Being sick is no fun, especially when you are a teacher. This is what I learned this week. Battling a sinus infection leads to a lack of energy and organization and therefore lessons and students that are not at their best.
Heading to the Senior Mini Meet for the track team this week was an interesting experience. Of course, it was the only pouring rain day of the week but we spent it outside for 2 hours measuring distances and starting races. I ran the long jump pit on my own. I enjoyed running a station and cheering on students from my school but also the other schools. Track meets were always something I enjoyed doing in school so I am happy to be able to provide that to other students.
Friday was the worst way to end this week. My SA caught my illness and ended up not coming to school, leaving me with a TOC. Although I was already scheduled to teach 85% of the day, the change in rhythm really threw me off. Also, Friday is not the best learning day for any student. We had an author visit come to the library and meet with my students and Kate’s students for an hour. They had to sit, listening to someone else talk, for a whole hour. It was a recipe for disaster. They were not able to get back into the groove of school, despite my efforts. They were all about 5 to 10 minutes late leaving at the end of the day because we ran out of time and needed to cleanup the classroom and get Mother’s Day cards and gifts organized. Such a nightmare.
On Thursday after school, my SA said, “change whatever you want” in relation to the schedule and classroom arrangements. Wow, what an invitation. Of course, I will take this comment in small strides. Friday afternoon I moved all the desks around because I know they needed a change and so do I. Especially because we did not get to have our usual Friday afternoon meeting planning the next week ahead, looks like I will just be planning on my own and showing up on Monday and showing her what week is going to look like.
With my trip to Switzerland also fast approaching, it is hard to balance both the prep and excitement for that along with 80-100% of the teaching load here. There is just not enough time in the day to get it all done.