Thoughts from the “Mountain” – My Kingdom for A Single Grade Level

Is it a bad sign that after 18-years as a teacher in an ongoing series of “Specialist” positions that I’m thinking about the virtues of having a single grade level (aka, my own class)? It must be this cold/sore throat that I’m attempting to fight off… in my weakened state and all. I should know better. This really feels like this is just a case of “the grass is greener” syndrome.

Whenever we talk, mom asks me if I’m happy and I have a hard time coming up with a real answer. Not a good sign. Fourteen weeks (out of 37) into the school year and I haven’t gotten any sense of rhythm getting things done except that I’m not keeping up with creating my podcast, my blogging, my photography, etc., etc., etc. I really enjoyed my first real summer off, but maybe I didn’t give myself enough time before students arrived to get things set up. I thought I was handling all of the items that were delayed that were out of my hands… But I’ve missed too many deadlines to have a real positive attitude about all of this. Damn.

I know that my non-specialist coworkers work like crazy to stay ahead of everything and that for every thing that is complicating my work responsibilities that I’d gladly give up, it would only be replaced by something else were I to switch positions. I’m tempted to complain that I’m too old for this shit, except for my coworkers who are plugging away everyday who happen to be older than moi. I guess I just need to suck it up, buttercup. Next week is our Thanksgiving week break (yes, they now are giving us the whole week off!). Let’s see if I can’t get enough things off my To-Do list so that I can enjoy my Turkey Day with family and friends and not feel like I’m falling further behind.