There should be another box to check on jury summons, one especially for educators that says "Fulfilling the summons would require me to write sub plans. Therefore, I cannot attend."
I am not against fulfilling my civic duty. Okay, I am against it a little due to the fact that it requires me to drive downtown and deal with downtown traffic, something I've managed to avoid in almost every job I've held.
And I am a lot against it due to sub plans. It took me the better part of three hours to write the plans for a day-and-a-half of absence--and that's with a library assistant for the sub to rely on. There are two kindergarten, three first grade, five second grade, six third grade, six fourth grade, and one fifth grade class coming to the library during that time. Half have a lesson or read-aloud. The lessons require technology and knowledge of genres. The read-aloud is supposed to prompt discussion about the inclusivity of schools and the ethics of kindness. There will be lots and lots of books coming and going through our circulation desk.
My assistant will do most of the heavy lifting, and she'll be great. But I'm sad she's put in this position. Teaching is one of the few professions, if not the only, I can think of that requires sub plans. Do lawyers submit sub plans? Doctors (other than their usual orders)? Plumbers? Hairdressers? Army generals? I'm pretty sure my quality control inspector husband didn't have to submit sub plans when he had jury duty, or sick leave, or just took a day off for the heckuvit.
Now that the sub plans are done, I can show up for jury duty with a slightly better attitude.
Emphasis on slightly.
The students have been back since last Thursday. I've been greeted with smiles and hugs and finger waves in the hallways. Teachers have told me their classes are champing at the bit to get into the library. (Our mascot is a stallion, so the idiom fits.)
Today, we open the doors for class visits. Promptly at eight am, two third grade classes will arrive for a quick orientation lesson on Nearpod, then let loose with shelf markers in hand to check out books. They will be followed by a stream of kindergarteners and first graders, who will listen to read-alouds of We're Going on a Book Hunt and The Shelf Elf . Another round of third grade, and then second grade to end our day.
There are still items to catalog, a table to clear, and my office to clean up. My wonderful assistant is making visual signage, but we may have to shift that soon when a minor remodeling project takes place. I have yet to make firm lesson plans past next week.
Ready or not, the readers are coming!
Five things I used to think:
1) I used to think that planning out every minute of my day meant that I had control over my life. And then my firstborn arrived fourteen weeks before my planner said she was due. I quickly realized that the saying "we plan, and God laughs" just might be true. I didn't touch a planner for six months afterward. I still plan, but leave lots of room for God's sense of humor.
2) I used to think that racism was a thing of the past, having grown up in a home without racial epithets and on diverse military bases. And then I went to college, and heard it with my own ears, saw it with my own eyes. I still do, and it makes me sad.
3) I used to think that in many ways, I screwed up as a mother. I still think I did, but now that my kids are young adults and thriving, I think that my good moments outweighed the bad ones. Either that, or my kids have really good coping skills.
4) I used to think of the Church as a family home when I was younger, a constant in our military lifestyle. Then we moved into a parish that was blatantly misogynistic and unwelcoming of our Masonic participation, and the foundation of that home started to crack. Then the pedophile scandals broke loose, and more evidence of domineering patriarchy in my own parish...it no longer felt like home. But that's okay, because God is everywhere.
5) I used to think I had to know everything, do everything on my own. But then I married a man who is great at the things I'm not, like fixing stuff and killing large bugs in the house. He's a great dad, too, which is probably why our kids turned out okay.
I'm sure if I really thought about it, there are a lot of things I used to think but don't anymore. I hope that I never stop learning.
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I love the raw, honest humor of Beth Woolsey . Her acceptance of our flawed humanity while we strive to be better people just makes me feel better. This Slice is inspired by one of her recent posts, "10 Things I Used to Think...What About You?"
I came of age at that mall
Wearing lip gloss and tight jeans
Got an ear pierced
Watched movies
Shopped for school clothes
Sang in the bar with friends
over a pitcher of beer
************
I had never been that far north
Until a boyfriend invited me
A whirlwind road trip--a day up, and
A day back, his uncle proclaiming
(behind our backs)
That I would be the one for him
He was right
El Paso, Texas was my father's last Army post. I spent the last three years of my high school there, before heading east to college in Austin.
My husband is a native Ohioan. His home city of Cleveland so far from Dayton, yet still jarring to see his mourning state featured in the news.
This past week has pulled at the heartstrings connecting us to those places.
