Many teachers are perfectionists. They dream of giving that pitch for the angels, the lesson that their entire class raptly absorbs, ignoring the upcoming end of the day, oblivious to the arrival of busses. These teachers work hours and hours to prepare the perfect Google Doc or PowerPoint. They create or find what they believe are exactly the right reinforcement activities. Perhaps they spend their evening preparing posters for a gallery walk where all students will travel in groups from poster to poster, adding critical thinking questions to expand on their teacher’s theme.

That’s teaching. If you can’t dream that dream anymore, it may be time to move on. But, admittedly, the dream’s getting harder to put into operation nowadays, as data, testing and other paperwork requirements suck up the time that might have been used to prepare posters for the gallery walk. Expectations are also rising — sometimes unreasonably. Like it or not, Belinda may not be ready to create critical thinking questions on the day’s topic.

When data keeps sucking up the poster preparation time, and at least some students keep missing your point, what then? I’ll start with one suggestion: Let go of that desire to be perfect. Unattainable goals are self-destructive. You don’t want to regularly leave school at the end of the day feeling ashamed that your lesson did not produce the  results you desired.

I suggest coming up with a few catch phrases to keep up your morale in the demanding world of public education. Examples might be, “I am doing the best I can,” or “We can hit this target. We just need to review fractions a bit more.” Positive self-talk will make the year much easier.

You can’t win them all. You can make yourself nuts by trying, too, especially when paperwork demands become so onerous that they interfere with lesson preparation. Sometimes something has got to give and that something may actually be your lesson. Scour the internet for free PowerPoints and activities. Buy a lesson from Teachers Pay Teachers. When meetings and data requirements steal your time, do what you have to do to get the job done. That may involve paying Mary Sue in Omaha to get a lesson plan that matches the day’s Common Core expectations.

Yes, American education has taken a wrong turn when lessons become subordinate to data demands, but individual teachers can rarely or ever stop the data train. Additionally, some kids will just drift away on you even when you are able to chisel out the time you need and are planning lessons furiously. That drift may have nothing to do with your lesson and everything to do with a long night of gaming, followed by a morning with no breakfast.

Eduhonesty: Practice self-compassion. Remember teachers are incremental learners too. Each time we present a lesson, we get a chance to learn what works and what does not work as well. We get a chance to perfect our lessons. But cut yourself a break.

“Perfect” may not even exist in teaching. No one can hold the complete attention of thirty adolescents through an entire 90 minute block of mathematics. No one I’ve ever met in my lifetime anyway. If administration insists you do twenty-some hours of paperwork in a week, your lessons will be less robust and detailed. You probably can’t change that fact without cutting sleep. You will be better off lesson-plan light and wide-awake than you will buzzed on a 24 ounce coffee while frantically trying to remember where you put the worksheets.