Paperwork!

I will admit, I have been feeling a little overwhelmed lately. I've been busy trying to keep my head above water trying to learn the curriculum and be able to teach it to 7th graders and teach it well so they understand what I'm trying to teach them as well as grading essays and other assignments. On top of that, I have paperwork to do for my observation that's next week. Writing the lesson plan for a lesson that I barely really know what I'm going to do is bad, but I also have five component questions that I have to answer, for which I write what looks like a book. The component questions are things that I feel can be answered by observation, and I also feel like I repeat myself multiple times. I understand that all of the paperwork and stuff is needed for me to get my actual teaching license in Iowa, but sometimes I just feel like it's a big waste of time. I have multiple essays sitting on my desk that need grading that I've had to put off so that I can get my own "assignments" done. I feel like my time could be put to better use, so that I can get assignments back to students in a timely manner, which I'm not doing a very good job of. I could spend my nights grading papers, but who really wants to do that? It will get done, I'm just struggling a bit with getting everything into perspective.

I feel like I've been complaining a lot about teaching. It's actually still very fun and the kids make me laugh everyday. It's all the paperwork and bureaucracy that I don't like and that I get really tired of. Midterm is next week, which is kind of scary! It's interesting to think that 1/8 of the school year is almost over. Tomorrow is "Wacky Wednesday" for Spirit Week since Homecoming is Friday. I haven't decided yet if I'm going to dress up for it, especially since I have a meeting with my principal tomorrow!