There’s so much to do … and then you need to teach
Sometimes life is complicated, because we make it that way. And sometimes it’s complicated just because it’s life.
Most weeks your to do list is longer than humanly possible, and somehow you forget, that every week that passes, without you crossing everything off of the list, somehow you don’t die, your kids don’t starve ,and the world just keeps on turning.
I don’t blame you for the momentary freak out, I do it myself.
For example, last week, I pretty much got nothing accomplished other than yelling at the person wearing a Geek Squad Badge at Best Buy, who was telling me that they didn’t know anything about fixing computers or viruses. In order for them to pass my computer along to someone who did know something about computers, all that I needed to do was give them my 4 month old computer for 3 days (minimum), and $200.
I also managed to forget to pack my toothbrush for the ten thousandth time in my life, ask my neighbor why in the world she was going to work on a Tuesday ( she doesn’t work Tuesday’s) , to only discover that it was Thursday, and helped an un-named person, who forget their keys, get into their house, using my credit card. ( I have skills)
Okay, so I accomplished a few things, but NONE of them were on my ever growing list.
Papers and projects weren’t graded.
The house wasn’t cleaned.
My workouts weren’t completed.
Your kids are wearing the same pants for the second ( scratch that) fourth day in a row, because you didn’t have time to do laundry. You just ordered pizza, and purposely ordered too much, because you need leftovers if anyone is going to eat lunch tomorrow.
And then, you walk through the door of your classroom, coffee in hand, and you see a sink overflowing with dirty paintbrushes and water buckets, surely they multiplied overnight. Somehow for the 10th time this year you only have two black sharpie left, and you can’t seem to understand why they can’t just clean up.
You’re tired of repeating yourself.
Tired of fighting with the students
Tired of the mess and feeling defeated.
Maybe you don’t need to repeat yourself, instead you need to change the way that you say it, or even better don’t say it, play it. I don’t an art teacher that isn’t trying to find an easier way to keep supplies organized and well cared for, or a more playful way to deal with classroom management. While I don’t use bingo cards every single day, it’s a fun way to switch things up in the classroom. It helps to hold students responsible, and give them a checklist that feels like a game.
