Kalaheo High School is a place where students call you only by "Miss" and frequently skip class to go to the beach or smoke pot. (I'm SURE there are a multitude of other reasons for class-cutting, but these are the most dramatic.)
Ah... the life of a senior English teacher. Gotta love it! Without my class, students fail high school and cannot graduate. My job is to continue (some of them to START) teaching these students how to read, write, and communicate effectively in English. In addition, I need to teach them how to use technology, interpret literature, associate appropriately with peers/teachers, and understand life and people better. Loosely, these are the general goals of my classroom. And it is these aforementioned goals that has been causing me some stress and anxiety of late.
I have come to the conclusion that being an English teacher is one of the hardest types of teachers to be. I awake every morning between the hours of 4:40am to 5:01am. I get ready as quickly as one can during such early hours and drive an hour to work. After I get there, I prepare for the day just like any other teacher. Once I'm prepared, I begin reading. And this is where English teachers differ. Whether you're preparing for a future lesson plan or just plain reading the MOUNDS of writing students submit, I seem to ALWAYS be reading. And I can't get it done. There is just NOT enough time in the day to read through every single paper and grade it perfectly and effectively every time it passes through my hands. I calculated that the last set of research papers took me at least 30 hours to grade! This is in addition to keeping up with my own reading of literature AND preparing for future lessons. Oh, and did I mention that I've also spent COUNTLESS hours cleaning out my classroom that was left in shambles from a previous teacher?
It is for this reason that I have not blogged for some time or responded to many an email. I am at school an average of about 55 hours a week and the work does not stop there.
Now, I may sound like I'm complaining. And, frankly, I may very well be complaining. But I do need to mention that I'm SO grateful for this job and learning experience (and MONEY!) it is providing. I honestly am learning so much teaching senior English and AP Literature. Even with the swearing, the class-cutting, the talking during silent reading, the ukulele playing in class... I still love it! I love my job and wouldn't trade it for anything else.
