Unfortunately, I'm struggling with lack of motivation today. This is SOL week, so I have to keep the kids as unstressed as possible, but I also need to continue with curriculum. I have 2.5 weeks left in the semester. As I've said before, since I took over for a strange situation, it's been hard because the kids have been used to either no work or substitutes or movies.
The hardest part about this job so far is the grading--and frankly, it's overwhelming. I assign things for them to do.... one-act plays, stories, radio shows, commercials, speeches (yes, all of these things for different classes), but then I have to grade them! That's a silly complaint from a teacher, but since the kids aren't really used to grades (and neither are the parents), it's very hard for me to actually evaluate them. I don't have time to go into full detail with a long unit on research papers, yet I have to get them to write a (very short) one. How can I analyze and grade them? It doesn't seem fair to me. As far as drama, I feel the same way. They wrote plays, they performed them. As far as I'm concerned, that's 100% better than what they were doing, so they should get an A. However, should I be harder? Drama is an elective... and I remember in high school when I was in band and chorus, we just got As as long as we participated. Is that how Drama works? Ah, the life of the first-time teacher.
I still haven't found out if I got the English position for the rest of the year. If I do get it, I'll have to spend my free time making my syllabus, figure out classroom management rules and tactics, etc. That's a lot to do in just a matter of a couple of weeks. STRESS.
As far as the rest of the day,
I'm going to TRY
to get rid of this awful
feeling of stress
and take
a few
deep
breaths.
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