For the past four weeks, I have been running down my batteries. That’s when I started preparing eight seniors to lead 50 of their classmates on a retreat, and that’s when I started teaching two brand new courses, each of which requires every lesson plan, every assignment, and every assessment to be written from scratch. The retreat preparation requires 40-hours of meetings with students, and 6- to 8-hours of planning. But now it’s taking even more because of last-minute changes beyond my control, which require me to cover for someone. One of the two classrooms that I teach in is also experimental, with brand new desks, new writing surfaces, and three digital projection sites. I am also in charge of getting University of California approval for one of the Social Science department’s new courses; that has necessitated three rewrites and submissions. On top of that, one of my two student clubs is already meeting twice a week for an hour each day. One of the committees that I serve on has already started meeting, and another starts on Monday.
I get to campus by 7am each day, and yesterday was the first day that I’ve left in less than 11-hours. Which meant I was able to go home — and do housework, and prep lessons there.
I feel as if I’m working right at the edge of my competency. Not because any one or even any three of the above are too hard, but because the accumulation of work is consumming all of mental energies.