Teacher Tired

 

We’re baaack! How was your first week? Mine was challenging, rewarding, and a stimulating kind of good. And also, exhausting.

There’s no tired like teacher tired after the first week of school. Over the summer, we’ve gone soft. The first week back is like boot camp for our out-of-shape school bodies.

Physically, I’m fatigued. My feet are worn out from wearing flats instead of flip flops, and there are band aids on the back of my heels where my shoes have been digging into the soft, tender part of the Achilles tendon.

My vocal cords are drained from overexertion. Add an extra layer (no pun intended) of wearing a mask while trying to project my voice, and I’m explicitly enunciating every syllable, praying my message is clear.

My neck is weary, and that dang spot between my neck and shoulder is already throbbing from hunching over my laptop. My eyes are strained from responding to emails and reading the latest covid mitigation announcements.

Mentally, I’m spent. My brain is overstimulated. I’m learning new names and hoping the information will pass through my short-term memory into the part of my brain where my childhood phone number and the lyrics to the chorus of Bon Jovi’s Living On A Prayer live.

Emotionally, I’m sapped. The introvert in me is plumb tuckered out. It’s not easy for me to be “on” all day, like I’m performing in a Shakespeare play and “All the world’s a stage.”

Week one is done. I’ve learned a lot of names and I think I remember most of them. I spent the weekend reading a book instead of a computer screen. The blisters are healing and calluses are beginning to form on backs of my heels. I think I’m ready for Week Two.