Waste of Time

Only two weeks left now until I begin another year of teaching. In one week, I get to experience In-Service meetings at the new school. If they're anywhere near as exciting as last year's meetings, I had best be prepared and bring some crossword puzzles with me.

It's going to be hard getting to know a whole new staff. I can only hope that my "team" is encouraging and cooperative like we were at ALA last year. Surprisingly, a few other teachers decided to leave that school this summer as well. This year probably would have sucked there, especially with a rawer deal for health insurance.

I'm a little worried, since I didn't use much time this month to prepare for the school year. I was mostly wrapped up in organizing the new apartment, relaxing and actually having some fun during the little bit of summer I have left. But next week I really need to crack down, get up early every day, and start plotting out the school year for each of the four classes. I just want the year to go well. I don't want to be thinking in December that I'd have been better off going back to grad school or working some stupid office job. Optimisim. That's the ticket.

I know I CAN handle the work load; the question is, do I really WANT to teach four different classes and be responsible for the writing, reading, and comprehension skills of the entire high school? That's a lot of responsibility, especially now that the grades I give them will count for their GPA and actually affect their futures.

Alright, this is too heavy for me to think about right now. I think I'll go back to my usual plan of eating lunch, straightening the apartment, and feigning interest in reading the textbooks I'll be using this year. Oh, and flipping through the channels on the off chance that daytime television doesn't completely suck ass.