Monday morning, here I am at school again. Why didn’t I take a “normal” sabbatical like other people do? Am I going to make it to June if I already feel this way in October? Is it wrong to complain seeing as how real teachers don’t even get the chance to have a sabbatical?
Almost all of the teachers and professors I know struggle with balancing their work and personal lives. We work during the day, then go home and work some more. It’s hard to keep this kind of effort going, and I’m not as energetic as I once was.
Adventures in Teaching 
Hi Prof teacher. I don’t know if this helps, but I think it is important to remember that you are in a *new* job and new jobs are exhausting. You are going through the cycle of the high school year as a teacher for the first time, and the circumstances of instability you have faced have made it more difficult than usual to get in the groove.
When I think back on teaching high school, a fact of life that stands out in my memory is “teacheritis” = bad case of no time to pee. I would get more and more irritable and then finally realize my bladder had been talking to me for hours and I was not listening. As I recall, there is really no down time or privacy in the day.
I hope that you find a groove and that the exhaustion factor dissipates as you establish a routine. I can understand why you are longing for a “regular sabbatical”, but given your passion for working with teachers, I think what you are doing is really important! You *are* getting your street creds and I look forward to seeing how this experience enriches your work with students and teachers in the future.
Morale levels seem to follow a cyclical pattern for the k12 teachers I know. October and March seem to be low points. My mentor teacher thinks it’s because there are no days off in these months so teachers and students become fatigued. My point is that it will get better (although it will still be hard).
Do university professors experence a similar cycle of excitement/disillusionment during a school year or semester?
Hmm… good observation–i wonder if it related to the absence of holidays. We have “Fall Break” in October at our university (as you know), so I think it’s the spring semester that is rougher.
Hi profteacher, I lack the eloquence to provide adequate comfort, but I just wanted to drop in and offer support and encouragement! 🙂
My Mama said there’ll be days like this…
Start a journal, or add it here, every day think of your favorite thing that happened or something positive, funny, etc. Write it down, and focus on it. If you focus on the 5 students that make a class stressful, or an incident you will forget the good. Everyday has some good, even if it is going home to have a glass of wine. You are an excellent teacher, I know because you were my teacher once, and I was in a position to evaluate your teaching based on having already been a teacher when I had you. The experience that you are gaining with this sabatical will be amazing when you start back at the university training future teachers. luv ya!