An office job hasn't paid my bills in a good long while, not even in this century. Considering the work habits that resurfaced today, a singular occasion when my school hosted neither students nor in-service meetings, that's probably for the best. Give me a deadline and I will meet it, a goal and I will reach it, and a chunk of twelve and a half unsupervised work hours and I will fill it-- with a quantity of work that probably could have been done in three.
As I recall, that's pretty much how it's done. Not that I was there to work today, though I could've, should've done so much more than the grading and copying and test-writing I completed. I was there to conference with parents, which I did, and teachers too, but sit in a silent classroom long enough, and there's nothing to do but fight off sleep or seek out human contact: just ask any student.
For once the band hallway was mostly quiet and mostly empty; one would think I'd have no one to talk to. One should probably check the Sent messages folder in my Outlook. Sure I got a "your mailbox is over its size limit" warning, but at least I never accidentally hit Reply All. I also learned that my colleague of five years lived in the same Iowa town that I once did, though 20 years prior, publicly dissed the Cardinals, discussed the relative merits of Brett Favre's ass, and made a hockey date for November. I could probably even call it work-related; team-building is eternally one of our building goals.
During a normal day, during my lunch or my plan, I've been known to lock my door and hide, if only for a few minutes; a school is All People All the Time, and sometimes I just reach my limit. In the rest of my life, I'm happy to spend time alone, but despite that I can no longer fathom work without other people, or a job that only depends on a desk or PC. The human connection is what keeps me going, is a huge part of why I enjoy my days and why I do what I do. But beyond that, let's be serious. How could I ever cope in some solo, desk-bound job if the network went down?
As I recall, that's pretty much how it's done. Not that I was there to work today, though I could've, should've done so much more than the grading and copying and test-writing I completed. I was there to conference with parents, which I did, and teachers too, but sit in a silent classroom long enough, and there's nothing to do but fight off sleep or seek out human contact: just ask any student.
For once the band hallway was mostly quiet and mostly empty; one would think I'd have no one to talk to. One should probably check the Sent messages folder in my Outlook. Sure I got a "your mailbox is over its size limit" warning, but at least I never accidentally hit Reply All. I also learned that my colleague of five years lived in the same Iowa town that I once did, though 20 years prior, publicly dissed the Cardinals, discussed the relative merits of Brett Favre's ass, and made a hockey date for November. I could probably even call it work-related; team-building is eternally one of our building goals.
During a normal day, during my lunch or my plan, I've been known to lock my door and hide, if only for a few minutes; a school is All People All the Time, and sometimes I just reach my limit. In the rest of my life, I'm happy to spend time alone, but despite that I can no longer fathom work without other people, or a job that only depends on a desk or PC. The human connection is what keeps me going, is a huge part of why I enjoy my days and why I do what I do. But beyond that, let's be serious. How could I ever cope in some solo, desk-bound job if the network went down?
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