3072 - Distracted.
As an elementary art teacher for two separate school districts, sometimes my days are crazy. Today was one of those days. I spent much of the day feeling, for lack of a better term, distracted or maybe disjointed. I don't know but everything was just a little off.
I got to work on time, okay maybe I was a couple minutes late, but really only a minute or two, so it shouldn't have been a big deal. However, it felt like I was rushing all morning. Yesterday I began paper mache with my fourth graders. This meant that today, because I didn't plan far enough ahead yesterday, I was mixing paste and cleanWiing room in my storage room so that the masks have room to dry. These tasks, plus getting ready for my third grade class took all of my first prep.
I spent my second prep finishing preparing for 4th grade. After yesterday's class, I learned of some kinks in my paper mache system, so I was fixing. I washed all of my supply trays and then covered them with foil for easier clean up at the end of the unit. I also put my paste into Cool Whip containers with lids to save it from one class to the next. In no time at all second prep was over and there were students waiting impatiently at my door.
By the end of two fourth grade classes, it seemed that there was paste everywhere. Fortunately the last class cleaned up fast enough that I could make them re-wash and dry the tables so they weren't goopy. As they left, I began setting up my display tables for Parent-Teacher Conferences.
I ate a quick lunch and headed to my next school where I had to prep quickly so that I had time to meet with my principal for a pre-observation meeting. During this meeting, I was informed that my position would be terminated at the end of the year due to budget cuts. I had been given warning ahead of time, so I wasn't surprised, but the unknowns of next year began to weigh on me.
I headed back to my room with a few minutes to spare before a noisy bunch of first graders entered my room followed by my principal for my observation. The lesson didn't go quite as well as I had hoped it would, but I got through it. My principal gave me a couple quick notes and was on her way. giving me a couple minutes to reset for Kindergarten.
Kindergarten went slightly better than first grade, but it was still crazy and when they left I let myself take a quick breather before jumping in the car to head back to the first school for conferences.
One of the best part about being a specialist is that very few parents actually visit you during conferences. This means that you get three hours of almost uninterrupted work time. Slightly unfortunately, I spent the majority of this work time with the other art time, "shopping" for supplies. I was glad we had the time and were able to get finished, but it meant that I didn't get as much other stuff done in my classroom. One parent who did stop in the art room was the high school/middle school art teacher. She confirmed rumors that I had been hearing that she would be moving to the high school full time next year thus opening up the middle school position. So while I haven't been offered the position yet, I know that there is a real possibility of being almost full time next year.
As soon as 7 pm hit, I headed to my car to drive back to Litchfield for Litchfield Community Youth Theatre rehearsal. One great thing about Daylight Savings Time is that I got to watch the sunset on my drive tonight. It was gorgeous, so I stopped to take a picture.
When I got to rehearsal, I immediately began sorting t-shirts for distribution at the end of the night which was only 45 minutes away at this point, so I had to work fast.
After rehearsal, I had to make sure everything was cleaned up before heading home. As I drove I realized two things. One, I never did my post-observation reflection. Two, despite starting four masks, coloring part of a Picasso Portrait and drawing 8 emotion portraits, I didn't have anything for my daily project.
I had a few options including: draw a quick picture in the smooth layer of snow on my patio that I've been hoping will melt soon'; take a distorted vase picture; or do something else super quick and not very good. I decided to keep it simple and use the picture of the sunset that I took on my way home.
So with my project chosen and this long saga dictated all I have left is post to social media and do my post-observation reflection. So hopefully I will be in bed by midnight, putting this crazy day behind me and looking forward to a slightly calmer day tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment