How did I get so far behind?
Over the course of the past week, I've gone from peacefully (and blissfully) on top of things, to slightly overwhelmed by a myriad of little things. How I got so far behind however, completely eludes me!
School is in crunch mode at the moment. Next week is parent-teacher conferences and I'm NOWHERE near ready for them. Our school decided a few years ago that it would be beneficial for all involved if these conferences occurred early on during term (instead of after half-term report cards) so that positive improvements could be seen in both student behaviour and grades. This is all fine and dandy, but 4 weeks into term and I'm only starting to have summative assessments done, and I need to grade these by next week since I KNOW parents are going to expect to have hard grades given. Funny how parents aren't satisfied (or flat out don't believe me) if I tell them their child is/isn't doing well, but if I have a test/lab or two to prove my assessment, then it's a totally different matter! I don't understand how it works, I just know I need to get a LOT of grading done by Wednesday afternoon... so we all know what I've been doing this week, and will continue to do all weekend. Oh fun times! I wonder if I could hire a TA to do all my grading?
If school crunch-time wasn't enough, the house crunch-time is looming. I'm now at the 6-weeks deadline, and suddenly I have all these extra things on my plate. Contacting the insurance people, finalizing my mortgage (let's not get me started on how petrified I am about that), finding furniture, and oh yeh... at some point I'm going to have to start packing aren't I? I have about zero free time during the school day, and since most places close early, it's always a challenge to get things done when places are still open. Rushing to the bank before they closed the other day was a masterful act of luck and determination. I got there in time... but just barely! They were literally closing the doors behind me as I arrived. Oh well... at least I made it in!
With all these crazy things on the brain, I feel mentally exhausted and drained. It's a good thing that my classes are going well, and that March/winter break is only one week away. The perspective of a full week off sounds heavenly right now, and I can't wait to get on a plane and head to NYC. I know fully well that I'll have to do a bit of work while I'm there, but hopefully I can keep it to a minimum. Right now, I just hope that the weather is warm (ish) down there, so I can escape from the blistering cold we've been having. Come on Mother Nature... give me spring-ish weather for a week!
School is in crunch mode at the moment. Next week is parent-teacher conferences and I'm NOWHERE near ready for them. Our school decided a few years ago that it would be beneficial for all involved if these conferences occurred early on during term (instead of after half-term report cards) so that positive improvements could be seen in both student behaviour and grades. This is all fine and dandy, but 4 weeks into term and I'm only starting to have summative assessments done, and I need to grade these by next week since I KNOW parents are going to expect to have hard grades given. Funny how parents aren't satisfied (or flat out don't believe me) if I tell them their child is/isn't doing well, but if I have a test/lab or two to prove my assessment, then it's a totally different matter! I don't understand how it works, I just know I need to get a LOT of grading done by Wednesday afternoon... so we all know what I've been doing this week, and will continue to do all weekend. Oh fun times! I wonder if I could hire a TA to do all my grading?
If school crunch-time wasn't enough, the house crunch-time is looming. I'm now at the 6-weeks deadline, and suddenly I have all these extra things on my plate. Contacting the insurance people, finalizing my mortgage (let's not get me started on how petrified I am about that), finding furniture, and oh yeh... at some point I'm going to have to start packing aren't I? I have about zero free time during the school day, and since most places close early, it's always a challenge to get things done when places are still open. Rushing to the bank before they closed the other day was a masterful act of luck and determination. I got there in time... but just barely! They were literally closing the doors behind me as I arrived. Oh well... at least I made it in!
With all these crazy things on the brain, I feel mentally exhausted and drained. It's a good thing that my classes are going well, and that March/winter break is only one week away. The perspective of a full week off sounds heavenly right now, and I can't wait to get on a plane and head to NYC. I know fully well that I'll have to do a bit of work while I'm there, but hopefully I can keep it to a minimum. Right now, I just hope that the weather is warm (ish) down there, so I can escape from the blistering cold we've been having. Come on Mother Nature... give me spring-ish weather for a week!