I love computers. I love e-mail. But, I’m a little tired of having to DOCUMENT everything that goes wrong with my computer. If I don’t, then no one ever hears about the problem and it never gets fixed. However, documenting these issues takes time. Whenever I write a work order request, I give the time I started it and the time I finished it because I feel it is important to note how much time I have spent away from the classroom. I think it would be shocking to see how much time I spend in a week dealing with things that keep me from active teaching.
Active teaching. There’s the rub. I*can* have enough time to write a lengthy e-mail or document a problem if I am not up and engaging my students. Sure, I can give them a worksheet or a “scavenger hunt” or some other busy work to keep them quiet while I try to explain that I am not able to permanently rotate a PDF file, but is that how my time is best served?
I hate it when I have to spend my morning time with IT trouble shooting – it puts me in a bad mood all day. I haven’t been able to sip on coffee with my friends in the morning. I haven’t been able to check my e-mail in the morning. My computer desktop looks like Hiroshima was just dropped because I am hesitant to save elsewhere – and now my computer is going to be reimaged tomorrow.
Great.
I think that teachers who *are* able to write lengthy e-mails during class on a regular basis should be asked about it. I think that is should be pretty obvious when teachers are Facebooking instead of actually working. That’s not to say that I never get a break – they come and go.
I have been so fried at school lately that all I want to do when I get home is loaf. Maybe I should stop taking this laptop home – it’s too easy for me to see it as a symbol of all that I have to do at school. I don’t like using the phrase “they don’t pay me enough to _____”, but they don’t pay me enough to work twelve hours a day.
And with that said, I’m off to clean the kitchen.
How to Skin a Cat 