Cut for your protection.
I think I have sort of fallen of the grid as far as posting on lj goes, so I figured I'd write a post today filling people in on everything.
I like to think that I can handle just about everything. I am aware this is not true. But when it comes to work, I truly like to think I can handle it, and do it well. I want to be good at my job, really good at it. So I take on tasks, and try to do what is asked of me, and go beyond because I want to be one of those teachers who is well received. This may be why I am partially in the position I am in now. I'm involved in a few things.
Currently I teach 3 AP World classes and 2 Pre-AP world classes. That in and of it self is a fairly heavy load because I assign a fair number of essays and tests, and grades for all these classes to keep it reasonably rigorous. The AP test is May 13th, I have just finished going over the great depression with my AP kids so I have a month to get from WWII-modern day. The past two weeks I have taken over review sessions for another AP World teacher because he has been sick.
I am also the 9th grade team co-lead, which usually doesn't mean a lot of work, but this year we have a brand new teacher one staff who I am spending a lot of time helping. I am the 9th grade transition team co-lead. This has meant mentoring 1 day a week, and various amounts of paper work and saturday meetings throughout the year. I am currently in charge of remediation for the World History II SOL...about 1 hour a week, plus studying the material ahead of time since this is a class I don't teach. I am class of 2011 sponsor, which means I am in the middle of planning prom, and today's Prom Fashion Show. And finally I am taking a class once a week to get my gifted and talented certification which the state has mandated I need since I teach 5 honors classes.
These are all the things I do for my job, which I truly enjoy, but it is a lot. It is some days an exhausting amount of work that stresses me out, like today did.
Smaller problems are things like the AC which seems to be dead, not entirely sure what is wrong yet. The one company who came out last week said the compressor had faulty wiring and needed to be replaced. However the wiring was just fine for the past 3 years, and it's only 3 years old and several thousand dollars, so I am getting a second opinion on Friday.
On top of all this, which does keep me busy, is the other more serious news that my Dad has cancer. I don't know who all I've told, or who knows because they've heard through someone else, but we've been dealing with this since between the two blizzards. He gets treatments every Wednesday, and over all they have been going very well and the success rate for the treatment for his type of cancer is high, so we are all very hopeful, but it is yet another stressor that is there.
so..I don't know what to say, I truly think I can handle all of this stuff, and I am certain that all of them will work out and be ok, but at the same time, some days I just want to curl up and hide. Or cry. I have taken to crying every so often, mostly because I have determined it is the best stress relief I have time for. I'd love to take a walk for an hour but I haven't been getting home until quarter to 8 it seems like every night, so by the time I get dinner and shower, it is bed time. But crying for 15 minutes, while as my mother would say- never solves anything- it sure as hell helps release the pressure of all this stress I seem to be building up.
Nothing is going badly, nothing is wrong, everything is fine, and I am okay, but some days some days it just...isn't.
which is why it was nice today when my student, my adopted son, showed up unexpectedly at work, and I got a hug, cause that is what I needed today.
sorry for the explosion of stuff. that is why it was cut for your protection.