Oops

I really didn't mean to let an entire week go by without a single post.  But that's the kind of week I had last week.  CAM threw up multiple times Sunday night, so that was a sleepless night.  I had an angry parent (a conference with whom turned out just fine, by the way, and the mom actually apologized for not coming to me first) and a psycho parent (whose child is no longer my student but who is still wreaking havoc. Thankfully, the entire school administration is in agreement with me.  Mom has threatened to contact an attorney.  My snarky response, which I kept mostly to myself:  She already has*).  We had meetings every single day last week, so that I had only one prep period, and only one afternoon free.  By Thursday, WHM was full-on sick himself.  And then there was a disproportionate number of kids badmouthing me, as kids will do, but it became a grade-level phenomenon with what felt like "everyone" asking about my Algebra 2 ... yep, last week stunk.

Fortunately, we also snuck in a snow day last week, and I'll tell you what:  I needed it.  Emotionally and physically, I needed it.  There are so many demands on our time -- and so many of them unnecessary or wasteful -- that it was getting to me.  Throw in the parent issues and also an issue with colleagues being less than collegial ... really,  last week was a big old mess.  I also learned from someone that there's a huge "backstory" to what was going on at work.  That was actually nice, in a backwards reasoning sort-of way. 

As the week went on, believe it or not, it got better.  Learning the back story made me realize I was not crazy and made me realize the nonsense, though it was directed towards me, wasn't about me.  (By the way:  do you feel like you're in high school?  Yep.  You'd think this kind of behavior would be left to the students, but apparently even some adults can't leave the drama to the kids.)  The parent meeting went well.  Even though I knew I was stressed, I didn't realize quite how stressed until it was over.  Then, I had some other colleagues express support for me without knowing the "other" stories.  That helped. We had a teacher work day Friday, which was 100% taken by meetings, but the meetings went fine and I was in a good "work group" that actually had interesting and intelligent discussions without getting ugly or juvenile.  Or letting big egos get in the way.

I sat here at my desk Wednesday morning and wrote a rather lengthy post about how I was "over it," done, toast -- and I intentionally did not post it because I knew I needed to let it sit.  I'm glad I did.  Things got better.

Don't get me wrong:  I teach in a public school.  Things are not great, and some days they are not even good.  But they are better today than they were last week, and I have a fantastic administration -- which makes all the difference in the world.

People are not happy about change, and that will happen wherever you are -- and right now, our school (and schools everywhere) are in the midst of a lot of change.  And I teach Algebra 2, which is to high school honors kids what organic chemistry is to pre-med majors: it separates the real ones from the rest of the bunch.  I'm used to it, but right around this time every year is where the going really gets tough. You'd think I would be used to it, but I never am, and it wears on me every year.  So there are administrative demands on my time, there are content-area issues to anticipate and head-off, and then there's the regular teaching and planning and grading and, oh yeah, running a family and a home. 

In the middle of the work saga that was last week, I also managed to make a few Pinterest and cooking club recipes, finally finish Downton Abbey season three with CAM, watch a few family movies, finish CAM's tooth fairy pillow, clean the living room 25 times, vacuum my car (finally! -- let me tell you, a snowy, slushy, messy Maine winter without being parked in a garage has trashed my car's interior), take the kids to the high school's production of Beauty and the Beast (which was fantastic!) and watch some cool History Channel shows with Mick.  We went to Palm Sunday mass, read a few books and -- dare I say it -- I even graded!

And now it's Monday, the marking period closes Friday, and I'm already a week behind in everything I need to do this week.  Especially laundry.

Oh, the laundry!

--Jen


*Because I am an attorney.  Bwah hah hah

p.s.  I have lots of photos to upload.  I am going to try to download them from my camera right now, and then post about them in the next day or two.  I promise.  (To try, that is.  I can't promise I'll be all that great about the posts.)

Pin It