If I could give myself a
cookie award, it would be for multi-tasking. And I'm not the only teacher who
deserves that award...
Teachers
are tremendous multi-taskers.
And truth be told, I
never realized it--I always thought of my multi-tasking abilities as normal.
That is, until two years ago when I served on jury duty. I spent a full week at
the courthouse listening to a trial and boy, was I shocked. Sure,
the trial was interesting, but I was more intrigued by the amount of
time we spent on breaks and lunch. We started around 8:30 am and by 10:00 it was time for a
15 minute break. We had an hour for lunch at 12:00 and then another break by
3:00. We wrapped for the day around 5:00 pm. This dragged on and on for a very long week.
I remember thinking "Um, was that it?" every day as I walked to the car. I couldn't believe that we had two full hours of down-time between a late start, a lunch, and two breaks. I mean, sheesh. Teachers work non-stop! And it's not because we've got someone looming over our shoulders--it's because if we don't, kids don't learn. Nothing lights a fire under your seat like a child's well-being.
I'd sit through the prosecution's cross examination of the witness, taking notes and discerning the facts of the case (I was thoroughly interested, both as a citizen and a lawyer's daughter). But during the breaks I'd imagine all the things I could do in fifteen minutes at school:
- Prepare the room for the day
- Take attendance and lunch count
- Greet each student at they come in the door
- Collect homework, forms, and parent notes
- Answer emails from colleagues and parents
- Help students get on the computer, start seat work, spell a word, read a hard word
- Write down a few notes or ideas to improve the day's lessons
Normal? Sure, in a teacher's world. I mean, that's fifteen minutes! Imagine what we do in a day! I think that teachers develop this multi-tasking skill over time--I can remember being overwhelmed as a first year teacher. It was difficult to juggle my daily responsibilities and remain calm. Now, I enjoy the fast-paced gait of my day--it doesn't phase me to do two, three, or ten things at once. Of course, there are days--like in any other profession--that seem to get the best of me, but I understood after the jury duty experience that I enjoy and value splitting my energy, my attention, and my creativity twelve different ways.
So teachers, if I could bake you all cookie awards for multi-tasking, I would. Cheers!
