Hello, everyone! I hope you are enjoying this beautiful day. I can't believe that it's June 30th already. Time with a toddler goes so fast!
I know I've been sparatic at posting on both this site and the other ones I have, but I have made a summer resolution to set aside weekly blog time (at least until school resumes) so I hope to write more over the next couple of months.
As many of you know, I am not only a mother of the greatest toddler in the world (who's biased?) I am also a teacher. Last spring I had the opportunity to move up from teaching 8th grade Language Arts at the junior high school to teaching English 9, Speech, and Theatre in the high school. I accepted the offer and am currently embracing the change. Although I taught 8th graders for my entire professional career (6 years) and MOST of my methods/student teaching, I have always wanted to teach high school, and since there was an opening and an offer, I took it. I figured although the change will be a challenge, it will be much easier than trying to change after 10-15 years or more of experience.
So now I am in the process of moving/organizing/and planning for my new job. It always blows my mind that some teachers get hired at their job the week before school starts. How can they even PREPARE? And to think some teachers who have already HAD their jobs don't even go back to work in the fall until a day or two before the new year. How do they do it? It takes me so long to prepare all of my materials, lessons, and just CLEAN! (It's shocking how dirty a classroom can get.)
Luckily I have the summer to get ready for the big change. Even more lucky for me, my sitter is available to watch my son most days. Therefore, since school ended in May, I have spent 12 1/2 days (over 1/2 of my summer vacation so far) working on moving, organizing, purging former materials I no longer need, and decorating my new classroom. I'm still not even COMPLETELY done (and I promise I work HARD when I'm there), but I am 99% there so I'm feeling pretty good about it. Yesterday my babysitter and her family left for their vacation in Massachusetts, so I won't be going back to school until July 11th. At that point I will be in full planning mode, because I will only have three weeks of available babysitting until my sitter leaves again for a two week vacation. After she returns I will have TWO WEEK DAYS until I start at the high school. 2 DAYS!?!?!?! Wow.... when I talk like that it makes the summer seem over in a blink.
As I'm sitting here typing all of this, thinking that you are wondering why I am so focused on the days remaining until my first year of teaching high school, I ask myself the same thing. I have no reason to feel pressured this year. I really don't even HAVE to go to work AT ALL in the summer. That's the bonus (and reason for many people) of teaching. So why can't I just do the work at home? Ummmm.... that question is silly. I can't bring all of my stuff home and if I could I wouldn't b/c I HAVE A TODDLER! This is code for "can't get anything done".
So why do I work when I could be at home playing with my fantastic little 19 month old man? Well, I'll tell ya. It's a heck of a lot easier getting the work done for school BEFORE school starts. When the school year is in session, it's like I am pulling teeth to survive the day-to-day life of being a teacher-mom. I'm not saying that there aren't harder jobs out there (including stay-at-home motherhood), it's just that teaching is TOUGH with a toddler. I have to bring work home every night, but I find myself unable to complete most of it.
I get this feeling of "running in place" during the school year. It's enough just to get food on the table and bath time. And I only have ONE kid!!! I don't know how single parents do it. I am blessed to have a wonderful husband who works way too much, but is so helpful here when he is at home.
I've put a lot of thought into this, and I have come to the conclusion that one of the HARDEST jobs in the world is that of a single-parent teacher. Maybe that should be the next reality t.v. show. Hey, maybe I can present the idea to a major network and then make a million dollars.
Which leads us to another topic... would I still work if I had a million dollars???
That one's for another day. Naptime is nearly over. :)
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