Fellow teachers and anyone else who brings work home with them: What helps you work at home? I need to clean house and I know that would help, but I don't have a ton of time for that. I will do that in the near future. I am going out to work at the moment but I can't do that every time, because money is tight right now with the new computer and my loans and all that. I think I will go to Starbucks because if I go to the nice gay-friendly coffeehouse with good hummus, I will spend more money, and I don't think they're open long on Sundays.
I am going to plan 2 days worth of lessons and then go back to sleep.
Mental health update, if anyone cares: I'm off Risperdal due to the weight gain, and on Abilify. It is making me a zombie. I can only hope this is temporary. But the voices are better. Well, not voices. I don't hallucinate, but the racing thoughts and inner commentary. It's another anti-psychotic, the only one that won't cause weight gain. Even the anticonvulsants used for bipolar cause weight gain. We'll see how this goes. I'm in a depression now and I want to swing out of it so badly. I prefer hypomania to depression even though it's a weird feeling. I'm seeing my doctor again in a week and a couple days, and we will re-evaluate.
Time to go plan lessons. Somewhere else. Taking a bunch of crap with me: Syracuse Community-Referenced Curriculum Guide, Moderate and Severe Disabilities (both textbooks), the LifeSkills guide for this district, and my notebook I am using until there is absolutely no white space left in it.
All day workshop Wednesday: means I get to rant and share stories with my best teacher buddy from another school!
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5 comments:
I suck at working from home. But I sure do wish I had your references. Those books sound awesome.
i think how people focus is so different that i don't know if this will help.
the most important this for me is having a designated space. this is partly related to living with other people, and having a "don't fuck with my stuff" place, but mostly it's to internally recognize some *place* as my "office." we have a room we call the office, but it is too big for that kind of mental connection for me. what i'm really referring to is my desk (which is in the office). it is pretty, and functional, and i can spread my things out and leave them that way if i need to. it's one of the only parts of the house i've gotten as far as adorning - a poster of my favorite band and a photo of my girlfriend, as well as some office-supply organizey things. anyhow, my point is that it's kind of set up so that i think of it as my personal space, my work space, and it is welcoming.
also, there is a window near, but the space right in front of my chair is a wall, which is very important for that distraction thing. the other thing i do about distractions is listen to music. i know that totally doesn't work for a lot of people, but it is almost the only way i can focus without getting distracted by every other little background thing.
dunno if that is anything new or interesting, but that's my thing.
I agree. I worked from home a lot in my last job, and having a separate place to do my work was key. Even now, I often do homework at the kitchen table or in the living room as opposed to in my room.
Also, if you're easily distracted by stuff online (like I am!), then it helps to give yourself a time limit for the fun stuff. For example, I let myself spend maybe a half hour before getting started on facebook, blogs, etc. That way, I don't feel so tempted to go see what's going on. I also might do one chore before I start; laundry is especially good for that because you can give yourself a built in break when it's time to switch it over.
My girlfriend is bipolar & going through the same switching around with her meds. Geodon made her a zombie. Abilify seems to be working great for the most part, but she's still working on what dosage is going to be best. (Too little & it takes away the downs, but she's almost too far up. Too much & she feels restless & racing.) She's also on a couple of anti anxiety meds that she'll have to come off of eventually. It's not an easy thing, but I'm glad you're talking about it here.
As a schoolteacher. . . Hmm. . .
Well, my hardfast rule is that teaching is my job. Not my life. I chose it as my occupation, not my sole passion.
I am passionate about my work, but I do make a divide.
I refuse to bring work home with me. I do not write lessons at home. If I need to do that, I try to stay late at school. I do everything I can to keep school at school.
I never call parents from my cellphone. I always use the cellphone. I do not friend parents in any way. I only fb add students who have graduated. etc. etc.
I do adore my students. And, I have worked in places with at-risk kids, and seen stuff that made mine (and would make your) heart break. When that happens I still try to handle as much as I can at work. I call social services from work. Meet with parents at work. Work is work. You have to keep it there.
Good Luck!
-Ms. Hinterland
er I meant to say that I always call parents from the school phone. sorry!
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