In anticipation of what I'm guessing will be a really long and busy and tiring next 4 weeks, I've been doing schoolwork for the past 3 hours or so. I also spent about an hour and a half in my classroom today organizing and cleaning. WHAT?! And I'll probably do the same tomorrow…!?
It makes me wonder if I spent this long on schoolwork on a regular basis at home, would it make my daily routine easier? Less scrambling around or planning during the day? Seems like, of course it would be easier. But do I really want to spend my Saturdays/weekends always thinking about school? Definitely not.
It's an internal battle I've had for years. I remember when I first started teaching, how I would look so forward to breaks because I could get SO much work done! I'd load up my workbag, thinking about everything that REALLY needed to get done and was SUPER important…then head home, get into comfy pants…and not open my bag again until the night before I was to go back.
I still do it to some extent. It's true that when I'm at school, everything is swimming through my head and all I'm thinking about is getting a new project ready, or arranging a song for my Choir, or grading this stack of quizzes. It just seems like there is always SOMETHING I could get done (or several). But then I get home and it just somehow doesn't seem all that important anymore. Do I ever regret not getting things done when I get to work? Of course! But…not always. I mean I DO have planning periods, after all.
How much time do you think is healthy to spend on schoolwork outside of school? I always assume that as I settle into my current job, I'll have less and less to do at home…hopefully!
