Upshift

I was gliding.

Deftly slicing up the hazards of natures most impressive trophies, the Rocky Mountains, on my Burton Deuce, I felt a complete catatonic calmness in the midst of my quasi-dangerous descent.

All to suddenly, as is the case for a novice snowboarder on his first blue run of the day, by heel edge had a disagreement with some anamoly in the terrain. A rock, maybe a fallen pinecone, or even an uneven collection of powder. Soon I was in the air, feet hopelessly strapped onto a 165 cm hunk of wood with no chance of helping to catch the 230 pound body they had helped out of so many falls before. I flipped almost completely upside down and landed with a anti-climactic thud, right on my head. I sat on the mountain and cleared my mind for a few seconds, testing my vision and my thinking, trying to decipher signs of a concussion. Satisfied that I was not indeed suffering a Brian Westbrook (or Ben Roethlisberger, or Kurt Warner, or whoever the concussed NFL star of the moment is) and eternally grateful for my investment in a helmet 4 years earlier, I coasted down the rest of the hill to meet my friends at the lift.

The point of this story, other than the importance of a helmet on the slopes, is that my life has seemed to drift towards a more sane work life balance. While I possibly have more to do right now than ever before, I have forced myself into diversions from work, and thus, I can head to school much more mentally prepared and am much more efficient when I do work.

I only have two weeks left in this semester, and it feels like it has flown by. I am desperately exhorting my students to hand in late homework, complete extra credit assignments, and focus in class in order to raise their despicable grades. All this while I am completing my own overwhelming assignments for my licensure. I have imminent deadlines, and somehow this is helping me to be focused and efficient. At the same time, I have to force myself to break away and enjoy the holiday utopia that is Denver. No more weekends where I go to bed mad that I didn’t do anything fun. No more hazy, half-efficient days working all day. In this, I have found the break I need.

But honestly, I could still use a snow day tomorrow.

Flow

I’m sitting at my desk on a lovely Sunday afternoon that is a beautiful punctuation to a night trodding around downtown Denver with cold feet in 6 inch of fresh powder.

A cup of fresh Pikes Place is steaming in between a sandwich of laptop computers, on which I am editing an article for our school newspaper and listening to Ra Ra Riot.

Oh yeah, my school newspaper…I bet you didn’t know that I was in charge of the school newspaper. That shows just how much I have put that class on the backburner. The newspaper has taken almost three months to complete (including instructional time), and it should have taken six weeks. Oh well, I am looking forward to getting it out and enjoying a streamlined process for the next paper we produce.

Speaking of streamlining, I believe that I have streamlined this whole experience recently. I have traded the constant chaos of the first two months for a daily and weekly groove that allows me to more effectively get things done while not going insane. I am not sure if I am seeing less stress, or if, as my TFA roommate puts it, I am just “getting numb” to the stress. Any way, I will take it.

I am teaching persuasive writing to my american literature class, and I am going to assign them their first persuasive essay. What should I have them write their essay on? Respond in the comments!

Schedule

Weekend schedule..

Saturday

Grade tests: 10-1 pm

Grade papers and homework: 4-7 pm

 

Sunday

Write reflection paper for Teach For America: 12-2:30 pm

Grade essays and reading comprehension tests: 4-5 pm

Still to do:

Edit 4 articles for Journalism

Write 4 page Student Growth Objectives using student data.

Plan tomorrows lecture

Roughly plan rest of week.

 

 

The good news? no school baby!