An Unproductive Day

I had the option to telework today.  My original intent was to head to work once the day warmed up and  some of yesterday's snow had melted - but when it was still 17 degrees F. at 9:45 this morning, and the road outside was iced with frozen snow despite a plow having gone by twice, I made the executive decision (with the permission of my boss) to work from home.

At the rather civilized hour of 10:00 a.m. I pulled my computer out and hit the power button, looking forward to a quiet work day.  By 10:30 I had checked, deleted, and sent a few emails and I was feeling a little antsy. I reheated my cup of coffee, emptied the dish drainer and wiped down the counters...then forced myself back to the table.

I had discipline incidents to enter in my spreadsheet; I had observations to write up from classrooms I had visited; I had a report to craft analyzing discipline data and the success or failure of my follow up actions.  I was so bored.

Laundry called and as the minutes ticked by I decided that the sleeping teenager needed to be up as well. Was it lunchtime yet? Nope, only 11:12 a.m., I finished a leisurely breakfast two hours ago, so it wasn't time for lunch. As educators we have very little down time during our work day - even now, as an Assistant Principal, I find that there is little time that is not busy - I'm mediating between students, stopping into classrooms, monitoring students during lunch, cheering on students after school.

Today, at home, I had a hard time adjusting to the freedom to set my own priorities and ability to choose my own project.  Good thing these working snow days don't happen very often!