It's been a long day and a longer week

Why is it that the shorter weeks always are so exhausting?! 

The holidays were great! While it was a challenge to celebrate the holidays with all my family and not have my mom around we all eventually made it through. It might have helped that we took in two feral kittens that showed up on a neighbor's back porch. 

The two weeks back at school flew by as I prepared and was planning out my plan for individual coaching with the teachers while also nursing my injured Achilles. (It amazes me how much that one ligament is actually used in daily walking! 

And then this week started. 

It's only day 2 of a 4 day week and I feel like I've either been in meetings, in PLCs, or getting yelled at. (PS I really don't like it when I start my day with rain starting to pour on my way into work and shortly afterwards I'm yelled at by one of my teachers.) 

It's one of those weeks where I feel like I'm trying to do everything for everyone; teachers, students, assistant principals, head principals, district people; and all I want to do is get back into the classroom with the kids. Even during the really tough classes and the really tough years at least one student a day would thank me and be excited about math or recognize that I needed a "we really appreciate it when you try to teach us, even though some of us are a-holes about it." And yes, that's a literal quote from a student my last year in the classroom. 

I know I'm doing everything I can and what I'm doing for my teachers and the resources and strategies I'm creating for the kids is super helpful and great, but man, this job just sucks it out of you sometimes. Especially when a teacher claims that the less you interact with students the less you focus on the struggling, challenging ones. 

I would love for this teacher to switch places with me for just one day to experience the reality of how I'm constantly digging through the data, analyzing students trends and trying to do to best for everyone all the time. Plus, I would love to teach some of the units they're in right now. 

OK, vent over and now it's back to the grind!