Frazzled on Friday

I am two weeks into my first semester and I am already getting the feeling that this semester will be much busier than the last. An array of schedule changes has provided me with less prep time and more lessons to write. The first, of many, changes which were initiated this semester was a change in co-teachers. Last term, the majority of my classes were taught with Hana or Sue. By semester’s end we had worked out a planning and teaching schedule that worked with our prep periods and personalities. This term, I teach with Hana only once and Sue twice, giving me two co-teachers with whom I have never worked; it feels like I am starting over again.

In addition to teaching my regular seventh and eighth grade classes, I have been given the added responsibility of an extra four after school classes. There I am in charge of 30 students ranging in grades from seven to nine. It is my job to write my own curriculum which helps students work on reading, writing, speaking, listening and grammar. Unfortunately, I didn’t get much warning on the class, so I have been spending hours writing curriculum, lesson plans, and putting materials together. In addition to these four extra classes, I have been assigned three workshop periods where I lead weekly meetings for the English Department. It is my job to bring up topics to discuss and to address issues in the classroom and/or department. This is hard for me because as the new person, I don’t feel it is my place to nit-pick everything. I find it really intimating and I feel like I am walking a tightrope between not doing a good job and insulting my co-workers.

With all of these changes, I find myself up to my eyeballs in worksheets, attendance sheets, and word lists. My desk is a mess, my brain is frazzled, and I feel like I am week’s behind, despite only starting two weeks ago! I don’t know if my school is expecting too much of me, or if I am expecting too much from myself. Regardless, I am feeling the pressure to step up and prove myself worthy of these new-found responsibilities; tune in to see how it all turns out…