Meetings galore

In the last two days, meetings took up 360 minutes. This number’s quite exceptional, a relatively rare occurrence. But still, I was struck by an irony during one of today’s meetings as we read a piece about two difference lessons, one a PowerPoint with an accompanying worksheet and the other a complex review of the past involving realia and primary source material. The second was clearly the better lesson for many classrooms. The second also required time-intensive preparation.

Eduhonesty: SIX HOURS OF MEETINGS in two days. Who is going to do the preparation for that second, better lesson? I haven’t even had time to catch up on my grading for the last two days. It’s a damn good thing that we are preparing canned lesson plans as a group. I can’t get through that lesson plan in the time allotted, generally speaking, and I end up triaging, as I figure out what parts of the lesson I may have to sacrifice due to time constraints. But if other people didn’t tell me what to do, I’d be in more trouble. Every day, I hit the ground running somebody else’s play and go as fast as I can until the next meeting tackles me and knocks me to the ground.

These meetings are also filled with minutiae. Periodically, tasks are assigned to me. I can’t keep track of them all, whether they’re in googledocs, notebooks, smartphone notes, or email. You might say I need a better system, and I do, but I am simply overwhelmed with tiny details. Sometimes the words just wash over me like ocean waves as I lay in the psychic surf of my exhaustion. I can barely key in on the topic by the end of the hour, much less the exact date when the bowling incentive has been scheduled.

I figure the most important tasks will get done.

In the meantime, I am keeping lessons simple since I don’t have time for anything else. We’re lucky we managed to look through the microscopes a few weeks ago. And I bless all those nice folk in Idaho, Ohio and the United Kingdom who are preparing PowerPoints for me to use to stay afloat. I always leave their names and give them credit.