So Much for a Day Off

Today was our last day off until Thanksgiving, which is 6 and 1/2 weeks away! Oi! I shouldn't have looked. Yet, who am I kidding? I didn't actually have a day off today. Of course, I didn't have to make my usual hour and 15 minute commute to school or get up near as early. I did get to walk with my husband as he headed to work, and I enjoyed a nice ice coffee with him before he jumped on the subway (something I never even get to enjoy by myself during the week because the coffee shops don't open early enough around here).

From 9 this morning until now, I've been grading, updating checklists for reading, writing, and math goals, typing lessons, organizing papers, planning, printing, reading and commenting in Writer's Notebooks and Reading Response Journals, and keeping myself so busy that (1) I just realized it's 4:10 p.m. and (2) I haven't eaten a thing all day (minus a few bites of Mr.'s bagel). Jeez! Working conditions at home are just as bad as the conditions at school... well not quite...

Although I kept myself insanely busy today (so much for that laundry I was going to finish up and those dishes that need to be cleaned), my day has lacked the element of Frustration. This particular form of Frustration doesn't come from within my classroom (we expect to get frustrated throughout a day of working with children), it comes from outside of my classroom... The people in charge.

I cannot believe that we are a month and a half into the school year, and they are still making up their minds about how things should be. Even better, they've had enough time in 6 weeks to change their minds and ask us to do things in a completely different way. For example, at the beginning of the year, we were told that every class needed to have the same lessons and be teaching the same thing at the same time. Right. That's possible. We were attempting and sharing the weight of having to write page or more lesson plans for each subject (6 a day X 5 days a week = 30 lessons a week). Now, we are being told that NONE of us should have the same lesson plans. We all need to have our own lessons for each of the lessons we teach. The expectation is that our plan books have all of these lessons written up, printed out, and at school everyday. Yah right. I'll start doing this when they give me a printer and paper and time to type (our planning time is filled with meetings most days).

I plan. I know what I'm teaching. I have to know where I'm going and what my goals are, what the standards are, what the students need to know before we can even begin the lessons/units. I know what to say and what questions to ask. I am constantly thinking about what I'll be teaching over the next weeks, and therefore, I'm constantly making my future lessons better... In my head. I have one sheet per day that I write my notes on. I have at least 2 weeks of notes and lessons penciled in. I am a teacher who has had training in lesson planning and I have college professors who still use my work as examples in class on what the planning of lessons and units looks like. It is a natural thing for me to do. I DON'T HAVE TIME TO WRITE 30+ PAGES A WEEK TO BE A GOOD TEACHER! There are more important things for me to do, like grade papers, figure out how I'm going to teach those kids who didn't get it the 1st time, 2nd time, 3rd time, figure out how I'm going to get my kids to the end point and have them prepared for upcoming tests and for the 6th grade... I have more than enough to do... All of these things which run out of the school day and into my own personal time... I don't have time to type 30+ pages. I've already gotten the paper (my college degree) that shows I know how to do this.

If the principal ever does come around to check my book of lessons (hasn't yet in the first 6 weeks), I'll show her what I have. I'll tell her to ask me about any of the lessons I have written in my one-page daily plan. I promise I'll be able to tell her why I'm teaching what I am teaching. I'll be able to explain what it was built on and/or where it is heading after this lesson. I'll be able to explain how I'm going to engage my students, assess them, differentiate the lessons for them, reteach them, and connect it to future learning. I'll be able to tell the principal what is classwork, partner work, individual work. I'll be able to explain how and when the students share their work. There is no reason for me to kill trees, use up time I don't even have, along with paper and ink just to have words on a paper.

At least I can have this plan of action until they actually start ENFORCING the pages of lessons. Dear Lord, I hope that day never comes.

Some days make my heart sick for my "home" school - the one I taught at last year, in my first year of teaching... The one that is worlds away. I miss you, School, with all my heart.