Treading Water...

Yet another week down and I still can’t believe how quickly time is just flying by. I can’t tell you how  g-l-a-d I am to say that today is Friday, and my weekend has officially begun. I don’t know what it is about teaching that makes me so very tired by the week’s end, but by Friday I’m ready to drag myself home, plop myself on my favorite seat on my favorite couch, and promptly not remove myself from that spot until Sunday evening. Seriously.  I’m exhausted by (and all during) the weekend. My day goes by like a whirlwind and before I know it, I look around and it’s time to go home. Both the week and the weekend seem to go by the exact same way. … too freakin’ fast.

The good thing is that I’m not feeling completely overwhelmed like I was when things first started. I can finally say that I am (kinda) getting the hang of my day and of my kids and classes. I’m finally trying to get to the place where I can map out two weeks of planning at a time. Haven't gotten thee just yet, but I'm working on it.  I also started writing out the next day’s info on my board the night before, so that when I come in in the morning, it’s already completed and I can actually take my first hour of the day and get those little things done seem to completely elude your memory until the last possible minute.

What I haven’t quite gotten a solid hold on just yet is figuring out how in the world I’m supposed to plan so much stuff for so many classes (I have 7 total, in 4 different grades) in such a short amount of time. Planning takes me a long time. At least quality planning does. I know some other beginning teachers that can put a lesson plan together in a sec – they’re goooood. Me? Well, I can put together some really good plans, but it can easily take me hours to do it – and that’s just for one class. I haven’t learned the art of quick lesson planning just yet, but I’ll get there someday, I guess.  J  For now, I try to keep my head above water and plan when I can, while trying to juggle trying to actually have some family time to speak of (and sleep would be nice, too).

...add to that unit planning, record keeping, observations, data tracking, and oh yeah... EOG prep...
where in the world is the time supposed to come from????