Friday Afternoons

Dear Jordan School District,
I am writing in regards to our early out Fridays. I understand that these days were designed to give teachers, like myself, some "prep" time for the next week. I really do appreciate early out. Knowing I have less than an hour of school left after recess is often all that makes me come back after lunch. However, I think that you may have overlooked an important fact when deciding to do early out Fridays for teacher prep time. I am exhausted and DONE by Friday afternoon. This exhaustion causes my afternoon to vary in productivity. For example, last Friday, I laid on the table in my room only semi-conscious for about 20 min. I then wondered to another teacher's room and we talked for an additional 20 min. I finally decided that I HAD to get some work done and sat on the floor filing papers. I fell asleep within 5 min. At this point I thought about going home only to remember I had to stay until 4. I decided that sitting was not an option and tried to straighten my room and write on the board for Monday morning. I don't remember moving any papers or cleaning up but stacks of papers are still missing and I came in on Monday morning to discover that what I had written on the board was nonsense. Most Friday's follow this pattern.
It is now Friday afternoon, and I am facing 2.5 more hours of "work". I need at least 2.5 hours to get ready for next week but I also need a nap. Could I just lock my door, close my eyes and sleep for a while? Having a quality after school nap would really help with Friday afternoon productivity. Quality here meaning uninterrupted, on something soft (I don't even need a pillow). I appreciate your consideration on this matter and hope to be in contact.

Sincerely,
Kelsey Harris

Random Thoughts

We got a hamster. About Friday of last week Brian started talking about wanting a Gerbil, and we went to the best store and looked, debated getting a rabbit, and then I said lets sleep on in and if you still want a Gerbil we can go get one. We then went to a different pet store because their cages were cheaper but there were no Gerbils. So we got a hamster. His name is Rex and Molly loves him. She sits and watches him run around in his wheel, and tries to lick him. She actually did last night. Rex likes to climb the bars of his cage making his stomach very exposed to the dog sitting as close as dogly possible and she licked his stomach the funny thing was he didn't seem to mind. :-).
I was just attacked by a herd of elephants... I have tried for over 100 days of school to make them come in quietly, we have practiced and practiced but it still takes about 5 min for them to come in and settle down and work quietly. I have also learned that it is better to let them take 5 min to settle down than to try and get them to sit down and shut up right away, it seems to make the chaos last longer. So I just sit and watch as they all talk and just wait patiently knowing that eventually I will have fourth graders and not a herd of elephants.