I am so proud of myself! I have all my lesson plans for next week ready, PLUS I’ve worked out all my keys and scanned them into the PowerPoint. Of course, it took an act of God to make it happen, but God’s good that way!
I started getting ready to leave for the day during 5th period on Friday. The kids had started a test the day before, but due to my bad planning (you live and learn, folks!), they only had half the period to take the test. So, since so many of them didn’t finish, I let them have the class period on Friday to work on it as well. It worked out really well because the kids that were absent on Thursday were there on Friday to take the test, and now they don’t have to come in before school to make it up! Giving the kids a chance to finish the test gave me an hour and a half to start getting my crap together to go home. Before I can do anything, I have to file away the stuff I used for this week, except for answer keys I need over the weekend. Then I have to go to my stash of worksheets (already copied for the grading period) and pull out what I know I’ll use, plus a few extras for just in case we get through faster than I thought. I have to pull out the various resources I pull activities from, gather my binders of information for lesson planning, and make sure I have copies plus originals for key-making. I need to dig out my scope and sequence, and check to see if I need the C-Scope for next week. And somewhere in there, I need to check my email, because by that point in the day, people have become email happy and I probably have a couple dozen waiting for me to deal with. I also have to double check my calendar to make sure I’m taking into account any observations that are going to be done of me and special events that might cut class periods short.
By the time 5th period had left, I had my briefcase mostly packed and just needed to run to the office to check my box one last time and make copies of just a couple of forms that I had run out of. Back in my room, I had to fill out a couple of those freshly copied forms before I forgot what happened to make me need to fill them out. Then I had to check my outbox to make sure I had filed everything that pertained to my students, along with the forms I’d just filled out. And of course the stuff in my box created a few more tasks that needed to be completed. Is that the call for car-riders and walkers already?!? Aaaand now I’m on duty to make sure kids don’t run through the halls when their bus is called, and to remind them they are still in school and YES you still have to have your shirt tucked in. Why are you in the hall? You need to go back to your class before I find a reason to give you detention, sir. They have not called your bus yet! Aaaaand 30 minutes later I can finally get back to my room and finish what I started.
Normally, on a Friday, I leave the building after 7pm. This past Friday, I was out of there by 5:15. It.Was.Unbelievable. It only took me starting 2 hours earlier than normal and not being interrupted by other teachers whining for me to babysit their class so they can leave early (that crap right there is going to STOP this week!).
Not only was I able to get out of there earlier than ever before on a Friday, but I was able to start working on building my answer keys. And, since the Kiddo didn’t have band competition on Saturday, I was able to spend a good portion of the day grading those tests. I didn’t finish, but I only have 1 class left to grade. I finished my lesson plan warm ups and notes by noon and was able to take the Kiddo into Baytown for a haircut and to Wal-Mart in town for groceries and yet more classroom supplies. THEN, I sat down and finished my answer keys, scanned them into my computer and copied them into the PowerPoint for next week. AND I finished my laundry (except for putting away, but that’s a 2 minutes job). And cleaned up the kitchen after dinner. And it’s only 8pm.
Man, I love it when we set the clocks back!
This month is crazy-busy with stuff at school. Next week is the last week of the grading period, so grades will be due again and I have kids with more missing work than actual grades. Dumbassery at work. I have at least one observation, a planning day that I have to make sub plans for, an early dismissal day that will require me to sit through an afternoon of staff meetings that will be mostly meaningless to me. (I do realize that most of the information given during these meetings will someday be useful, but as a first year teacher, I have no clue what to do with TAKS stats. I put them in a file and forget about them. My mentor says that’s more than what she does with them, so I don’t feel too bad.) I have double duty one week because I’m covering for another first-year who has a “walk-and-talk” session to attend. I’ve been to one for my subject…yawn. There was more that I couldn’t use than I could. But…the stuff I could use was awesome, so I guess I shouldn’t knock those meetings too hard for now.
On top of all the schedule interruptions, we have Thanksgiving holidays this month, which involves at least one more early dismissal day, plus several days off during which I need to FINISH THE ON-LINE REVIEW FOR MY PPR. I have absolutely everything done to be fully certified EXCEPT for finishing that damned review so that my ACP will approve me to take the real thing. Of course, even if I had the review finished, I’m not entirely sure when I’d have time to go take the test. So, whatever. December 30th is quickly approaching, and I am getting very scared that I will not have time to get everything done.
And here I sit updating my blog. People! I have too much to do!
