That Time of Year

It's spring.  The final month of school, actually.  And this is the time when a teacher is ground to a pulp.  It's not just the classroom load that wears me down (but there's plenty of that.  I have rite of passages to grade, two themes in CC2, and another in CC 1).  Whine, whine, whine, right?

Maybe.

But it's not the correcting and lesson planning I'm complaining about.  Really, I guess, I'm not complaining about anything.  Just stating the obvious: this is a damn busy time to be a teacher.

This year has just seemed - more than any other - to be full of meetings.

As well intentioned as those meetings may be (and dare I say some are vital), they still detract from my time that I can devote to teaching.

Some of this is certainly my fault.  I chose to run for co-president of our Education Association - and I'm paid well for the position.  But that's one meeting a month.  I was in our building leadership team - two meetings a month - but that just became too much for me.  Now, add to those three meetings a month, the once a month morning PLC meetings the entire staff has, our common prep meetings every other week, and then our department meetings - as well as budget meetings with the superintendent, the curriculum committee I'm on meets once a month, and then there is the newly formed technology committee that I was asked to join which just met all day yesterday . . . and all those little things suddenly add up to a lot of stress.

It honestly seems like I can't show up to school without a sinking feeling that I'm missing out on a meeting I'm supposed to be in (and that happens more often than not).

Now through on top of these meetings, students being gone for spring sports and the task of make up work, and things get even trickier.

For example - next week I have meetings/dinners three nights of the week (a dinner on Monday with the NCTC board where they will recognize some of our college in the high school students; a dinner Tuesday for the Kramer Brown chapter that will recognize our union retirees; and on Thursday a dinner to recognize our honor students) and that's in addition to our common prep meeting and a PLC coming up.

Whew.  I need a break from just blogging about all that.

Makes me miss the slow and methodical months of winter.  Well, I guess if we get the snow we're supposed to this weekend, it may well look and feel like winter even if it's supposed to be spring.