The Conundrum of a Rural RTLB..... Feeling Productive When the ‘Tangible’ Markers Don’t Show Me I Am

I don’t know about you, but I am a ‘list maker’ and I feel most productive when most, if not all things on that list get crossed off. (Just between you & me, I sometimes even put things on that list that I know I will do, just to be able to ‘cross it off’ and get that hit of dopamine for being super productive!)  

As an RTLB who works in many rural schools, the database is kind of my base-line-personal-list or ‘productivity marker’ and man - it can look different some days! Take last week for example;

Monday - 11 records found; I have been based in my home town and had been able to 

cram everything from in class observations, a review meeting, some assessment and get 

on top of my overflowing inbox. (I truly was Running Through Looking Busy!)

Tuesday - 3 records found; I spent 3 hours travelling on a round trip to my most rural 

school, I did an observation, met the teacher and maybe another piece of work… oh well, I 

guess the inbox can wait until later when the kids are in bed!?!

If you are like me, and have personal productivity ‘markers’ that give you a wee moment of success with a much sought after dopamine hit, days like Tuesday are hard because the ‘records found’ on the database don’t actually show the intangible work achieved on Tuesday. If it truly reflected what I did within my Rural school mahi, it would look something like this;

• Travel time - a 3 hour round trip

• I spent time with the new Acting Principal (the 3rd in 18 months because the school is under statutory management) and I’m the first ‘specialist’ they have seen since beginning the role

• While on site, I made a couple of phone calls to the local MoE Service Manager to assist the Acting Principal to sort some issues (that they didn’t know where to start on) because they are new to the area and community 

• I took a student for a walk to support them to regulate because the junior room teacher is off with Covid so the Teaching Principal has all of the students in the school today due to the lack of relievers available in the area

• I was a ‘critical friend’ to the acting Principal because they needed a ‘sounding board’; someone who knows the education system and the local community

• We did our liaison meeting

• I helped the Acting Principal connect to the local policeman (via the cell number we have for him) to request a wellbeing check on a student

• I brought some joy to the staffroom by turning up with a batch of biscuits 

My database doesn’t reflect any of this; but for the rural communities we serve as RTLB, our visits, empathy, professionalism, integrity and professional knowledge are sometimes the saving grace ‘at that moment in time’ for our Rural Principals and teachers who are trying to do all the things for everyone, at the same time.

During my hour and a half drive back to my office (a 1hr 15min drive from my nearest colleague), I don’t listen to podcasts or music, I tend to solve my other casework in my head and make plenty of ‘voice notes’ on my mobile. Occasionally I might call my Cluster Manager or Practice Leader to ‘run something by them’ of what occurred on my visit that day but none of that shows my actual productivity as a rural RTLB; it isn’t recorded anywhere and subsequently there’s not a lot to ‘cross off my list’.

And this is the conundrum of the rural RTLB - much of our work and effort to even get into some rural schools and kura to form those connections are intangible on the database but make all the difference to the communities we are privileged to visit and support. It is also the beauty of our mahi. 

I may not have anything to cross off my list from this visit, but I do have something to add to my ‘glimmer’ list of the day. Keeping a ‘glimmer list’ is a practice I have developed to replace my obsessive productivity lists because I’ve realised not everything ‘fits’ on the list; both my professional and personal life has taught me that!

So while my database may not reflect the seeds that I planted on that visit to one of my many rural schools, and I may not see the trees flourish from that mahi; I do know that I strengthened my relationship with that rural school and I have been of service to the future generations of that community. Maybe some things have more power than crossing something off a list after all… let’s not underestimate the importance of noticing those ‘glimmers’.

He maurea kai whiria!

Ignore small matters and direct effort toward important projects