Reasons I Am Happy
There are several I've been mulling over recently, or would like to dredge up here:
1. I'm on winter vacation. Hooray! I have been vegging quite a lot, staying up to an ungodly hour most every night (I would like to know the origin of the phrase "ungodly hour." Isn't it an oxymoron, since God doesn't sleep? So how can a late hour be "ungodly?"), sleeping more than usual, and yet also being somewhat productive, by reading some history stuff and watching hours of film from Ken Burns The War series, on World War II. Oh, and I also got papers and tests corrected somewhat early on in the week, so I am not feeling guilty all week long about not doing them and putting them off. All in all, it has been a GREAT change of pace.
2. Related to number 1, I'm happy for break, even though I'm not paid for it. This, sadly, is a little known fact about teaching. Since I'm the consummate professional teacher, I feel obliged and determined to enlighten all of my readers to this fact, even though I'm on break, and thus could stop educating others if I felt like it. I think many think thoughts along these lines: "teachers' hours, they're great, you get so many vacations, and loads of time off in the summer!" While this is partly true, those possibly jealous people do not realize that all vacations, holidays, summer time, etc., is UNPAID. Yup, that's right. I don't get a single cent for any of this "time off." And yet much of it is spent doing school-related stuff (correcting papers, reading more history, etc. etc.) The fact is that I am paid for 183 days of work. That's it. None of these days are on breaks. I only get paid for time I am physically at school. Now, I'm not complaining about this at all. But it is a fact to take into account for anyone who thinks a teacher's work schedule is sweet.
3. My mood changes little, despite the weather. It has occurred to me recently how glad I am that weather has little impact on my moods, especially given the weather my area has experienced recently. I think I would feel very differently if I worked outside on a regular basis. But since I don't, I find that rain, snow, cold, lack of sunshine, etc., all of them have little influence over how I feel. While I enjoy the sun, I think I can be just (or at least nearly) as happy with cold, clouds, and ever threatening snow for a month straight, maybe even two. I am grateful that God has allowed me to have such an imperturbable personality.
4. The Red Sox season is around the corner! Enough said on that.
5. I am still loving my job! This despite the fact that the next couple of months will likely be as busy, if not busier, than any other part of the year. It's the season for big "research" projects and all that, and the final push to prep my World History kids for the AP exam. And it's the time of year to start being very sad about the fact that most of my current students will never be in my classroom again. Sigh.
6. Related to number 5, it's also the time to start to think and be excited about the new bunch of kids coming in next year. I'm really excited about the increased number of signups for my AP World History class. Students must write an essay for this, requesting entry into the class and stating why they think they would like to take it. I've received about 40 essays, mostly from current freshmen! It delights me to see the earnestness of intent evident from their language, even though I know some (or much) of it may be superficial, written simply to sound good. Still, hearing many students say they are intent on taking the most challenging classes, and that World History will be a chance to do that, etc., is really nice. And they will certainly be challenged by it! I have also cracked up over some of the language these freshmen incorporated into their essays. Things like "I am assiduous in my studies." If my juniors used words such as these freshmen in any of their research papers, I would immediately wonder about possible plagiarism. But I know that these freshmen simply have better vocab skills, or at least would like to think they do, and are trying to show off... Maybe you have to be a teacher to relate, but it is really funny reading essays where young students use vocabulary that is beyond the norm for their age group, especially when such vocab is of questionable appropriateness for the context! (Andrea, I hope that at least you can relate to this!)
7. I finished my taxes this year. Thank goodness for Turbotax, which kept the amount of time spent on taxes to something around 4 to 5 hours (but who's really counting?)! Another profitable thing I did over break. It's a relief to get this behind me. Uncle Sam gets his chunk of change once again, though once again he got too much to begin with, so I got to take some of my hard-earned cashola back!
Ok, enough said for now on why life in general, is just plain good. Oh, maybe I should add one more: God reigns, and nothing can stop that fact, as much as any current events might stir us to be tempted to think/feel otherwise.
1. I'm on winter vacation. Hooray! I have been vegging quite a lot, staying up to an ungodly hour most every night (I would like to know the origin of the phrase "ungodly hour." Isn't it an oxymoron, since God doesn't sleep? So how can a late hour be "ungodly?"), sleeping more than usual, and yet also being somewhat productive, by reading some history stuff and watching hours of film from Ken Burns The War series, on World War II. Oh, and I also got papers and tests corrected somewhat early on in the week, so I am not feeling guilty all week long about not doing them and putting them off. All in all, it has been a GREAT change of pace.
2. Related to number 1, I'm happy for break, even though I'm not paid for it. This, sadly, is a little known fact about teaching. Since I'm the consummate professional teacher, I feel obliged and determined to enlighten all of my readers to this fact, even though I'm on break, and thus could stop educating others if I felt like it. I think many think thoughts along these lines: "teachers' hours, they're great, you get so many vacations, and loads of time off in the summer!" While this is partly true, those possibly jealous people do not realize that all vacations, holidays, summer time, etc., is UNPAID. Yup, that's right. I don't get a single cent for any of this "time off." And yet much of it is spent doing school-related stuff (correcting papers, reading more history, etc. etc.) The fact is that I am paid for 183 days of work. That's it. None of these days are on breaks. I only get paid for time I am physically at school. Now, I'm not complaining about this at all. But it is a fact to take into account for anyone who thinks a teacher's work schedule is sweet.
3. My mood changes little, despite the weather. It has occurred to me recently how glad I am that weather has little impact on my moods, especially given the weather my area has experienced recently. I think I would feel very differently if I worked outside on a regular basis. But since I don't, I find that rain, snow, cold, lack of sunshine, etc., all of them have little influence over how I feel. While I enjoy the sun, I think I can be just (or at least nearly) as happy with cold, clouds, and ever threatening snow for a month straight, maybe even two. I am grateful that God has allowed me to have such an imperturbable personality.
4. The Red Sox season is around the corner! Enough said on that.
5. I am still loving my job! This despite the fact that the next couple of months will likely be as busy, if not busier, than any other part of the year. It's the season for big "research" projects and all that, and the final push to prep my World History kids for the AP exam. And it's the time of year to start being very sad about the fact that most of my current students will never be in my classroom again. Sigh.
6. Related to number 5, it's also the time to start to think and be excited about the new bunch of kids coming in next year. I'm really excited about the increased number of signups for my AP World History class. Students must write an essay for this, requesting entry into the class and stating why they think they would like to take it. I've received about 40 essays, mostly from current freshmen! It delights me to see the earnestness of intent evident from their language, even though I know some (or much) of it may be superficial, written simply to sound good. Still, hearing many students say they are intent on taking the most challenging classes, and that World History will be a chance to do that, etc., is really nice. And they will certainly be challenged by it! I have also cracked up over some of the language these freshmen incorporated into their essays. Things like "I am assiduous in my studies." If my juniors used words such as these freshmen in any of their research papers, I would immediately wonder about possible plagiarism. But I know that these freshmen simply have better vocab skills, or at least would like to think they do, and are trying to show off... Maybe you have to be a teacher to relate, but it is really funny reading essays where young students use vocabulary that is beyond the norm for their age group, especially when such vocab is of questionable appropriateness for the context! (Andrea, I hope that at least you can relate to this!)
7. I finished my taxes this year. Thank goodness for Turbotax, which kept the amount of time spent on taxes to something around 4 to 5 hours (but who's really counting?)! Another profitable thing I did over break. It's a relief to get this behind me. Uncle Sam gets his chunk of change once again, though once again he got too much to begin with, so I got to take some of my hard-earned cashola back!
Ok, enough said for now on why life in general, is just plain good. Oh, maybe I should add one more: God reigns, and nothing can stop that fact, as much as any current events might stir us to be tempted to think/feel otherwise.
posted by redsoxwinthisyear at 12:37 PM
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