Anxious?

After yesterday's teaching implosion, I decided to grade my homework the night I get it. I arrived at work about an hour early to do some final preparation and just generally chill before class. The night before, as I was leaving, I had noticed that I couldn't find the teacher's book for my PG class (Post-Graduation: the oldest students at Hess). I wasn't too worried as I was sure it would be at home. Oops...not there. Neither were the stack of tests I was to have graded for the following day. Oops again. So as I get there, I realize that I have to spend the hour tracking down my tests, finishing the grading and preparing games for games day in the same class. The other teachers weren't much help, they didn't have any game ideas for a PG class. Maybe I could try to make a crossword online...nope, printer malfunction. Oops again. So as I have half the staff rummaging through the garbage trying to find the exams, we check one of the other teacher's lockers only to find the teacher's book with the tests nestled safely inside. Phew. So I used the last twenty minutes to grade the tests, when I realized that I also needed to calculate the student's final grades *and* invent some games for the students to play. Doh.

As I was telling myself not to panic, a Chinese teacher walked up to me and kindly asked if I had the homework graded for her class. I told her that I had completely forgotten, but that I would do it right away. So, since my PG class wasn't the 1st of the day, I moved swiftly on to grading and recording the grades for her class. 'Round about the time the second CT asked if I had finished the homework for her class (which I had not only forgotten to grade, but hadn't even brought to school with me), I knew I was in for it. Let's just say I learned a valuable lesson that day: if one doesn't meticulously plan for games day, one winds up with something strikingly similar to Arnold Schwarzenegger's first day in Kindergarten Cop...Luckily, I was able to regain control of the classroom by making them write essays using vocab from their lessons. I was even intimidated by me...

In an effort to stick to my newfound goal of finishing HW as soon as I get it, I graded all morning and stayed after work to continue grading. After grading the assignments for 6 classes (the 4 from this week + the 2 I didn't have done yesterday), I only have the two more sets of books I got today to grade before going to bed tonight! With an average of 20 kids per class, looks like it'll be a long night...