Yesterday, I asked how things were going back home. "STAAR," was her first reply, the time-consuming, all-important-but-we're-told-is-not-important state standardized testing. I nodded my head and shrugged my shoulders, feeling her pain. Then she mentioned that we have nine weeks left (well, eight now), a whole quarter of the year--and people are acting like we don't.
"It's all the looming deadlines before then," I replied. The stress of the last nine weeks is palpable, even in the library.
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Looming deadlines:
Time-consuming STAAR
Budgets needing to be spent
Accounts needing to be balanced
Inventory, inventory, inventory
Monthly infographics
Annual report
So much still to do:
Lessons to teach
Books to read
Professional development
Next year's events to be scheduled
A conference to attend
A mentee to guide
Club meetings to hold
Hunt for missing materials
Before children and teachers
Go missing for the summer
Evaluation--what have I done this year?
How well you capture the layers and layers of things- the vitally important things, the necessary things, the systemic-machinery things - that that outsiders don't always see. The hardest part of the accounting of everything is that idea - what have I really accomplished here? I went into education late, when my youngest started school, and I debated if this is what I really wanted to do. I worried I might not be effective, that I wouldn't be able to give the kids everything they need. My first principal said: "Just love the kids." It is my North Star. I've known for a long time now that it's also yours. :)
ReplyDeleteThat last line! I love the feelings it evokes.
ReplyDeleteThanks for sharing and thanks for the reminder.
If we experience the treadmill this way, I wonder how it feels for our students. Feeling the end of the 9 month sprint is unique, still a ways to go with the real threat of your wheels falling off. Miraculously we make it to the end, year after year.
ReplyDeleteIt is so true. Sometimes it feels like there is never a good time in schools to teach ... we need to weed out the distractions and let our kids explore and learn. It is a quarter of the year ... we need to shift our mindsets.
ReplyDelete