Some days, I just don’t know how I manage to do it all and stay sane.

After a rambunctious group of kids managed to wear me down mentally, physically, and emotionally at the end of the day Wednesday, it’s just been a tumble since then.  Wednesdays and Thursdays are usually some of my hardest days, anyways.  I recently stopped teaching a Thursday morning taekwondo class to try and maintain my tenuous grip on the fraying edges of sanity.

Well, that’s not really true.  I’m not losing my mind or anything, but that last class got to me.  I felt like the kids let me down, but at the same time I let them down.  Though, in my defense, I’m still feeling it out.  Though it’s not going terribly, I feel like I might be going too fast for them, or doing too much.  I think I’ve been viewing it more as a college course than a middle school class.

Anyways, today was another, up at 5:45am and start working day.  It’s 10:30pm and I’m finally done.  After I squeezed in my 8 hours for the day, I did some grading and planning.  I did take a short break at lunch to buy some groceries, and over the past two days ran 3 loads of laundry and 2 loads of dishes.  Unfortunately I haven’t managed to clean the house in a few weeks.  I swept one room, but the broom is still in the corner, guarding a pile of dust, while new dirt and grit infiltrates the house.

Tomorrow I’ll be up early toswim, practice the trumpet, teach, then return home and work for 8 hours.  If I’m lucky, I’ll be finishing up right around 7pm.  But even then I can’t crack open a beer and relax, because I have taekwondo on Saturday morning.

My lesson plan for tomorrow  is very loose, but I’m confident that I have enough material.  I managed to get their assignments graded today, but nobody has turned in the assignment from last class, so I’m anticipating that none of them understood it, and I’m going to have to go over it in class.  I don’t want to be too lenient about them being able to push assignments off, but if nobody understood it, I’ll have to do just that.  At least we’ll be going over the assignment and the stuff they need to know for it.

After I review the homework and introduce a few new things using another method I’m going to try out on them, I’m planning to make up a study guide for them and then giving them a quiz at the end of the week.  Of course, that means more work for me, but I think it will pay off.  I need to get a measure of what they’ve managed to remember, and figure out how to drive home the stuff we’ve already covered while still introducing new stuff they’ll need to know.

Jess has also suggested making them take notes (pencil and paper style).  The computers tend to be more of a diversion than a tool in the classroom so far.  Even a guided exercise doesn’t get 2 steps before 3 kids are doing something not on the plan, and 2 more have technical problems.

I’m almost hoping they ask me to do this again next trimester, if for no other reason than so I can try to apply what I’ve learned and improve the class.  Sometimes I think I’m addicted to self-improvement to the point where it becomes self-destructive.  Isn’t that ironic?

Ok, well I’m going to throw myself into bed so I can be fully charged tomorrow for the kids.