11.10: Work -- The Impossible Weirdness of Teaching

I get two "off" periods a day, plus a short lunch, and I teach six periods. I also grade papers outside of my school day, and plan, and collaborate, and research. I call parents and email parents and kids and update Schoology I'm one of the advisers to the 200-member service club and I'm co-adviser to the Class of 2017 and I just said that I would be on the board for the National English Honor Society and sometimes I help with quiz bowl because I like the annoying teacher in charge. I'm a Union rep. I try to get down to the guidance office sometimes so I can get the hang of how they do testing and scheduling at my school so I can get a guidance job someday and actually use my Master's Degree. I collaborate with coworkers and delegate responsibility for the 9th grade English classes and I am always working on ways to cross-collaborate with other departments. I have students who are now in the upper grades who spend large parts of their day with me so I can counsel them on classes and relationships and jobs. I am very, very busy at just about every minute that I am at work.

And yet, last Wednesday, I found myself, during one of my free periods, sitting cross-legged on the landing between the stairs at the back of our school, my nose pressed up against the glass, staring out at the torrential downpour outside. It had been building all day, and the vantage point on the landing was amazing. I took my phone and did my best to angle myself so that I could show just how hard it was raining. I couldn't catch the sound, though, and that was the best part.

Still, those five minutes of calm as a break in my day were phenomenal.

We're still soggy after that, days later. I have no transition. NGS.