Week 8 is the week when teachers across the country are at breaking point. There is tension in the staffroom as teachers are working assiduously around the clock, to conquer Mount Marking and prepare report cards for each of their students (remember I have 185 of them....eeek!). This clock that I'm referring to, by the way, is not the 9am-3pm stereotypical clock.
Words aren’t flowing freely this week, so I apologise if this post: a. Doesn't make a whole lot of sense. b. Contains too many pictures for your liking. c. Gives you flashbacks to your disorganised and bedraggled childhood bedroom (or your brother's!).
If you are not in the reading mood, please take 15 valuable seconds of your life, to analyse the below image. This simple diagram, accurately summarises the week that was, for me and 269 999 other teachers across the nation.
I’d say that most teachers would be like me in the fact that I started the year with fabulous intentions, and set myself some ground rules, to make the term run as smoothly as possible, and to prevent any kind of break down. Given that I am only one dropped glass of milk away from a break down, I need to reflect a little on these rules that I set myself.
Rules I made in Week 1:
1. Mark all of the work as soon as it comes in. Or at least in the same week as it is handed in.
2. Be prepared for all lessons at least two weeks in advance. Or at the very least, one week in advance.
3. Only accept one draft from the students. My time is precious.
If you know me, you know that I LOVE rules and I follow rules to make my life more relaxing. I dislike breaking rules myself, and I'm not a fan of other people breaking rules. Rules are not made to be broken. So upon reflection, I have found a personal fault in this theory, whereby I seem to only break the rules I write for myself. How did I break all three of my Week 1 rules??
Rules from Week 1 that I broke:
1. I found work from as far back as Week 3 (That’s 5 weeks ago!) that I hadn’t marked. Oops.
2. I think I’m prepared for about 4 minutes of Monday next week. Oops.
3. “Dear Miss, If you have some time may you please check over my third draft?”. Thank you so much. You're a really dedicated teacher. (Mental reply to this kind of email: First of all sweetheart, teachers NEVER have spare time. Second of all, I’d LOVE to look at your third draft. If you want to send a fourth, that's no problem too xx".
I’m already feeling uptight recapping the week that was. Let me stop and share a photo of something I did for myself this week. I broke my routine, and stopped to watch the sunrise, a few minutes from my house. This was definitely a positive way to start the day. Nature is so beautiful and waiting for the sun to break over the horizon, is special. Surely with such a positive start to the day, nothing bad will happen today……surely........
This same day I had a spare lesson in Period 1. This is amazing for me because I’m such a “morning person” so I busily worked through my to-do list. Then I got a great idea to go to the coffee shop located just around the corner from school and treat myself to a delicious cup of coffee. So, I walked over, got my coffee and was happily sipping on it on the way back, thinking “what a bloody great day! Nothing could ruin it. Nothing at all”…..but then, one of my beautiful orange shoes that I was wearing because it was Harmony Day, broke. The whole front strap snapped right off and I was unable to walk. So I had a coffee in one hand, and a shoe in the other, as I walked back to my desk. Then, all of 45 seconds later, MY OTHER SHOE BROKE. Same place as the first, also unwalkable. So my beautiful day, turned into me awkwardly walking beside the road, barefoot, coffee in one hand and two shoes and my phone in the other hand. My initial thought as I walked back into the school was “I have to go home. I can’t work barefoot”. Then I momentarily calmed down, and remembered that some brainiac invented sticky tape. So I used nearly a whole role of clear tape, taping both of my shoes back together. Please admire my handy work below:
Also, R.I.P. orange shoes.
After the Great Shoe Disaster of 2019, this was me (below) psyching myself up to face my classes with sticky taped shoes. Guess how many students mentioned the tape??? None.
What else did I break this week? My diet of course. That’s what. What does a Week 8 diet look like? For me it was full of carbs. I couldn’t get enough of them. Wine also. Ice-cream too. Can we make a new rule that states: “Week 8 is stressful, calories do not count. Eat alllll the food”. Please admire some of the wholesome foods which made it into my body this week.
I am sure you can agree that my diet was balanced and covered all major food groups.
I’d had enough by the middle of the week. There was too much to do, and not enough time, despite working my butt off every second of the day. I thought I would reward myself and leave work as soon as the bell went. So I pack my bag, ready to go, and BAM, an epic storm hit that lasted for at least 40 minutes. By the time I decided to brave the trek to my car, it was still bucketing down, but the lightening and thunder had stopped. Was this God's way of further agitating me and not allowing me to relax?! Below is 10 seconds before I walked to my car. I got drenched. Like a drowned rat. It suited my mood, a lot. Was it raindrops or tears streaming down my face?! I guess you'll never know....
Two good things did happen at work this week.
1. Harry Potter DVD in Italian came in the mail. I can't wait to watch this with my students.
2. A colleague gave me a beautiful hand-made notebook with my favourite animal on the front. So thoughtful, and a reminder there are kind people in the world!
It’s finally the weekend. I can't remember the last weekend where I've had a relatively empty schedule and I had time to relax. I can't remember the last time that I had time to rest my brain and my body, and do some things that I find enjoyable. I was determined that I'd do just that, this weekend. So I woke up and I rode my bike for the first time in what felt like weeks. 10km's into my ride and I regretted not riding more over the past month. I instantly felt free and calm (not to mention happy that maybe I'd start burning off some of those Week 8 calories!). For me, riding is my favourite thing to do and I should have put aside some school work and made time for the things I enjoy. That will be my goal this week. Surely Week 9 is not as hectic as Week 8 anyway....surely!
Evidence of my contentedness found below :-)
10 working days until a much needed break.....hang in there fellow teachers of Australia, all 269 999 of you!