It has been several weeks since I last reflected in written form on my teaching. I'd like to say that I have missed it. But writing remains a difficult thing for me. This of course is not to say that I have not been reflecting; I just have not been writing it down. So now that I'm back, I could take off on any number of topics. I left off at conference week so I could write about how I learned to conference with my "high" kids' parents as well as the ones I worry about, hence making conference week totally exhausting or I could talk about attending the Advanced Study at Ponderosa, the myriad of events at Sutter including assemblies by the Dairy Council and neighborhood firefighters, Literacy Night, Sutterfest, Red Ribbon Week, and the pumpkin patch. Yes, these things have all taken place within 3 weeks time. Is it any wonder we are all exhausted by Halloween?
No, tonight I want to think about procrastination. It is currently my greatest enemy. I am at school by 7:00 in the morning- a full 90 minutes before school starts. On most days I couldn't tell you what I get done in that time. I go to bed and wake up with a prioritized plan of what I will do the minute I walk in the classroom, the people I need to call at recess or lunch and the papers I will grade after school and be on my way home by 5. Well that just isn't happening. As a matter of fact the past 2 nights have been 6:00 departures rather than 5. So the question is what exactly am I doing? I walk in the door and I turn on the computer - first mistake. I check e-mails and answer the immediate ones (maybe that will change now that my computer at home has been rejuvenated. Thanks, Bill!) Then I turn to the day's lesson plans. More often than not the bulk of them are in my head rather than in my lesson plan book. So I solidify what will/will not work given the day's schedule. B's mom usually stops in on her way to daycare to unravel the latest quandary at home. I get books from the book room for guided reading, make copies, check in and get the stuff from my box. Then I go back to my room look at a pile of papers or notebooks that need to be checked and immediately find something more interesting to do - like move the furniture. The clock ticks away and the only reason that I am ready to teach at 8:30 is because I have done it for so many years. After school any number of things can divert my attention; checking e-mail, looking for lessons on-line, searching Amazon for the latest books I am trying to talk myself out of buying, chatting with teachers, alumni students, and moms and kids leaving day care. Then I start making deals with myself. I'll correct those papers tomorrow morning FIRST THING or I'll take them home and do them tonight. Those papers can go back and forth for 2 or 3 days before I finally have had it with myself and sit down to correct them. The sad part is that when I finally do it, it takes a matter of minutes. It would be so much easier if I would just do them a set at a time instead of 4 or 5 sets that have to be done before the Wednesday envelope goes home. Hence my 6:00 exit today! This is a issue for me and something I really need to work on. I sense it getting worse with age. Perhaps I procrastinate because I simply don't have the energy at that moment to do the task. But with the energy spent on the "deals" I make, I could have already have done the job. So my goal for the week... correct each day's work on that day. Oh wait. Tomorrow we have a 1:45 professional development meeting and I am walking at 4. I'll correct tomorrow's papers first thing Thursday morning. And so it begins.
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