How Goes the Work?

My burnout from last year manifests in a lack of energy for what I consider non-essentials. I'm still all in with the kids at work. I don't think any of them would even realize I felt burned out at all!

The burnout shows most when the kids leave the room. Paperwork and documentation drain the life out of me. I used to stay later in the day to keep up and finish. Now, I do the minimum and get out of Dodge (Not that I'm ducking out earlier than others! The only one who stays later than me is my boss and she's got even more paperwork than I do).

It shows up in other areas, though. I normally have a lot of balls in the air that I keep track of. I've been slower to react lately. I put my energy into teaching, my family, and the leftover is whatever is leftover. Keeping up with the blog has been a casualty of that.

This week was an interesting one at work. One of my ex-students was killed in a single car wreck. It happened at 5:30 AM Monday morning. The road was shut down. I knew a shortcut through the neighborhood and found out when I got to school. His younger brother is in my class and was excited that his brother was back in town. He was devastated.

The driver of the car was another ex-student of mine. He was arrested after being discharged from the high school as a felon in possession of an unregistered firearm (found in the car). Both of the boys dropped out and got in trouble with the law soon thereafter.

Both boys (or should I say 'young men?') were well known among my current students. It's a small city. There was an air of mourning and shock. A couple of 'tough' kids were in tears throughout the day.

It got weirder Thursday when three cop cars and a paddy wagon showed up unannounced after breakfast on Thursday to arrest a different student. He went quietly, but he had to do it with the whole school watching. It disrupted the flow and mood of the whole day.  The principal wasn't happy and complained. One of the staff is a retired city cop, also, and he complained to his contacts. We had several of the brass show up later in response.

It's not boring where I work.....unless most of the kids are skipping, go home early, or come in and fall asleep. Those moments can be quiet and boring. They'd normally be a good time to do paperwork, too! Bah!

Those sleepy times can open up odd stories. This week, I had a student come in tired, because he and his friends had gone to the laundromat at 2 AM. They'd fallen asleep in the car and woke up at 4:30 AM when the police knocked on the window. He was thrilled they weren't high at the time. He was less thrilled when his mom showed up and started telling the police he'd been kidnapped by his friends.

My student was hot that the police pressed and probed them looking for something. I listened. I, also, replied I thought he should count himself lucky. I said that it's incredibly dangerous to fall asleep behind the wheel. Then I related the story of how one of my friends had fallen asleep driving and was lucky to only total his car (He'd driven many hours and crashed right before getting home). Hopefully, that framed things differently in his mind.

My students tend to have crazy lives. I love 'em, but it can be tiring! God's kept me going, though. Burned-out or not, my prayer is that He fuels me to do what He wants me to do.