Sunday, October 18, 2009

Duties and Conversations

Most likely, just like other schools, I have extra duties and guilt that sometimes makes me volunteer for EXTRA one time duties. And, just like other teachers, there's probably a fair bit of grumbling under my breath about how I don't have TIME for this and I need my time to prepare and on and on.

On the other hand, there are some nice perks that go along with my morning duty. The 2 other teachers I share it with teach different subjects and different grade levels, and I never see them other places. So my 15 minute morning duty allows me to chat with and get to know them and feel more connected to our school's "family".

Along the same lines, I volunteered to give up my lunch time to help sell t-shirts the other day. Not so bad, since I could eat my lunch at the same time, and I have the next period off, so I didn't feel too stressed. At this duty I got a chance to talk with yet a 3rd teacher I never see (new also this year) that teaches a foreign language. This conversation was super helpful to both of us. I shared with her some of the snippy behavior and struggles I'm having with a few of my students, and she mentioned that the same was happening with her. We talked about another student that's not doing so well in either of our classes, and I think we both left with the feeling of, "Whew! it's not just me.".

It's so easy to feel isolated and stressed and feel like the ONLY one that may be having certain troubles, that it's nice to commiserate with others that are going through the same thing ... not that I'd wish it on them, but you know...

3 comments:

  1. Glad you found some benefit to your extra duty. My school is way too small for me to see that as a benefit though :)

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  2. Anonymous9:30 AM

    Some nice powerpoints for geometry lessons.

    http://www.mathstory.com/geolessons/geolessons.htm

    ReplyDelete
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