historyguy--ditto that! It's especially aggravating when you spend so much time .. to hear their whining. It almost makes you want to spend like 5 minutes to whip something up, just to spite them. lol.. We just take too much pride in our work to do that.. which is a blessing and a curse I guess. I'm just so glad to have an ally out there that doesn't think the kids are just peachy keen...
I lock my classroom door after my kids leave on Friday, and camp out for the next two to three hours. I clear up any grading, finish planning for the next week, and make my copies. It really is worth it to me, because I can go home and enjoy my weekend without Monday haunting my thoughts. It has been particularly necessary this year because I have a very challenging group of students - the Friday prep helps me rest and makes me better prepared for Monday. It's been working for me this year
I always get bummed out on Sundays, but it's not just from my teaching career. I've felt that way all my life, whether as a student or an employee in my previous profession. I LOOOOVE my weekends - time with family and friends, doing fun things - or even tackling chores I hate. It's all more relaxing than any job I've ever had. By Sunday afternoon, I hit a slump. My husband calls it my "I don't wannas" as in "I don't wanna go to bed early," "I don't wanna go to work tomorrow" and "I don't wanna grade any more papers." I'm glad to see I'm normal - at least among the crowd responding to this post!
I start doing it on Saturday! I'm already thinking that Sunday is coming and then school. I love my kids, but I like having breaks too!
I've been teaching for 9 years and still suffer the Sunday night anxiety quite often, well I did last year. Although I think that it was more to do with some of the staff and not to do with the kids or my planning.
Wow! I had the worst case of Sunday anxiety yesterday. It was crazy. I couldn't even get busy doing anything. I pretty much just wandered around the house, from place to place. Usually, I am mildly stressed but can still enjoy my time. Today, I must have known a rotten day was coming!
I'm not sure if I was ever really freaked out on Sunday nights about student teaching. I think there were some nights after spending all day at school and then another 5 hours or so planning, grading papers, and studying that I was just so exhausted that I passed right out after my shower. Something that I learned from one of my cooperating teachers was to plan as a team (with the rest of the science teachers) for next week on TUESDAY! Then you have Tues. thru Friday to plan everything out--- how the lesson will go, papers to be copied, etc. Clean it up by Sunday night and you're set. It really worked out well
I feel it too! I have always been a procrastinator anyway, so I'm always getting ready for the week ahead on Sunday. I even experience anxiety on Saturday night just knowing that the next day is Sunday. One thing I found that has helped is to get ready Sunday MORNING. That way, everything is prepared, and you have the rest of Sunday to relax. I have done this the past two Sundays and it has helped extremely.
Thank you everyone for making me feel so NOT alone!! I am all freaked out and discouraged today (Sunday, of course) coming back from spring break. I am a student teacher, and even though I track my CTs' schedules and use their resources, it seems to take forever for me to decide/understand how to "deliver" the activities/info... not to mention re-learning a lot of this stuff myself, since I graduated years ago. Planning is just a big black hole for me. Oh yeah, grading is another black hole. At least the credentialling homework is generally manageable, but it's just more pressure. I relate to 1angel wandering around the house... I have been doing the same, only also eating every munchie in sight... May much peace settle upon us all!!
I've just come to terms with the fact that I'm not going to be able to relax until summer. I'm tense all the time trying to scramble to grade everything, plan everything, and complete all the paper work (portfolio, APR, Professional Development) that I have to get in. Spring Break has been anything but a break for me.
I felt this way big time when I was student teaching. My prof. always said it's the perfectionist in me, just wanting to make the best/smoothest/most interesting lesson plan. The reason I never felt like this during the week, is because I had more time to think/plan on the weekend. However, I soon realized that students will not know what I wanted to do/should have done/had expectations of doing, so the only person I really had to impress was myself. Remember what it was like when you were in school (I teach HS), could you really tell if your teacher didn't have an action packed lesson plan? No, sometimes, you just have to plan a very generic lesson, and then spice up a few elements of it - and as long as their is variety, kids will stay interested. Everything doesn't have to be new, games, unique. Give yourself a break, as experience comes, you will find a routine, and be able to rely on certain things to start of your week well. Good luck!
As an aide I actually make up activities and lessons all the time. As a student in college I dread that ONE lesson I have to make up more than I do any of the 20 that I did in the past few months.
