Bilbo Baggins best described how teachers and so many people involved in education feel. Teachers already juggle so much but now the workload has doubled or more with this new school year. We have the same amount of hours in the day yet the laws of physics (and time) bend for no one.
I wrote a few weeks ago about the amount of work I have taken on in terms of trying to clear the mental clutter. This depletion comes on an even more basic level, the core values and requirements of the job description for teachers.
If I strip away the responsibilities I have chosen, I still have a nearly overwhelming amount that I need to remember and accomplish every day. For example, prior to this year, I would often reach the end of the day and only then remember that I needed to take attendance. Once I redeveloped the habit in the fall after a summer off, I usually minimized the accidental omissions. This year however? This year we take attendance not only on the students physically present in the classroom that day but also for the students who participated in elearning the day before while also remembering to change the date in the attendance system between the two. We had to verify that the student accessed the work in some way while at home to count them present while taking care to avoid even the appearance of possibly marking them absent because they had not completed an assignment. This now includes a mandated separate attendance question because some teachers marked students absent who had completed or nearly completed their work. A once simple process now takes multiple steps to complete and an entire paragraph to explain.
When you take the above example and apply that multiplication of steps to every aspect of routine, the load becomes practically unbearable. We have to complete certain routine paperwork like attendance to keep the system functioning. We also strive to provide feedback to our students in the minimum form of grades which has its own logistical requirements for us to juggle. For those in the profession who have taught for any number of years, we struggle to keep up with the mundane yet crucial paperwork and routines required to keep our students safe. We have to learn new habits, more than our brains can easily manage.
Most teachers do not stop or at least do not want to stop there. Good teaching requires learning about our students and how to best meet their needs like audio versions of text or translations. I speak from experience as I describe how many times (too many to count) I have reflected on a class and realized after the fact that I had neglected to meet one or more of my students’ needs. Yet even as I realize that my brain reminds me that each day holds only 24 hours.
So, how do you juggle all of that? How do you make space in your brain? Frankly, I have no idea. Right now I’m the butter trying to stretch and reach all parts of the bread at the same time. Sooner rather than later, some dry toast will peek through.