There it is. The Stack of papers. You are fully aware of this if you are a teacher. It is a special creature, a life form all it's own. It manages to multiply very rapidly in normal settings, even more quickly if you neglect it for even a day. It can sense tiredness & stress & will use these to its advantage. You repeatedly think you have tamed it, only to turn around & see that it has regrown in a fashion similar to Medusa's heads. You want to sic it on the next person you hear talking about "the great teacher hours." The beast cannot be tamed at school because you barely have time to pee at school, much less actually plan or grade. No, that fun follows you home. You tell yourself, "This time I am not going to write as much feedback or I am not assigning an essay on the next unit or I am only grading one every other unit." Then, you do it all because you can't help but want your kids to learn & it's the only way. It is a necessary evil. AAAAGHHHH!!
Grading the work of 150 students is not a perk of teaching. BUT (always a but) there are definitely lots of perks to be found. For example, a few weeks ago was Spirit Week. I am never going to pass up a chance to participate in something like that (Sophomore Sitcoms, anyone?), so on character day I gave a shout out to Hogwarts. If you guessed Mad Eye Moody, you are partially right. I am Barty Crouch Jr. who is Mad Eye Moody under the influence of polyjuice potion. The real Mad Eye is in my trunk. (side note: wearing the eye patch was NOT fun. It gave me a headache & made everything really bright & fuzzy when I took it off. I wore it for probably 2 minutes. Have I mentioned I love my kid?)
Spirit Week=Homecoming Dance=I live at school for a few weeks planning everything & hope that no one ruins it by puking at the dance.
The theme was "The City that never Sleeps!" (You know, Knoxville...) And we did a lot of glow in the dark themed decorations, complete with handing out glow necklaces. This is a pic of the mass of hormones that was the dance floor. You can sort of see the skyline up against the wall & the light up balloon arches across the ceiling.
We had a little carpet painted like a street that was lined with lanterns as the entrance. Each post had different colored light bulbs & it was really so cute.
We paid a lot of money for these balloons, so I wanted to take a lot of pictures.
The skyline while we set it up.
Cute little street signs that the girls painted. They really did such a great job.
And, it's over for another year! I do love my job, but I must admit I am relieved when Homecoming is over for the year. 
I do not miss the stack of papers. Shudder.
ReplyDeleteI do miss Spirit Week and being a teacher during fun things like Homecoming. Seriously.
that will be the name of your book: "...always a 'but'..."
ReplyDeleteyep. that's it.
My mom was a teacher. She always worked all day and all evening. It is never done. NEVER. Teachers are heroes.
ReplyDeleteThe Dance looked like fun. Awesome decor.
Our boys are heroes. PERIOD!
I think that is all. I might have to write another comment later. :)
OMG I love the balloon sculpture! I might have to steal that idea for our school when I get back! And the glow dance idea too! :) I hear ya on the stack that never ends! I don't miss "my stack" although it was all artwork instead of essays.
ReplyDeleteI once put one of Easton's patches on my eye. I probably left it there for less than 60 seconds and hated every single second. My skin was stuck, my eyelashes were squished, my other eye was straining, I was literally getting a headache and having an anxiety attack all at once. It's amazing, truly amazing that they let us do this to them!
That is AWESOME! I didn't even recognize the cafeteria! I seriously thought you rented a space, which is so not something they did when I was there. But no, you just kick major booty and decorated the coolest theme ever. You are amazing!
ReplyDelete