A lot of people think we teachers have it easy. Summers off, 2 weeks off at Christmas, and we get off at 3 everyday. I mean I can't blame them, it sure looks good on paper. But what most people who don't have a teacher in their family or close circle of friends don't realize is that there are not enough hours in the day to accomplish what we need to get done (much less want to do) in our classrooms. Don't get me wrong, I love teaching. I love working with kids, seeing their faces light up when they finally understand something that seemed like French only seconds before. That's why I do what I do. I don't get that everyday, but it's still worth it to me. I get to spend time with some of the cutest and funniest people I know. I'm a sucker for super corny jokes and I get a full dose regularly. And in the summer I truly miss those times with the kids.
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| {not mine but oh so true...source} |
But honestly there are days when I wonder if anyone realizes how hard we teachers actually work. My husband was in shock at the amount of work I did my first year teaching (I started my first year teaching 3 weeks before our wedding). I would get to work around 6:15 and come home around 5:15. That's an ELEVEN hour day. And I'd finish it off by grading papers and preping for the next day after dinner. And even with all that work I constantly felt like I wasn't doing enough, there was always more to do.
Thankfully I was lucky enough to stay in the same grade the next year, so I was able to ease up and limit myself to 9 hour days. But there was still work that would fill every spare second, and I constantly had
a pile piles more work to do. You know the really fun stuff like grading, filling out behavior documentation, contacting parents, attending meetings, clearing my teaching credential (see photo below for proof I'm FINALLY done), and figuring out how the heck I'm supposed to help 8 year olds master LONG DIVISION...when I just taught them multiplication a few short months before. I could go on but I won't.
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| {goodbye BTSA} |
In my third year I found the light at the end of the tunnel. I figured out how to cram everything in, while maintaining my sanity. A huge part of that was harnessing technology. I found some resources that literally have changed my life. I wish I had found them sooner, so I thought I'd dedicate a series of posts to sharing them with you!
Probably one of the best things I did was to was find a community of like minded teachers. Some of you may be lucky enough to have this at the school where you work. But being from a smallish, isolated town and working at a fairly small school, I had only a few (although awesome) teaching friends. So I delved into the world of teacher blogs. I have learned so much from the blogs I have been stalking for the past year. A LOT. I can't tell you how encouraging it has been to share in their teaching adventures.
Honestly I don't have much time for blog stocking during the school year, so I get my fill on weekends and over breakfast. I use a feed reader, to get my daily digest. I loved Google Reader, don't get me wrong
Bloglovin' and
Feedly are great {indecisive me hasn't figured out which one I like more}...But I really miss that I could always go back and search my favorite blogs when I needed something specific. I'm still working on a way to do this now that Google Reader is dead. So if you have a great tip for that I'm all ears {comment below}. I'd owe you BIG TIME!
But seriously if you haven't already, find blogs that really resonate with
you and follow them. It will change your teaching for the better.
Got any blog favorites of your own? I'd love to hear them below!
