Days like today are the reason I teach and at the same time the reason I find my job so taxing. I love my job. I love hearing the exciting stories of what Santa left under the tree. I love teaching my charges new and exciting things; to read, to write, to add and subtract. The essentials! But today was our first day back after a 2 week winter break. Many people think we choose to go into teaching for the long breaks in our work year but this is the part of my job I find most difficult; the stopping and the starting. It feels like as soon as we get on a roll, it's time to stop again. Don't get me wrong, I love the opportunity the breaks give me to catch up on my sleep and projects around the house but I love my routines, too. Morning work: Writers Workshop. After lunch: Read Aloud. After recess: Snack and a Story. I miss my students when we are not at school and I miss the challenges I face at Daybreak Primary school. I am supposed to re-charge and re-energize myself during these breaks but instead I find myself winding down simply to wind myself right back up again to start anew. Or on a break like this one, my time is simply filled with a different kind of work; caring for Grandma Evie, welcoming my darling nieces who were born on the 29th, witnessing the decline of my mother-in-law into the abyss of Alzheimer's. I think I'm better at my day job of teaching first graders than I am at my job of running this house and nurturing these boys. I belong in room 105 and that's where I will be for the next 59 school days until...Spring Break.
Days like today are the reason I teach and at the same time the reason I find my job so taxing. I love my job. I love hearing the exciting stories of what Santa left under the tree. I love teaching my charges new and exciting things; to read, to write, to add and subtract. The essentials! But today was our first day back after a 2 week winter break. Many people think we choose to go into teaching for the long breaks in our work year but this is the part of my job I find most difficult; the stopping and the starting. It feels like as soon as we get on a roll, it's time to stop again. Don't get me wrong, I love the opportunity the breaks give me to catch up on my sleep and projects around the house but I love my routines, too. Morning work: Writers Workshop. After lunch: Read Aloud. After recess: Snack and a Story. I miss my students when we are not at school and I miss the challenges I face at Daybreak Primary school. I am supposed to re-charge and re-energize myself during these breaks but instead I find myself winding down simply to wind myself right back up again to start anew. Or on a break like this one, my time is simply filled with a different kind of work; caring for Grandma Evie, welcoming my darling nieces who were born on the 29th, witnessing the decline of my mother-in-law into the abyss of Alzheimer's. I think I'm better at my day job of teaching first graders than I am at my job of running this house and nurturing these boys. I belong in room 105 and that's where I will be for the next 59 school days until...Spring Break.
So you are back to work with your sweet charges! I'm back as well, procrastinating at my desk instead of reading the text in front of me. You've just wound me back up... thanks! :D
ReplyDeleteWhew...that was way too long a break from room 105....I don't know how I am going to handle a whole summer vacation.
ReplyDelete