My Marking Will Wait

It’s Monday. It’s almost Christmas. I’m tired. I’m cranky. I’m ready for the break.

As you may already know, this teaching gig is getting me a little worn out. And lately, I’ve been slipping on my marking. And by that I mean I’ve fallen way behind. And there’s a problem, it is getting very hard for me to find the motivation to do the “dirty work” such as marking. Part of it has to do with the time of year. I’m ready for the break, all the students are ready for the break.

So as of late, I haven’t done all my marking. And honestly, I’m ok with that. The sun will come up tomorrow if I don’t get tomorrow’s math test marked 15 minutes after its handed in. I may do some marking over the break, emphasis on may. But what I need to do first is take care of me. I need to clear my head. I hate to say it but there was a day or two last week when the thought of a different profession crossed my mind.

So in order to keep my sanity, I’m going to watch football tonight. I probably won’t get to any marking before the break and I am totally ok with that. Future me might be a little upset because of the workload, but I’m sure he’ll thank me in the long run.

Thinking About Teaching

Back in EPS 100 a the U of R when they told us young naive souls that wanted to become educators that teaching is a 24/7 type of profession, I thought they just meant everywhere you go people will see you as being a teacher, and you should act in a professional manner.

I did not know that as a teacher, and I feel I can speak for most new teachers, that you will be consumed by this profession. I’m not complaining about the amount of work that I am putting in. I’m talking about spending 95% of my day just thinking about teaching. And not cool things like how inspirational and motivating I am (probably not, but I like to think so), but thinking about what I have planned, what I have to plan, what I have to mark, assignments I have to make, etc, etc, etc.

This isn’t necessarily bad, my qualm with it is that this is all I can think about. I just want to shut my brain off. I am so exhausted by the end of the day that I just crash on the couch. I have sat down and stared at the wall, in silence, for no reason. I have a hockey game tonight and I will bet money that during the game I will think about school.

I guess what I would like to know, is does this get better? Or will I just get used to being a zombie most days? My first instinct tel me hat this will get better. But its midway through December and the end doesn’t seem in sight.

I know it sounds like I have a terrible attitude towards my job. I love my job, I really do. Maybe all this thought I put into it is a sign that I care about what I do, and want to get better. But I don’t know, I’m tired and cranky right now. Ask me again later.

Movember 2011 In The Books

Yes, I am aware it is now December and that Movember has been over for 5 days, but I’m still going to write about it.

I will start off by saying that I haven’t shaved my ‘stache yet. I am simply growing my beard back around it. I missed my beard.

Also I would just like to thank all the students (none of whom likely will read this) that donated to this cause. I raised $400 in my room alone. Together at our school we raised almost $1600.One of the teachers has to keep his moustache because he said he would if he raised over $500. Our school had a Movember themed assembly, where students wore fake and drawn on moustaches. It was one of my favorite assemblies this year.

There were a lot of Twitter chirps, students chose sides, it was really a fun fundraiser. I can’t wait until next Movember.