A gazillion, child-free years ago I had a teacher friend who would take a sick day, not for a mental health day but for a true workday. She would take her kids to school and grade for the next 8 hours. I now totally get it.
Can you pick up the theme of this weekend?
Friday night after I got the boys in bed I'm unpacked my school bag and made a weekend to-do list to prioritize. I'm also starting the first of 6 loads of laundry.
Friday 8:30 pm
10:00 pm Matching up tests to essays (this is one class of students)
Go to bed around midnight and luckily Ian stays in bed all night.
Saturday- TAL is on, I'm not freeze ahead cooking today. Instead I'm sorting an upcoming unit on the Gilded Age and Progressives.
1:00 pm
Bill is gone for the night with Ben to a Y Guides. I take a non- napped Ian to the grocery and then to pick up dinner. We have a hot date at my favorite cafeteria for take out. Ian has an ugly melt down while we are waiting for the 5 mins we are inside.
* Note if I wasn't so hungry I would have walked out. Instead I put the death grip on him and ask how fast they can sling some collard greens, mac and cheese, and baked chicken in a container.
Once home I get him in bath, books, teeth, and bed where he thankfully stays after only a 1/2 hour of wrangling. I work until around 1am making a test and grading 2 stacks of essays plus doing housework as a "break." Sadly I would rather mop a floor then read anything else about Manifest Destiny. Somewhere in the night I find Ian has left his room and is in bed with me. A plethora of stuffed animals have joined us.
Sunday-
We hit the early service at church then head down to school which is open on Sundays as the building is used until noon. I work another two hours copying, entering grades, pulling supplies for the week. Note that I got my lanyard caught in the copier hence the staples. Fairly sure my cause of death will be MacGyvering a copier with only my wits and a pen.
10 am
After lunch we head home to realize they have fallen asleep in the car. I take a 15 min power nap in the car with them then go in the house with all the doors open and clean up the kitchen and do more laundry.
Boys are awake so I taken them over to the jump house place across the street where we stay and I grade. I really appreciate the mom drive-by from another parent noting that "wow I must be super busy since I'm not playing with the kids, pointing over to my boys playing air hockey near by." She goes on to say she teaches too and tries to save a part of each weekend for her kids. Thanks Ms. Judgy Judgment.
3 pm *note other lazy parent just siting and not playing with their kids
Once home I pull together a quick dinner, make lunches, more laundry, go through Ben's backpack, and get the kids to bed.
9 pm
Grading slow down as it's Will Gardner time. By weekend end I logged around 13 hours of some type of work for school and unfortunately still have one class of essays not finished and sadly more work coming in tomorrow.
Not the most exciting of posts, frankly it sounds SO negative, but a weekend of keeping it real of what sadly what many a weekend looks like around Casa Vinson.
When I hear of 1st year North Carolinas teachers making it through the 6th year of a state-wide salary freeze making the choice between filling their gas tanks or living on cereal and pbj sandwiches until the next payday I want to punch someone. Or when I hear that instead of editing our contracts to say, "instead of a pay increase, even one matches to inflation (again, what pay increase?) that a portion of our pay, our base pay, is going to now going to be tied to student achievement I again want to punch someone.
Anyone who wants to criticize that I'm am a lazy overpaid mooch living off their taxes or those at the helm legislate away any chance to hire good teachers walk a day or better yet weekend in any of our shoes.
4 comments:
OMG Heather. My best friend teaches 8th grade language arts and has 160 students and she puts the time in that you do, and it's CRAZY. The sacrifices that you guys make (and so many, many, many other teachers like you) are incredible. I want to junk punch every single ASSHOLE (sorry for swearing on your blog) who DARES to think that teaching is easy, that teacher pay should be tied to achievement, that teachers aren't McGyvering every single day with the pitiful resources that school systems give them. I know I'm preaching to the choir, but I'm SO GLAD yo posted this, to document HOW MUCH FREAKIN' WORK you do. I have never loved teachers more and never wanted to be a teacher less. God bless you! (And another huge-ass junk punch to the judgy-Mcjudgerson mom at the bouncy house. Shame on her!!!)
I cannot believe how many papers you have to grade... that is insane!
So glad you posted this.
I wanted SO BADLY to post something similar about photography - how my weekends were spent shooting and every single night it was sitting down with a computer to edit photos - but I realized that I just couldn't do it. Instead I could just quit!
And whatever judgy lady. What a beyotch.
Ugh, I hate when people make comments like that!
On a side note, the super stealth skills of my child to not only climb into my bed but bring most of her room with her probably rival yours. I'm always amazed when I wake up in the morning.
Hope this week goes better!
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