I can't believe that mid-quarter reports are due out this week. We're already 0.125 of the way through our first year. Time has gone so fast, it's difficult for me to get my head around.
I've gotten into a bit of a rhythm in my new life and for me, that means I have been able to organize my time so I'm not completely overwhelmed all the time with the task of preparing for, teaching, or following up on a class. But just barely. There's so much work to do that even one little time-demand in your private life can overwhelm you. I get up at 5:30 which isn't quite early enough and leave my house just before 6:30am to drop the kids off at before-school care (can't drop them off any earlier than that), then I have about an hour commute. I spend the day teaching my classes (for which I've already prepared or I'm doomed), then from 3:30 I'm usually engaged with students who want to talk about their grade or something we did in class. Then from 3:30 to about 5 I'm preparing for classes the next day (making sure lab materials are present and organized, everything works, handouts are prepared etc) then one more hour in the car and I'm home where we get to eat, help the kids with homework and get them cleaned up and into bed. By that time (usually 8:30 or so), I have a little time to take care of whatever needs doing around the house (last week it was fixing the washing machine and meeting with a guy from the title company to sign refinance papers), and then it's ME TIME, baby! Yup - by 9:30 I get to sit down and (usually) grade papers until 10:30 when I go to bed. If I'm not in bed by 10:30 I'm pretty tired the next day so I try to stick to a strict 10:30 bed time.
That's my life now. Honestly, I haven't any idea what's going outside of my home/school bubble. I don't read the paper any more or watch TV because I just don't have time. And I have almost no time during the day for socializing. I love teaching, but I would encourage anyone thinking about teaching to think long and hard about the commitment. Professionally, I've never experienced anything like the sustained effort required to teach, and judging by the conversations I've had with veteran teachers, my experience is par for the course. So if you're thinking about doing it, know that the workload is huge. But also know that that's perfectly fine if you love what you do. :)
