The buzz in the teacher neighborhood of the blogosphere is that our breaks are over! It had to happen.
I had so many papers to grade over the break, and I've barely made a dent. The night is still young, though, and since I came back from Utah two days ago, my insomnia has reinstated itself.
Even if I do get through this insanely riveting stack of essays, which isn't the only thing I have to grade, but they need to be returned to students on Monday, I won't have time to write lesson plans.
With or without lesson plans, I do have a good idea of what the students will be doing tomorrow, but it is a plan that banks on the idea that students are prepared with some work they were continuously told to bring in the weeks prior to the break. It's a bit crazy, isn't it? Here I am, without papers graded, and I am expecting that they should be ready to work on Monday. I must be on drugs. I wish.
In my defense, it would have been completely possible for my students to be prepared with the work they need tomorrow without having to work over the break, as they were given ample warning and time. On the other hand, it is nearly impossible for me to complete my required work within the time given me--that is the story of an English teacher's life! The longer I teach, the more I believe that homework is for students--not me!
Perhaps a bit unrealistic for some teachers, right? Others will agree that we teachers should leave work at work, though. These Others never take work home. I've been trying that life, and needing my home time for my grad work has pretty well forced me into not doing school work at home, but I don't quite have it mastered. I get a little behind. That's how I ended up with 40lbs of papers to evaluate over the break.
So what? I'm behind in life! But this week is going to be hell.
End of the quarter.
Semester exam hasn't been written yet.
Yearbook deadline. Stay tuned for a yearbook tantrum later this week.
Two scheduled parent meetings. Whatever good that will do for this semester.
Two days of project preparation. Two days of project presentation. It could go either way.
Textbooks are supposed to be checked out, but the last I checked they hadn't been labeled yet, and I don't have time to do it.
A practicum teacher will be arriving sometime. This week? Next week? I dunno.
...And my grad classes start up again this week. That means I WILL have a paper due this Sunday. Please let Amazon and UPS have competent people who will honor the guarantee that my book will be here on Tuesday. Please.
So, if you never hear from me again, you'll know that this was the week back from break that finally killed me. It is bound to happen some year.
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