Lachelle encouraged me to look back over the day and look honestly at what I had done. Who knows? This kind of data may be too tedious for the average reader. But I found it interesting to take a minute-by-minute look at one of the busier days of this week. I recently read in an article that we only think we are busy because we see it as a symbol of status. We take pride in our busyness, as though it meant we are important. I am getting over that. I find less and less joy in too-busy-all-the-time girl, and more and more fulfillment in can-look-you-in-the-eye-and-listen girl. As I looked at this hourly, I found a few things to be true: 1.) people matter most. 2.) variety is a joy. 3.) class prep time matters,too, and even though people matter most, don't let people take that away from you!
6:30-8:30 am Office shift: dealt with some sick kids; scrambled to schedule two doctor's appointments for two different students with two different problems
8:30-9:50 am Prayer Action Team meeting in my apartment--so convenient!
9:50-10:22 am Usually this is my preparatory time for class. It was instead taken up with talking about a truant student who caused a commotion near the gym.
10:27-12:14 pm English 9 (winging it more than I like)
12:14 pm Help RH student back into the dorm to find her glasses; run into lunch date friends I had nearly forgotten about; ask them to wait just a moment while I deal with glasses; forgot to check to make sure all sick kids had gone into school.
12:18-12:44 pm Hang out with these two dears who had come to visit as many teachers as they could, and instead found that they were not allowed, and could only enjoy their lunches with a very distracted, overly-caffeinated teacher that neither of them had had officially.
12:48-1:31 pm Academic Writing class (I have to skip out during the free write to do the copying that I didn't do in the morning or during lunch)
1:31-1:45 pm Cover for another teacher who had to pop out for some brief thing.
1:45 pm Call mechanic. Bill is less than half of my greatest fear. I will keep the car.
1:45-2:08 pm Do odds and ends around classroom. (Each thing is small, but as a whole, they are the difference between teaching during class and just moving papers from bookshelf to desk to podium and back for 43 minutes.)
2:08 pm In the school office, finding answers to attendance questions. On the phone, finding advisers to give rides to aforementioned students with nearly simultaneous doctor's appointments in different locations. It is decided that I will take one of the students... everything will work out.
2:10-2:30 pm Blank space. I have no idea. I think I tried to find some food in my apartment. Unsure if I was successful.
2:30-4:30 pm Trip to dentist to get student a root canal.
4:30-4:35 pm Stop to get someone birthday present.
4:35-5 pm Drive back. Stuck in traffic behind wreck. Realize I must hurry because of senior presentation night.
5-5:25 pm Dinner at cafeteria. The hardest part of the evening, dealing with some relational struggles among staff... left early when Ben arrived so I could be anywhere else.
5:25-5:50 pm Being present in dorm office.
5:50-7 pm Finding food in apartment. Reading Anne of the Island.
7:15-8:30 pm View two senior presentations. (These, in some form, are required for all seniors to graduate in Pennsylvania.)
8:30-9:50 pm Grading notebooks in classroom.
10-10:35 pm Saying goodnight to girls on my hall.
10:35-11:20 pm Praying and listening in the lounge with one student and Lachelle.
11:20-11:30 pm Talk with Lachelle about issues from the day.
11:30-12:30 pm Blog, grade, Facebook, Hulu, YouTube, etc.
I like your comment about taking pride in busyness when in reality it can stop us from doing more important and meaningful!
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