I'm tired, y'all.
We (educators) always joke about how there's "regular person tired," and then there's "teacher tired" and the two are basically opposite ends of a spectrum. But those of us in education now--especially those of us who have anything to do with providing technology support or other instructional support--we now know that "teacher tired" wasn't the furthest extreme on that spectrum. It was more like the middle. We've figured out that beyond that is "remote teacher tired" and then even further is "teaching in the midst of a pandemic tired" and God help us if the spectrum goes further, because there are days when I just don't know how much more I have to give this career of mine.
I love my job. I love being an educator, and I love even more being someone who supports educators and helps usher them into a place of confidence with technology integration. I love that I can open a teacher's eyes to incredible tools that take their already amazing instruction to new heights of engagement.
But that's not what my job looks like right now.
Right now, my job is primarily overseeing all of the devices we've received and checked out to our students. I am handling connectivity issues, creating accounts for new students, assembling carts for iPads and Chromebooks so our face-to-face teachers can store devices in their classrooms, submitting work orders for the inevitable student device repairs, taking calls from stressed-out parents who are just trying to do their best to support their children's learning during this time unlike anything we've ever experienced before...and then there's the stuff that is normally part of my job. Stuff like managing our school's website, collecting annual paperwork regarding photo permission, acceptable use policies, making sure teachers all have access to the resources we provide, managing my technology budget, somehow finding time to provide targeted professional development to my teachers, helping to figure out what Battle of the Books and LEGO League look like in the midst of a pandemic, and--oh, right--occasionally teaching a class or two.
Are you tired with me, yet?
I am SO blessed to have an incredible assistant on board with me this year who is taking care of teaching my classes and planning awesome content for the kiddos. She also keeps me honest and helps me delegate things to her so that my plate isn't quite so full all of the time.
But the truth of the matter is, in this unprecedented school year--in this unprecedented era (for folks of my generation, at least)--I am tired. I'm tired all the time. I'm doing what I can to try and get good sleep because LORD KNOWS this is a year where being healthy is so much more important than ever before. But I'm exhausted. Between balancing an ever-growing list of expectations (from folks who aren't the ones on the front lines with us), dealing with apathy/skepticism from folks who think the pandemic is overblown, and just trying to be a functional human person--I'm just so tired.
I'm definitely a realist, but I'm a realist who wants to be an optimist, so I have to believe this too shall pass. I have to believe that now is not what will always be, even if it's all I can see when I try to peek down the road and see what's coming. I have to believe that despite humanity showing us the worst of us over the last 8 months or so, the best of us are still out there. We're still striving to move forward in the hope that better days lie ahead--and together, we'll get there.
In the meantime, I'm counting on the good in us and plenty of coffee to get me through.
No comments:
Post a Comment