I don't normally make resolutions, since avoiding failure and disappointment is a tenet of my lifestyle, but after so much recent self-reflection I think I should tippytoe out some risks. (Stupid growing older and wiser continuum. Apparently it's unavoidable.)
Resolution 2009.a: I will not get to work an hour early every morning.
Even though I love telling myself "hey, I come in an hourish early every day!" when I want to nip ten minutes off the afternoon clock, coming in early is just too much safety net. Knowing I give myself so much time is perhaps making me anxious that I need this time. I don't want to need this time. I'd rather sleep.
Mostly, I come in early because I'm afraid of or dislike the following things: getting stuck in traffic and being late, sitting in regular traffic, not being able to get pre-class things done because of P/T conferences, working late any more than I have to, needing a plan B when a computer blows up or the previous day's lesson didn't go as planned and I didn't have time after school to assemble materials for a new lesson.
On the non-fear side, I like when the building is quiet. I review to myself what we will cover. I look over the board and add new things, my thoughts uninterrupted in the dark silence. (I like to keep the lights almost completely off.) I like to let my relaxed mind think of last-minute embellishments to what we will do. And, more than anything else, I like to take my time waking up, de-crabbifying, acclimating all over again to where I will spend my day. (Which is just code for "coming to terms with not lying on the sofa eating bon-bons.")
So, what I already have going may be what's best, but I'm going to try not coming in early for awhile. This could be the split sleep talking, when here it is nearly two hours to the alarm, and that sounds so much better than the 90 minutes there would usually be.
And since I'd far rather come in early than stay late, I don't know if it will be possible to come in only 15 minutesish early (as in 15 minutesish before contract time, not school) and still keep up with grading without working late. As I already posted, prep time doesn't begin to cover it.
In fact, the more I think about it, the crazier this resolution sounds. Am I going to magically create assignments that are easier to grade while being just as meaningful?
But, it's too late, a resolution is a resolution. Let's see how it goes! (And let's get that extra 30 minutes of sleep.)
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