Autopilot
It’s Wednesday evening. Two more days until subject comments are due and six days until grades are due. To be honest since my last post I’ve been on what I can only call autopilot. I know that if I procrastinate, I’ll have a break down. It’s much like what my students go through as much at the end of the year. Leaving things till the night before they’re due, or two days before they’re due, and then you just feel this panic and dread during those times and you stay up all night.
Well not this year. And I’d have to say I’m pretty proud of myself for it.
To Do List:
Finish grading G7’s Superhero Robot Poster, their Evaluation of their robots, and their plan to design their Mindstorm robot
Finish grading the straggler G9/10 projects
Write subject comments for G7 and G8
While it looks like a lot, the nice thing is with Grade 9 and 10 having finals this week, I don’t have teaching time with them so I can use that time to get this done. It just feels like I’m on autopilot.
In some ways it’s been really good. I don’t feel stressed about what I need to do by the due dates. But on the other hand I’ve not been as social and I’ve noticed my responses to colleagues have been short. And I was made aware of that when my principal felt that I should be kinder to others who are feeling the pressure just as much as I am.
Honestly I like being left alone sometimes. It keeps from the distractions.
I swore I told the math/science teacher yesterday “Hi!” when he said it to me. Maybe I said it in my head and it wasn’t audible, but I realized it hadn’t been loud enough or vocal at all when he said “HI” in a more don’t be rude tone. I felt bad, because normally if someone says hi to me, I say it back automatically.
I just don’t have enough time in my day to get done what I need to get done.
Stopping my grading and writing this post honestly ties into my last post about distractions, but sometimes you need a break or you’ll go insane.
I also find it insanely hard to be in autopilot at home. When I’m at school it’s all business.
Get this thing done. Okay move on to the next thing. Alright finished that task. Keep going.
At least I can feel like this is one thing I can control. As long as I can keep reminding myself that, all the frustrations that go with the job can slip away.
Now if I can just find the willpower at 9:41pm on a Wednesday night to grade one more assignment before I mosey on to bed.