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March 27, 2008
Ode to too much work
Since the middle of March, I've been working every evening training other teachers and scoring the state math exams. I leave to my normal school job in the mornings, do all my normal work, then jump on a train downtown to do the scoring work. We finish at 8pm, I get on a train, and I'm home by 9. I work Saturdays and Sundays 8 hours a day, then go get groceries, then the next day do laundry. My normal home jobs and tasks take up the remaining time or are postponed. I also stupidly opted to complete a six week online math course during this time. Stupid, stupid optimism.
I was sitting there on the subway heading home, trying to read some math lessons I'm planning, and I could not focus. I read through the text, realized I had read a whole page without any comprehension, then just gave up. When I got home, I didn't want to do any school work. I didn't want to talk. I didn't want to pay bills. I didn't want to to anything at all.
Here's the big idea that struck me. I realized that my level of tiredness is what so many of my students' parents deal with every day. Some work twelve hours a day, and I know their jobs are more exhausting than mine. I can't even imagine dealing with kids after 12 hours of work, plus laundry, groceries, cleaning, medical stuff, and checking homework. I can just imagine that hearing a terse message from their teenager's math teacher is probably the last thing they want to hear.
I'm lucky. I'm doing this for extra cash and building experience evaluating student work, not because I have to pay rent. Derrick walks the dog, makes me lunch, and cooks the meals. If he weren't here, I would be coming home to dog poop all over the house, and I'd be eating a bunch of PB&J.
I have to do my extra work for a few more weeks, then I'll have time to relax again. I'm not saying I'm giving up calling the parents. They still need to know that their child is the school's expert wedgie-giver, but I know that I'm going to take extra care to be as respectful as I possibly can of their lives.
Posted by G at March 27, 2008 09:05 PM
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Comments
You rock. And you're SO lucky you have someone to feed you and the dog; working those kinds of hours with no support is what drives folks to drink. Srsly.
Posted by: goblinbox at March 28, 2008 03:10 PM
Wow. What a great post. I love how you have empathy for your kids parent even while your running yourself ragged. Well done you.
Posted by: Brad at March 28, 2008 06:32 PM
Is the call to the parents of the expert wedgie-giver a congratulatory call? Does your school have a special award for that? Just wondering.
Posted by: Jess at March 29, 2008 09:50 AM
Much love to Derrick and Bear for keeping the house going. Funny how going through a challenging experience makes you re-evaluate your everyday situation. Hang in there!
Posted by: ELeamon at March 30, 2008 10:32 PM
Up by 5:45 to shower by 6 before little J wakes up. Dress, eat breakfast, rush to school. Spend prep periods mostly grading or planning. Stay at school working till 5, then leave to pick up little J. Spend from then till 8 taking care of little J, then have dinner. Continue working at 8:30/9 till at least 10, usually later. Go to sleep. Repeat.
If Big J didn't do food shopping and preparing, and laundry, I'd be eating even fewer vegetables than I do now and be more behind in my work.
Open school was tonight! 169 kids on my roster, about 100 failed the 1st marking period, I sent "danger of failure" letters home to every one, had 5 parents visit tonight.
BTW, you may not encounter this in math classes, but why, when shown movie images of peaceful civil disobedience protesters being violently beaten ("Gandhi"), do many teenagers laugh out loud?
At least I haven't [yet] suffered any AP repercussions from the Great Pencil Incident, when I feared a vindictive U due to my having sought pencils in the main office. There wasn't a single pencil in our department.
This has been your New York City Teacher Venting Moment!
Posted by: Cohort 6 Fellow at April 3, 2008 10:15 PM
glenn - i hear you on how busy you are. it seems epidemic - particularly in this city - how busy and stressed everyone is on a continuous basis. it's really toxic and i wish i had a solution.
you are right to thank derrick for taking care of the dog and the cooking. i often wish i had someone at home to do some of that stuff. or atleast to divide and conquer. sometimes it feels like you are drowing - between crazy 10 or 12 hour work days, the gym, and all the minutia life in the city requires.
i think this is why so many of us have that "ditch it all and go sell organic beets at a montana farm stand" fantasy. or maybe that's just me.
Posted by: Tony Rizzuto at April 16, 2008 12:35 PM