5.55am Alarm goes off.. more sleep needed.
Just 5 more minutes…
6.05am Decide I really need to get out of bed but it’s too cold.
Just 5 more minutes…
6.15am Am now officially late get dressed, put make up on, get lunch made up. Go up stairs to grab coat.
6.45am Rush out the door.
5 minutes later…
Realize I’ve left my lunch on the bench but only 5 minutes until train. Will grab lunch station.
7.25 Arrive at school decide to write up morning instructions and print files I was working on last night
5 minutes later…
Realize files haven’t synced between home and school and don’t have my material for the morning classes. Mild panic ensues.
5 minutes later…
Sort out material to get me through the day. Need to grab photocopier first thing on Monday morning. Have staff meeting in 5 minutes.
5 minutes later…
Have grabbed the photocopier and am now rushing to get to staff meeting.
8.25 Staff meeting ends might have time to grab breakfast before class but need to grab materials from photocopier and get my mind around my new Monday class start in five minutes…
Morning classes start.
5 minutes before morning tea.
Remember I have meeting at morning tea and might be 5 minutes late back to class. Tell syndicate leader as I’m rushing out of class that I’ll be late but the kids know what to do when they get back after the break.
5 minutes later… Plonk myself down in the meeting and I realize I haven’t had breakfast and am famished. Nibble on supermarket muffin.
Middle session starts. Conferencing with kids about learning portfolios realize that even at 5 minutes per child there’s no way I’m going to get through the material change tack and conference in group.
3.10 Have a quick chat with my tutor teacher who mentions principal wants some help videoing something. Apparently it will only take 5 minutes.
4.0opm Get back to classroom and see email from principal asking for assistance make mental note to remember to check emails more frequently.
7.50pm Decide it’s time to call it a night look at my phone and realize I only have 5 minutes to get to the train or I will have a 30 minute wait for the next one.
5 minutes later…
Miss train.
8.20 It’s now cold and dark. The next train is 5 minutes late.
8.25 Train finally arrives.
8.55 Arrive home to find lunch on the bench.
5 minutes later… Pass out on the couch watching the West Wing.
Teaching the Teacher 
Oh my goodness, I’m having flashbacks! This pretty much sums up how I felt at this stage of my first year – the complete and utter shock had subsided somewhat, replaced with a never ending feeling of tail-chasing. It does get better – remember, work smarter, not harder.
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Indeed these two weeks of portfolioing and conferencing are the most intense.
Stephanie
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Oh wow. Is it like this every day? I am exhausted just reading it!
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Hi Hoot
Not every day but Mondays seems to be the most insane.
Stephanie
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Don’t worry, that will change in… no, I thought I could lie, but I can’t. That’s your life now. It will always be your life.
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I’ll have an N for nihilism?
Stephanie
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Hahaha I love this very much. I can’t wait for your 5th year of teaching when you then have 5 years of work you can call upon when needed. The only thing that got me through my first year (because I wasn’t married nor had kids) was to focus on my students. When you really learn who they are and what they want in life, you begin to love them and relate to them.
I found myself, when around friends, relating to peoples’ stories by saying, “Haha, that reminds me of Timmy and how he locked his mother out of the house on accident when he was five.”
“Who is Timmy?”
^_^
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