Work Stress

I've really been feeling the stress and burnout this year. I always get some "End of Year Blues." This time, I voiced to a coworker I probably had one more year left at my current school before I moved on. I may not feel that way later, but the thought has occurred to me.

Most people would consider my school to be a stressful environment. That's true, but right now the part of the job that's frustrating me is I where too many "hats." I was hired to be the special education teacher, but spend the majority of my time being the math teacher. It works out to having one and a half jobs instead of one. I feel like I put almost all of my effort into one job and then try to use what's left to do the other job. There's not enough time and energy to do both at the best of my ability. That leaves me feeling like I did well at one job, but barely scraped by on the other.

The disconnect continues: The hat I limp by at is my job title (SPED Teacher). The hat I put most of my effort into is the direct student interaction (Math).

I put 99% of all my effort into the kids and keeping the school functioning. I frequently lose my planning due to seniors trying to pass math showing up or helping out with other issues here and there. That's enough to keep me busy and earn my pay.

However, there's still the paperwork. I had to turn in some the other day that didn't meet my standards.  I must have wrote the paperwork while juggling drama, because I missed some obvious spots. Now, I'm waiting to get called out on it. My SPED boss is good at what she does. I expect her to spot my errors. Every time I get an email, I expect it to be her.

What will be will be. I hate feeling like I let someone down or did less than my best, but the only way to go is forward.

There's some added stress in the school this year, because my boss was promoted. She's been a good admin and deserved it, but she will be missed. No one knows who the replacement is going to be. We've known she's going to be transferred for weeks, but her position hasn't even been posted yet for people to apply to.

The long and short of it is I'm ready for summer.