Monday = Mama's Day: Summer Vacation??? I think not!

So technically I have been on "summer vacation" for 10 days.  Our teacher work day was June 1st.  I admire the people who are able to leave that day and not look back.  I just don't know how they do it.  I have always worked a lot during my summer vacation, and this year is no different.  I have been in my classroom working every day EXCEPT last Friday, because I had to meet with the bank for our home purchase and then attend the home inspection of the house we are going to buy at the end of this month. 

So what have I been working on at school?  Well, first I needed to just tie up some lose ends from the year.  Then I needed to search for texts, supplies, and workbooks for my SEVEN classes that I will have next year.  That's right... I am teaching six new classes on top of the one I taught this year.  This might not be that big of a deal any other year, but the fact that I am going to be on maternity leave for the first six weeks of school and then have a newborn/no sleep for a large chunk of the remainder of the year makes this entire thing significantly more stressful.  I am excited about teaching these six electives (even though I am not excited about the fact that I will have the same number of regular English students as I did this year, crammed into larger classes) but I feel like I don't have a true sense of direction.  I guess the hardest thing about work is that I have too many freedoms.  I have always been given the freedom to do pretty much whatever I want in my classroom, which is nice and all... but I would prefer to have freedoms within a boundary that was designed for me.  Of course, in English we have the state Common Core standards so at least I have somewhere to start.  But with electives, I have even MORE freedom and no official texts, so it's a completely blank canvas.  That's great for most people, but that requires a lot of time to plan and search for lessons, time to seek out the best texts and documents to use, and time to create most of the documents on my own. I am working as diligently as possible right now WITHOUT kids to teach and papers to grade, and I STILL don't feel like I have the proper amount of time it will take to do an excellent job at all seven of these classes next year.  Hence the reason why I am always so shocked by teachers who don't have to take their work home or work over the summer. 

Most people just tell me to relax and let it go, that I don't have to do an excellent job because the expectations are not there since the classes haven't been offered in years.  However, I see it differently.  Think back to when you were in high school.... you sat in a desk assuming that the teacher in front of you knew everything (or almost everything) about the subject that he or she was teaching.  If you didn't think that about the teacher, then it was likely that the rumor was that he or she was incompetent.  I don't want the kids to think I am incompetent, but I would be lying if I said that I knew everything about what I will be teaching next year!  Now think back on your high school experience and ask yourself if you ever thought about how much experience the teacher had with the subject that he or she was teaching... I don't think I ever thought about this.  I just looked at my schedule and saw a teacher's name and then assumed that that person was going to do a good job... and if he or she did not then I didn't like them or the class.  Well shoot, now I want to go back in time and cut new teachers some slack!  It's exhausting trying to master the content of one subject, let alone seven!

Don't get me wrong:  I love my job and I am excited to do something different next year.  I just want to do as good of a job as possible and it seems like whenever a teacher starts getting into the grove, the game changes.  Pray that I will be able to handle all of these changes with ease next year and trust me when I say I am doing my part right now in preparation for what the next school year will bring.  Like I mentioned earlier, I have yet to start my summer vacation and I will be at work every day this week except Wednesday as well.  After I finalize the POs for my classes, I will begin to revise my syllabus from this year and create syllabi for my six new classes.  Then I will start writing my maternity plans. 

Ultimately, I feel a bit relaxed when I remind myself that as soon as this baby comes I will be off until October 1st.  I may be working hard now, but I will be doing everything other than working on school work once baby comes and all of this hard work and preparation will have paid off. :)