Whistle while you work!

Two more long days at work. . .

Yesterday I stayed after school until about six o'clock (thank God I have patient children who can entertain themselves for long periods of time) dealing with union stuff. I am one of the union reps at our school and I had invited the union president to come visit so we could share our concerns and she could answer a few questions. All in all, things are pretty good at our school. But it's always nice to have an outside viewpoint. So that took a while. It's one of the only chances I get to visit with teachers in other grades. I feel so segregated! I work in a separate building with only 8th grade teachers and I eat lunch with all the 8th grade teachers, so I really don't see the K-7 teachers except at trainings and faculty meetings.

Today we were at school until 6:30 or so. I stayed until about 5 helping the Reading Coach put together the flyer for Family Literacy Night at the end of the month. It is one of those things that was supposed to be taken care of by a committee but the committee kept shifting the duty to someone else and suddenly it had to be done NOW! We don't have school next Monday or Tuesday so if it didn't get done and printed for tomorrow, it wouldn't go out until next Wednesday and then it would be too late. . . Anyway, it got done and it looks very nice I think. Then there was some visiting. . . one of my vices that keeps me from ever leaving at 4 when the day is supposed to be over. . . and then I spent an hour poring over test results from the District benchmarks and getting my plans ready for tomorrow. I have been playing catch up constantly for two weeks now. Ever since I started my blog. . . hmmmm. . . strange coincidence, wouldn't you say?

So now I am home. Mike made us dinner and is now walking the dog with McKenzie and Becca is in the bathtub, so it is nice and quiet. All I can hear is the dishwasher in the background. Ahhh. . .silence is bliss after a long day at work with hundreds of very loud children.

So tomorrow I go to work early for a Design Team Meeting (I am co-chair) where we will spend one last meeting finalizing everything for Literacy Night. There are 44 volunteers and six committees to oversee. Then a full day of teaching, a parent conference during planning (ethics prevent me from saying any more about that) and then off to McKenzie's Drawing class, the one night of the week where we are not at school until 5 or 6 at night. Whoever thinks that teachers have it easy should spend just one day shadowing me. What I do is hard work and exhausting, mentally and physically.

Ah, Sophie and Mike and Kenzie are back and Survivor just started. Must be time to go.