As I sat, bundled up in my bed on this snow-less snowday, the time slipped by, and before I knew it, it was 3:00pm and I had gotten (essentially) nothing done (other than clean my room, eat some scrambled eggs, watch The Holiday, and play Words with Friends). This realization brought me to another -- every day of the work week, I have accomplished so much by 3:00pm, something I love about my job.
By 3:00pm on a typical day, I've taught at least one (usually two) class council lesson, run at least two (usually three) lunch groups, scarfed down my breakfast, tea, and (if I'm lucky) my lunch, seen at least three (usually four) kids individually, consulted (at least briefly, and sometimes, at length) with all eight of the classroom teachers in grades 1, 3, and 5, spoken multiple times with my co-counselor, the principal, the school-based clinician, the behavioral gurus, the secretary, the nurse, and others, and usually attended at least one (but almost always more than one) meeting.
I've checked my email, zipped coats, responded to concerned parents, tied shoes, made referrals to outside counselors, comforted 1st graders ashamed of new glasses and 5th graders questioning their identity, prepped for the next day's individual, group, and classroom sessions/lessons/meetings, laughed a lot, observed students in classrooms, had tough conversations, helped implement behavior plans, decorated bulletin boards (who am I kidding, I haven't changed a bulletin board since November or December), responded to crises, and pushed Kindergarteners (who pretend they don't know how to pump) on the swings at recess duty.
And sometimes, it's just nice to write all of that down. Maybe I'll come back and look at this on the days where I feel like I'm not doing enough. I could always be doing more, but I'm confident that I'm doing a lot, I'm doing the best I can, and I'm developing strong relationships with lots of my students. And that will have to be enough for now.
