Trying to Breathe

Do you ever feel like you are
drowning? Do you ever feel like
you have so much on your plate
that you just might lose it???
Welcome to my world!

In the past
six months, I have gone from
having a principal that could NOT
have cared less about our school and
our students, to having a principal
who loves and adores our students
and wants only the best for them.

Then, we meet Race to the Top, a
lovely piece of legislation that has
earned our state lots of money to
help improve our education system.
Problem is, NONE of that money is
going to ever be seen by me, the one
who must meet the high expectations
of individuals who have NEVER stepped
foot inside a classroom, and who do
not have a clue what these children go
through in their personal lives.

The combination of loving principal and lovely
legislation is that I now spend approximately
5 hours per week simple DOCUMENTING
how I teach. Very little about my style of
teaching has been affected, I've tweaked just
a few activities, but I now have 5 less hours
of my life to enjoy each week. You know, I
always thought I had too much free time on
my hands!

On top of all of this, due to my
lovely schedule at school, I have very little
time to grade papers, which means I take it
all home. Again, more personal time is being
pulled away from me. Open House was Tuesday
night. I did enjoy it, but Chris had class, the kids
were 45 minutes away at my mother-in-laws, and
I did not get home last night until 9:30.

All of this said, I'm choking. I think I really am
drowning. I am looking for the nearest ladder
to climb out of this pool...