Ward C

Someone should quarantine my school, but that won't happen. All the teachers are getting sick one by one, and it is kind of like our own little version of "And Then There Were None." I feel okay, I think, but if I was getting sick it would take me a while to figure it out BECAUSE my school is literally working me to the bone. I am so tired I can barely keep my eyes open. The only time I am distracted from how tired I am is when I get an adrenaline kick from having way more tasks than I could ever accomplish at one time.

The problem is that no one who is sick wants to call in because they would have to write sub plans and reschedule all of their parent teacher conferences. So, there are a bunch of zombie like teacher creatures roaming the halls and infecting the rest of us. We're easy targets too because we are working so many hours. We have to teach a full school week and hold 24-30 parent conferences.

On the bright side, I only have to survive one more day without catching the bug. On the not-so-bright side, I still have six parent teacher conferences left due to people not showing up and cancelling. I have heard the excuse that people are tired and work a lot so many times this week. I really want to answer verbatim in these words: "I am so sorry that you have to work! I totally understand that you have more important things to do than show up for our appointment about your child or even call to tell me that your not going to show up. It's my pleasure to teach your child from 7:45am to 2:45pm and then stay at school until 7pm to meet with someone who doesn't bother to call me and say that they're not coming."

I am grouchy because this week feels unending and my workload feels unending. It is profoundly discouraging to work the number of hours I worked this week and still feel under prepared for the teaching work itself. I will say that most of my parents were wonderful and showed up. It is not their fault anymore than it is my fault that the district makes this terrible schedule.

Spring Break

It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. It is here. Perhaps you think I should use an exclamation point to convey my excitement, but I am too tired for that. Robotic repetition is the mode of celebration I can do right now.

I survived seven hours of conferencing (21 conferences; 20 minutes each), thirty hours of teaching (the library special is canceled this week), forty-five minutes of playground duty, four and a half hours of graduate school, and I don't know how many hours of grading, planning, and prepping. At one point, during the second night of evening conferences, I was thinking that I needed to walk the kids out to parent pick-up and do duty before going home. Then, I realized it was about seven at night. After that many hours in the building, you really lose track of time.

It really is strange to be free after being under the gun that much for a whole week. It feels good, though.

When It Rains It Pours

"Damn," that was the first thought in my head this morning when the rain falling on my skylight above my walled in shower woke me up. Usually I love that sound, but I hardly have motivation to go to work this week anyway. I have to run twenty-two half hour meetings with parents outside of teaching a full school week. Don't do the Math; it is depressing.I just did not want to start this frenzy of a week with the kids coming a half-hour earlier than usual.

I actually like meeting with parents, but no one likes these insane hours. It didn't help that my grad school class lasted until 8:30pm tonight. One week, though... It is only one week. AND THEN...


Spring Break!!!!

I'm Done!!!!!

As I was driving home from round two of parent conferences at about 7:15, Delilah was on. She was talking about her kids being out of school for parent conferences. She was going on about how tired it made her to have her kids home all day. All I could do was yell at my radio, "What the Hell?" Seriously, I worked from 6:30 am until about 7:15 pm. Kids in my district do not have the day off. We have to teach all day and then conference with every parent in the evening. I didn't know other districts are actually giving teachers time during the school day to conference.

My conferences and school day actually went really well, but seriously that is too many hours in a row in that school building. I was starting to feel like I was in my own personal prison when I was waiting between conferences. Too many hours. AND I still have to teach two more full school days.

Happy Staff Development Day! 13 Hours of Professional Development Today

FYI That does include grad school.
Seriously, though, 13 hours of staff development today...
Have you ever seen film that was overdeveloped?!!!!









P.S.
My party is over. I am in another hard graduate class. I wish it were true that no one told me grad school would be hard. That is not true, of course, but I wish it was...

Watching Paint Dry

Disclaimer: I don't think my job is a waste of time. I know that kids are a wothwhile thing to invest time in.

That being said, today left me with some things to think about. It was the first day of Fall Break and I (stupidly) agreed to help my mother paint her house. She's like me in that she likes to frequently change colors and decor and room arrangements. Her bedroom has been at least four different colors in the two and a half years I've been home from college. I really don't mind helping, but painting is kind of hard. At least, it's harder than I thought.

Anyway, my point is that we got a lot done today. We went to Home Depot. We went out to breakfast. We primed the room. We moved furniture. We painted the room. We put furniture back. We went to dinner.

Then, I realized something I like about Fall Break: I get to watch House when it comes on at 7pm!!! I realized also that on a normal Monday I would still be in class.

It just seemed crazy to me that this day and everything in it took up the same amount of time as every Monday. I slept in. I ate leisurely meals. I watched tv. Where do all my hours go on a normal Moday? It just makes me feel like my job is eating up all this time and I never even notice it.

There was one point today when we had finished priming the wall and my mom was picking up some supplies. I wiped down the wall and sat there on the floor staring at the white wall. I don't know how long I sat there, but it felt good.

And that is what I miss the most in my busy life. I miss moments that are still and long in the middle of the day. Maybe that is what people mean when they talk about stopping to smell the roses.

I guess whatever time I have in my day is what I make of it. I just don't usually stop ever on days that I work. Maybe I need to change that.