I had a bad day today. Right now, it’s 4:02 p.m. and school let out 102 minutes ago. There’s a stack of papers on my desk 3 1/4″ tall that needs to be graded. The longer I am unable or put off grading those papers, the less important they’ll become. I’ve done this many times and have vowed not to do it this year. I am doing it.
But the bell rang at 2:20. Immediately, I had three students come in to serve detentions for either talking out of turn or being out of their seats. I also had two students come in for make-up work. I managed these students until shortly after 3:00. At that time, I began making phone calls to parents about having to assign detentions. The phone numbers in our system are typically incorrect, by fabrication or whatever reason. So, in order to uphold my word of making phone calls home, I must pursue the right numbers and have them on record. I’ve spent about fifty minutes making three phone calls. I contacted two parents, one biological, one foster. Both parents, in so many words, would “take care of this tonight”.
Also, since 3:00, two sections of the band, clarinet and tenor sax, are practicing at opposite ends of the hallway. My room is directly in the center. I just pondered for twenty seconds about a hyperbolic situation to which I could compare this. Then I realized that being at the center of a tunnel, the ends of which occupied by high school band members practicing by loud horn two different compositions simultaneously, is its own metaphor of aural discomfort, to put it mildly.
So, this has been the after-school portion of my bad day. The actual contract portion was the really bad day. I’m tired though. I just got back from an extended vacation to Mexico, so I might be and should be experiencing some pretty healthy vocational karma.
