"Work Smarter, Not Harder": A hardworking Teacher's Lament

The former chancellor (the one who was found guilty of misappropriating funds but didn't have to serve jail time) that we didn't have to work harder; we had to work smarter.  I, a not-very-smart, hard-working teacher knows that he was right.  But one of the reasons I'm not smart and am, instead, very hard-working is because I'm insane and insanely interested in certain aspects of my job.  Take for example, my students messages.  I love them.  The first one is from a student who has never learned to spell saw, assignment, helpful, message, cousin, again, thanks--althought notice that help fuel does become helpful at the end.  The first two students are finally looking at a web site I've been trying to get them to look at all semester.  My brainstorm was to make looking at it the midterm test.  The third message is from a student explaining (and lamenting) her absence.

hi Tina this is xyxyx  I go by (x) from class ESL 142 section 002. I sow the assailment it was so help fuel. and it was good massage. also I sow my cosine Yxyx on the picture. she was holding the picture with 3 japan students. agene tank you its helpful.

Mrs. Martin, I think  posting the lesson plan is really a good idea, I printed btw, to make it easier for me to don't forget it. Good night and I see you tomorrow. 

Peace and love :)

  

Dear Tina

Sorry being so late to reply to you . It was so nice to get your response ! I wish I wouldn't bother you too much. It's a pity that I missed the guest speaker  Felicia King.I would like to ask some of our classmates about that. I miss you and our class! 

Have a good night ! 

XyXy

But what else was I doing between 3 and 6 this morning?  Looking up the limerick "An epicure dining at Crewe," relating so well to our unit on food habits, so that the leader in each group could read it as a dictation to other group members, looking up BART information for a cloze, and getting pictures and links to Creature Features to work on rhymes with my lowest level students.  

What I needed to be doing was getting their grade reports ready!

More later.

But I should print out this reminder of my insanity to make it easier to don't forget.