Damn, I'm having another case of the Mondays

I am having more conflicts with administration the farther in my career that I get. Today, I was on the way out of school at 4:30, with a stack of a few hundred papers in my hand to grade somewhere other than my desk. I decided to check my mailbox, and there was a bullshit memo that made me completely irate. I went up to my office, literally slammed down all the papers in my hand, and jotted off a quick response that I CC'd to the principal as well as the author of the original memo. Thank god I let someone read it before I put it in there because the original draft might have gotten me fired. But I did put the memo in there and it felt good.

I'm getting more and more tired of the bullshit I have to deal with on top of the classroom and grading time that is already significant. I'm really glad I took Friday off because from the sounds of it, things were pretty terrible at the all day professional development. The school system has decided it's excited about some new term in education that is just a new way of describing something old. In the English department, we're deciding if it's the alliteration of the phrase that has impressed them, or the metonymny. Either way, it sounds like it was horrible. I hate to be cynical but it's tough not to be.

I had a really good day today in the classroom. Every year I get tired at the thought of running off 170 copies of Stephen King's "The Last Rung on the Ladder," but I am consistently impressed by what a good teach it is - full of foreshadowing, imagery, and round characters. It led to some good discussions today.

Still, I'm feeling cynical about everything beyond those four walls with the future inside. I'm having a harder time separating that from everything else right now, though. It's that time of year, I guess. They usually do go away fairly quickly.

Tonight, I'm looking forward to a good workout, a raquetball date, and the opportunity to be sitting in front of my television by the time Prison Break comes on.