same room.
Alicia 7:17
Where I'm trying actually, tomorrow with my grade 8 class, I'm having them do a self assessment to help me get a gauge and wit, because they have to be able to know how their grade is, they have to be able to do that it's a skill too. So having stepping them through what I do when I assess a piece and having them do that self assessment, and that'll help me grade that particular assignment.
Elizabeth Diacos 7:42
Right.
Alicia 7:42
I don't do that all the time. I should do it more often.
Elizabeth Diacos 7:45
Okay, so you just said I should do that more often? What are the downsides of, why wouldn't you do it?
Alicia 7:53
Um, I don't know, I forget, I don't trust the younger they are, the less I can kind of trust that that's as accurate as it could be. And then I just end up grading their self assessment and then actually grading their paper again. So sometimes it doubles the work depending on how accurate they are.
Elizabeth Diacos 8:12
Yeah, okay. Yeah, I get it. I did it with grade, I think they were grade fives. One year, I just said to them, we're grading drama performances, so subjective. And in the end, one of them was just like, "you have to make us laugh." So they meant to be comedy things. And that was one of the criteria. That was surprising. Because if anyone they knew or if they hadn't, hadn't laughed, you know, if they thought was funny, so it actually helped to be genuine. But yeah, I understand why it might be more, more challenging. So I guess there's and I do, I have been in the painful place of marking uni assignments that that took me like, took me longer to mark the assignments then the course ran for.
So it's like, you know, four days of course content and six days of marking that was kind of seemed a little bit not right.
Alicia 9:06
Yeah.
Elizabeth Diacos 9:07
So one of the things I ended up doing was just being a lot less fussy about, like reading everything. And I still, it still took me longer than I thought it should. But I cut out a lot. And also having some self assessment I think is really important. So could you get them to self assess that last month that X Factor Mark? Or is it too hard to trust them?
Alicia 9:36
No, that'll be part of it. So I'll go through each of the piece of the assignment and explain what they're looking for. So that they can give themselves a mark and then they have to give themselves the total and explain back why, why they think they deserve 6/8. And what they could do better. They always have to point out how they can improve or do something differently the next time.
Elizabeth Diacos 9:58
Oh, okay. So it sounds really comprehensive what you're doing?
Alicia 10:03
Yeah, well, we'll see how it goes tomorrow, I've done it with my like grade 10s. And grade 10 still are a little, are not as accurate as I would like them to be. But it's, but it's always a work in progress, right? And every teacher that teaches design, and I'm sure art as well, or music, they all have a bit of a different take on it. Right? That's why we have to moderate grades for larger projects, you have to have two people grade it and then moderate it. So I mean, like big projects that are externally moderated by the by the IB, you have two internal moderators. Because grading is subjective, like across the board, maybe in the IB, a lot of it. So, uhm, yeah.
Elizabeth Diacos 10:47
I used to love like messy stuff that had really lovely line work and you know, and then I had a colleague who wanted everything to be neat and no, no bits going out of anywhere. And criteria were like the total opposite of each other, because I love that sort of really loose like that Cy Twombly kind of look, you know, and she was really into the much more kind of wander round sort of look.
Alicia 10:54
Okay, and that's completely personal. And then you have to grade someone else's art. But that's according to your personal subjective preference, right? And so you're just, it's...
Elizabeth Diacos 11:24
Yes. So then you have to take it out of that, don't you? You have to take it out of the personal and make it about something else.
Alicia 11:30
You have to make it very, like, objective, as objective as I can.
Elizabeth Diacos 11:34
Yeah, so when I was...
Alicia 11:35
You described, you used at least three adjectives in your sentence, therefore, you've described it.
Elizabeth Diacos 11:40
Yeah.
Alicia 11:40
I have to.
Elizabeth Diacos 11:41
Yeah, well, that's great. That's great. That's what you need. So -
Alicia 11:45
But, I've never done that in 6 years, and I'm gonna be done. So it's like, "Oh, well. Why do it now? It's the last time, I'm grading assignments. I've like, I've missed the boat. I'm making it easy on myself."
Elizabeth Diacos 11:58
Right. So in a way, it's not worth the effort of trying to come up with a new system. Yeah.
Alicia 12:05
No. Because it's the last time I'm going to be grading papers, because I'm leaving teaching. Thank God. You know?
Elizabeth Diacos 12:11
All right. So so then this is really just about making spacing for the plan for the next thing.
Alicia 12:18
Yeah.
Elizabeth Diacos 12:19
Yeah. Okay. And and so realistically, how much time do you think you're going to need to finish the marking and say, until when?
Alicia 12:33
If that's all I did, if I didn't do anything else this week, if I weren't, wasn't reading my books, or listening to my podcasts, or doing any kind of investigation into the things, the actions that I set up for myself earlier this week, if I didn't do any of it, and all I did was grading I could finish it by the end of the week, I think.
Elizabeth Diacos 12:51
Right?
Alicia 12:51
Takes three days.
Elizabeth Diacos 12:52
Wednesday morning there for you. Okay, and is it worth it? So then the next question is, is that worth it to get that off your plate and stop thinking about it? Or is it too much? Like will you get sort of fatigued having to do it?
Alicia 13:08
I'll get fatigued, I hate it. It's the worst thing. It's one of the reasons I'm leaving, I hate grading papers. Um, it's probably worth it in the end. Because the the assignments keep coming, right? So like, it's not that I stop teaching when I'm overloaded with grading, moving forward, and the assignments will just keep coming in. So, it's probably worth setting aside, like what I want to do for what I have to do?
Elizabeth Diacos 13:34
Right? I'm checking in, I want to know, is it worth it? Or is it not? Like, there's payoffs to both.
Alicia 13:45
I was really looking forward to the actions that I set up for myself.
Elizabeth Diacos 13:49
Yeah. And they're energizing you.
Alicia 13:52
Yeah, they're giving me joy.
Elizabeth Diacos 13:54
Okay.
Alicia 13:54
The other things aren't giving me that.
Elizabeth Diacos 13:56
Can you use them as a reward?
Alicia 13:58
Mmm. That's an interesting idea. So like, I do this much grading, and then I get this much time. Kind of like that pomodoro method that I was talking about the other day, right. So I grade for an hour, I get a coffee and then I get to do my things for 30 minutes, and then I go to grading for an hour like a vocational, kind of.
Elizabeth Diacos 14:22
Yeah, and that way you're breaking up and you won't get as tired during the grading because after a while, you know, your efficiency drops off. Especially when you don't like doing it. You're not in flow, you're in some kind of agony. It's not, it's not a good state that is kind of like a high performance state when you're like that.
Alicia 14:43
Right. You're like dragging yourself through it because it's something you despise. Yeah.
Elizabeth Diacos 14:47
Okay, so let's think about it then. I mean, I'm excited about this idea. Tell me when to stop. What if you go "Yeah, do an hour and a half of grading and then half an hour of reward." Which could be read a book or I don't know, go for a walk with a podcast and have a coffee or whatever.
Alicia 15:08
Right. I like that. I think too like, I was gonna say, an hour and a half sounds like a long time to me. And the other thing that I do when I'm grading, because I hate it so much, is I let myself get distracted.
Elizabeth Diacos 15:24
Yeah.
Alicia 15:24
Right? So I'm like, "Oh, I have a paper here. But in the other windows, Facebook," or you know, and I am bounced back and forth. Like it's kind of a tiny reward. "I finished a paper. Let me look at that thing. I finished a paper. Let me look at that thing." And I do it in it kind of these tinier bits.
Elizabeth Diacos 15:39
Yeah.
Alicia 15:40
Bits. And then when I look at that thing, I get distracted, and I get sucked in because it's social media and that's what it does to you.
Elizabeth Diacos 15:45
Don't do that. Because it's clearly a trap we all have fallen into I'm sure. So how long is realistic? Because I feel like an hour is not long enough. But two hours is too long. So, I thought an hour and a half.
Alicia 15:57
I can try an hour and a half first. The hour and a half, half hour, hour and a half, half an hour. I can try that today and see how it goes.
Elizabeth Diacos 16:03
Okay.
Alicia 16:06
And if I feel like I'm getting distracted or off track because of the amount of time, then maybe I'll try an hour.
Elizabeth Diacos 16:14
Yeah, or even like an hour and a quarter. Or an hour and 10. Like you see, I just feel like if you just got over that hour, you'd be so proud of yourself, that you did it for more than an hour. How many could you get done in an hour?
Alicia 16:30
I've never timed myself. I have no idea. I'm almost wondering if it's easier to count like numbers of assignments, instead of time.
Elizabeth Diacos 16:38
Oh, yeah. Okay.
Alicia 16:40
So if I said I'm going to grade four assignments, and then take a break, and then come back and do four more and then take a break and then take four more.
Elizabeth Diacos 16:47
Yeah. Or even if you did 4,3,2. Because over the course of the day, you might be less efficient. You know?
Alicia 16:56
I'd be like, look at my numbers. How many students and how many assignments I have, so that then I can I could plan it out through Friday.
Elizabeth Diacos 17:04
Let's do it now.
Alicia 17:04
Okay, well, this is okay. Let me get my class list so.
Elizabeth Diacos 17:09
Well, I mean, you know, at least this is kind of practical, isn't it? It's actually going to get you to working on both sides.
Alicia 17:18
Right, let me just open up my class list here. And then we can count it out. So, grade 10... 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, I have 6 grade 10s. I have to do that assignment. My grade, not my grade 8s that are overwhelming. Is it out, the sound?
Elizabeth Diacos 18:02
It's all right. Sounds is golden. Because this is real. This is what people have to do. You know, teachers have to think about this stuff all the time. How do I manage this incredible workload that bores me to tears.
Alicia 18:15
Oh yeah.
Elizabeth Diacos 18:15
And still have a life that I don't you know, that I that I that I want to live? That is? That is...
Alicia 18:21
What is there to look forward to when I'm done with all this grading? What do I get out of it? I have to make that reward really good then I think.
Elizabeth Diacos 18:34
Yeah, and also maybe something that doesn't involve staring at a screen if you're doing a lot of screens.
Alicia 18:39
Very true. 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 10. So grade 8, I have 10 criterion, these.
Elizabeth Diacos 19:05
You know, I'm gonna ask about this next Monday on a coaching group.
Alicia 19:08
I know you're gonna check in, I'm gonna have to tell you.
Elizabeth Diacos 19:13
Everyone.
Alicia 19:14
Oh, fantastic.
Elizabeth Diacos 19:15
They tuned into the episode and they're gonna ask you how it went?
Alicia 19:19
Yeah, super accountability, just what I love. Okay, so I have... that's 20, that's 18 and that's 6. I'm bad at math. It's not my it's not my gig. I'm just gonna get up my calculator.
Elizabeth Diacos 19:37
It's like.
Alicia 19:39
6...
Elizabeth Diacos 19:40
44 isn't it?
Alicia 19:42
44. See even that sounds overwhelming to me because I know how much time each one takes me.
Elizabeth Diacos 19:49
Okay, how much time does each one take?
Alicia 19:53
Half an hour, 40 minutes.
Elizabeth Diacos 19:55
Okay, so let's see if we can get it down to half an hour because you're going to be really efficient. If you have to do, if you have to do four before you can take a break, that's two hours.
Alicia 20:05
That's two hours.
Elizabeth Diacos 20:06
And it could be longer, could be longer. So what if? What if you do three?
Alicia 20:13
Okay?
Elizabeth Diacos 20:14
Or do like, I don't know if it's worth doing this, I guess, you know, is it worth doing like 2 of your 10s and 2 of your 8s or something?
Alicia 20:22
Yeah, the year 8s is where I fell behind.
Elizabeth Diacos 20:25
Okay.
Alicia 20:26
And that's why I have 38 of them are grade 8s.
Elizabeth Diacos 20:30
Right. So start there just to knock them out.
Alicia 20:35
Yeah, I really have to just get it finished.
Elizabeth Diacos 20:40
Are they shorter?
Alicia 20:42
Um, there's three assignments each. So I'm like, super behind. This is probably the most behind I've ever been. And it's probably because I'm coming to the end of my teaching career.
Elizabeth Diacos 20:51
Yeah.
Alicia 20:51
Right? I'm losing motivation. I've never had this little amount of motivation in, you know, in 10 years of teaching, because I know it's coming to an end. So they did. They did three biggest, big project. The big project based units in design. Um, they've done A, B and C, which is they investigate, then they develop their ideas, and then they create the thing. They've done all three, I haven't graded. I'm back in A, right? I've graded A B together because it's easier to see the connections. And I, and I haven't finished A B for the whole class. So I have to...
Elizabeth Diacos 21:31
Have they done that before they made the thing?
Alicia 21:33
Oh, yeah. And then I haven't given them their grade or feedback. So yeah, no, I'm being I'm a very, this is like, super naughty. Okay. I really feel bad about this one. This one, I'm going oh, I failed.
Elizabeth Diacos 21:46
So, let's get it out of the way.
Alicia 21:49
Yeah.
Elizabeth Diacos 21:49
Okay. So my challenge to you, is to get that all done by Thursday night.
Alicia 21:57
Okay. And that's only 20. That's 20 of those.
Elizabeth Diacos 22:02
20.
Alicia 22:02
That's not so bad.
Elizabeth Diacos 22:03
So don't work out how you're going to do that now. Because we'll be here all day, but. But like, work out how many you need to do before you can take a break? And then what are you going to reward yourself with?
Alicia 22:16
Okay.
Elizabeth Diacos 22:17
And maybe the breaks need to be a bit like 20 minutes, not 30? Because you've got a lot of work to do. And maybe that's just realistically not long enough. And, I mean, if I were you, I would not want to be reading a book or looking at a screen. If you're looking at a screen doing all that grading.
Alicia 22:34
Right.
Elizabeth Diacos 22:34
So maybe do something where you go for a walk into and look into the distance, like literally and kind of metaphorically, you know, look into the future.
Alicia 22:45
Okay. It's not a bad idea.
Elizabeth Diacos 22:46
A bright future outside of Education. All right.
Alicia 22:49
Yes.
Elizabeth Diacos 22:49
So, at the start of our conversation, you said that one of the things you wanted to work on was just getting a balance right? How are you sort of feeling about that now?
Alicia 23:01
I know that balance isn't really, it's not a, it's not a scale, it's never going to be like this. Because it's not the way balance in real life works. That it's more what is important right now might take precedence and whatever is not as important can take a backseat. And we can play together like this. And right now, that's just proving I'm behind in my in my school responsibilities, and those have to take, have to take the lead, so that I can catch up. So I don't feel this burden. Because grading for me is, you know, heavy thing I have to carry around if I haven't done it, so just have to push through. And then I can let the future career investigation and all the learning that I'm doing that playing, playing the backseat at the moment and that's okay. So, yeah.
Elizabeth Diacos 23:58
Right. Okay.
Alicia 23:59
Feel more more okay with the bailouts that I have, even though it's half the balance that I want. I know I need it.
Elizabeth Diacos 24:06
Right. So this is the...
Alicia 24:09
...adulting that I hate.
Elizabeth Diacos 24:10
Sorry, say that again?
Alicia 24:12
It's adulting. Right? You just have to do it, you have to meet your responsibilities.
Elizabeth Diacos 24:19
Sometimes you do have to be an adult. Yeah. So well, well done for actually coming up with a strategy to deal with it. Because I've met and worked with teachers who really, you know, get to the point of like, almost crisis where the reports are due the next day and their marking is not done and it becomes a very stressful environment for all concerned.
Alicia 24:46
Sure, yeah, yeah.
Elizabeth Diacos 24:48
Avoid that. It will make everything else work a little bit easier, won't it? Okay, so I want to ask you as we wrap this up, how was this conversation being helpful to you today?
Alicia 25:02
It helped me to really strategize and really think through what, what needs to be done and the practicality of working it through, which is really great. I can't bounce ideas off a wall, right? So coaching has really helped me have have that, that feedback that's helped me to kind of formulate practical application to life, which is, it's the hard part of me moving myself forward independently is I don't always know what's going to work or I don't have all the ideas. And so it's always really nice to get that feedback and that input to help formulate.
Elizabeth Diacos 25:44
Okay, so have we achieved our goal? Have we worked that out? Recreate some balance?
Alicia 25:49
Now I gotta go do it though! So, yes, we achieved the goal. We just need to the practical how I move forward. I just have to do the thing.
Elizabeth Diacos 26:00
But the reward is great, right? The word reward is great. How are you going to reward yourself before we go, how are you rewarded?
Alicia 26:10
I think I have intentional walking is one of my other goals. So I think just getting my shoes out and go and getting some fresh air. And I have a free coffee and my punch card. So I might go get my free coffee and do some walking today. And that would be a nice reward.
Elizabeth Diacos 26:28
Is it is the weather nice enough for you to take the computer to the park and work?
Alicia 26:34
No, it's been drizzly rainy/snowing. It's not been really that great.
Elizabeth Diacos 26:39
Snowing? I thought you going into summer?
Alicia 26:41
Not today. Yeah, no, we're supposed to be. Spring is reluctant.
Elizabeth Diacos 26:48
Okay, all right. Well, look, can I just say thank you so much for being willing to share a little window on your world, with with the rest of the people who are listening to the podcast, and who are watching this on YouTube, I really appreciate you coming on the show today.
Alicia 27:02
Thank you for asking, it was really fun. And I appreciate this new thing I'm going to try and I hope it works well. I just got to do it.
Elizabeth Diacos 27:14
So we've left Alicia to go off and start taking some action on using the Pomodoro method, which is something she referred to, which is based on the idea of one of those little tomato shaped kitchen timers where you set the timer for 25 minutes, and then have a five minute break as a work practice. So it's called the Pomodoro method. Because pomodoro means tomorrow in Italian, anyway. But she referred to that. And so she's using that same principle of working and then taking a short break as a way of managing her energy levels so that you can get the work done. So I look forward to seeing how she goes with that project today and works towards getting done all that marking that she had piling up.
And that was definitely not sparking joy for her, but she's determined to get through it. And so, I think that was a great outcome from our conversation. Just, you know, one of those really practical conversations where you just have to work out "How am I going to get through the next few days, so that I can make the space to create the life that I really want for myself?" So I hope you found that helpful. And thanks for watching and listening. Take care everyone.
If this is the kind of conversation you'd like to have, here are some ways we can make that happen. You can connect with me via my website, larksong.com.au or join the Get Out of Teaching Facebook group, or send me a message. You don't need to stay stuck in a job that makes you miserable. I offer a free 10 minute triage call to people who are ready to explore possibilities for the future. So let's have a chat. You've been listening to the Get Out of Teaching podcast please share it with your teacher buddies and for show notes and other resources, visit larksong.com.au/podcast
Transcribed by https://otter.ai