Before Christmas break I had promised myself I would start on my assignments for my first degree teacher training course in said break, but of course I was way too lazy and kept postponing.
Last Thursday I had to do a test on Introductory Linguistics and I only started studying for that test the previous Sunday. Work had already started of course, so the pressure rose with a vengeance. When Thursday was over, I wasn’t relieved in the slightest, because I still had one essay and two papers to write before coming Thursday. Of course, because I’m stressed out my immune system has decided to break down and I’m on the very verge of becoming ill.
I had already started on the essay I had to hand in for a course called Academic Writing, so that was quite easily finished. This is when a teacher’s advice is well-received: outlining is the bomb!
Now I still had to do the papers for Methodology and Didactics. I had done some preliminary work for those papers during the semester, but still… That’s how I ended up spending my entire Sunday behind my laptop, typing away on my paper for Methodology. It’s finished. One more to go.
Thing is, I have to work and this week is going to be breaking my proverbial balls. Tomorrow evening I’ll hopefully have time to spend on my paper for Didactics and hopefully I can finish it by Tuesday afternoon, because both Tuesday and Wednesday evening are filled with having parent-teacher conferences and I probably won’t have much energy left to be working on that paper after those. I initially thought I would have some time on Thursday to tidy up some loose ends, but I have to hand it in at 9 a.m.! So that’s a no-go.
This stuff is constantly in the back of my mind, nibbling at my patience. Unfortunately, this is bad news for my students, since their usually very patient teacher suddenly is a lot less patient with them. I have to be very aware of my reactions otherwise this could seriously jeopardize my (good) relationship with them.
Come Thursday, I’m going to poor myself a nice glass of wine and kick back – just like I did during the Christmas break.
