Today is the last Monday of my summer. Where did the time go? What happened to all my big plans at the end of the school year last year? Where are all the video tutorials I was going to create? Where are the rest of the lesson plans I need? Why isn’t my website updated already? When will I get around to firing up the computers in my lab at school to see if they all work?
These and many more questions are swirling around in my head today. I don’t know why it hit me today. I have to be at our district office part of the day Wednesday and Thursday. I have an in-service Friday. I’ve already passed my last of those free days. But there is something about Mondays.
Never start a diet on a Monday.
Never buy a car manufactured on a Monday (or a Friday)
Never give a test on a Monday
Monday gets a bad rap. I’m not really sure why. Other beginnings get celebrated. Spring is a great beginning. Birthdays celebrate our own individual beginnings. Anniversaries celebrated the beginning of wedded bliss. We celebrate the beginnings of new jobs.
But not Mondays. Mondays are the days we “drag into work.” They are days we just want to pull the covers back over our heads and extend the weekend. They are days we have to “face the job again,” “go to school again,” or “start another week again.”
I guess it stands to reason out of 7 days, one of them has to be the brunt of all the “day jokes.” It is our nature to poke fun at something. It is our nature to be negative about something. It is our nature to complain about something.
It is our nature to be ignorant.
The beauty of mankind, the beauty that separates us from other animals, is that we can fight against our nature. We can “unlearn” all those things that our base nature places inside of us. Education is the way to fight against our nature.
The ignorant bully others. The educated find common ground.
The ignorant complain about things they don’t understand. The educated find ways of understanding
The ignorant find negativity in everything. The educated look for the positive and fan the flame of good.
Our job as teachers is to educate. Not teach. Educate. Our job is to help kids unlearn and relearn. Our job is to make a better citizenry for our country, better spouses for our marriages, and better parents for our kids.
Then why do teachers hate Mondays so?
I think you already gave us all the answers. We hate dragging our body and spirit back to the reality of the working world, no matter how much we love it.
Here’s your good news. Although you are starting early (too early, if you ask me), you will be out of school equally early. We start in-service on Aug. 31 and school on Sept. 8.
I agree with your second last paragraph totally. But we’re human, have personal lives, and Monday signals leaving them to reconnect with our professional lives. For me, after a 45-minute ride with a good Audible book or some iPod music, I’ve re-entered and am ready for the un-/re-learn process. If I weren’t, I would have joined my generation’s exodus years ago, when they did.
Have a great year, Tim. Can say I would enjoy the work ahead of you, but knowing you, it will be done perfectly and on time. It’s just who you are.
And the reason why you haven’t done whatever to your blog: 2 reasons I can offer: 1. you are too busy writing great creative thought-provoking blogs (pretend the commas are there; too lazy to edit); 2. you are healthy.
I have done so much tinkering, to all my 5 blogs, including the PA DEN, because I have nothing but recovery time and get bored. So my online life is in order, my GR read, no emails in my inboxes, and I am bored to tears (well, almost; not a crier, but a really good whiner).
So, celebrate, enjoy, and just keep blogging. You’re doing just fine.
A wonderful article…. In my life, I have never seen a man be so selfless in helping others around him to get along and get working. I feel good that there are people like you too. Thanks for this great weblog of yours. Its surely going to get me to go to higher places!
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