Getting Through

Life at work is quite an interesting thing lately. Ever since the big blow-up, I've been struggling to find a mind set that will allow me to get through. Previously I just worked as hard as I could, tried to keep things on my team running smoothly, and tried to keep my leadership position on track. However, since the bad thing occurred, I'm less inclined to get involved with projects and concerns outside my classroom.

In fact, since others complain that I am "bossy" I've decided not to do a single thing for/with my team that is not specifically spelled out in my duties (is this immature? I don't know, but I don't feel that I have a choice). This means that all those little details that I used to take care of (just because they needed doing) such as booking rooms for meetings, organizing subs, creating agendas, distributing materials, are not my problem any more. I won't steer the conversation back to the task at hand. I won't double-check that the speaker is booked for the correct day and time. Well, what do you know, the fall-out from my stepping back has already begun.

One day per year, each team is allowed to have subs for the day, so the entire group can get together and work on curriculum. That means you have 7.5 hours (not counting half an hour for lunch or the two .5 hour blocks before and after school) per year to get everything done (otherwise it has to take place in .5 hour chunks). Needless to say it's kind of important to use that time wisely. This is why I have always created an agenda using the items of importance I solicited from the team. This is also why I always tried very hard to keep everyone on task during the actual meeting. Not this year.

This year's meeting was roughly divided into four segments. Part 1 lasted for about an hour, and consisted of the group discussing what things we might want to tackle for the day. Part 2 lasted for about 1.5 hours and consisted of one teacher passing out "getting to know you" activities. The main activity was a page on which were written the names of each team member. Every person was supposed to go down the list and write a paragraph of positive traits for each individual. Then we read our paragraphs aloud to each other. Lots of really really fun and meaningful personal stories were shared. I won't even bother to explain the next part where we had to tell each other what personality type we thought they were.

By the time we finished part 2, it was time to go to lunch. Again, in an attempt to not be bossy, I did not comment on lunch plans. It was assumed that everyone would go, and that one person should choose because "he likes food." We ended up going to Japanese. I hate Japanese, and so does one other member of the crew. Lunch lasted nearly 2 hours. This was part 3.

Part 4 of our day, which began just before 1pm, was the actual work. The bell rang just after 2:00pm. We got through two, count them, two work items. Nevertheless, the day was considered a big success by some because "it was such a fun time with everyone." I just keep repeating in my head "only X more days! only X more days!" I'm viewing the whole thing as an exercise in self-control. Granted, I nearly lost my composure during the long story about body surfing with an angel, but I didn't, and that's what will get me through without bloodshed.