How to “Sunday” like a True Teacher • The Rose-Tinted Globe

Step One:

Wake up on Sunday morning feeling just a little crazed. Start panicking the moment your feet touch the floor as you realize that there are only so many hours in one day and so many things that you’d like to/need to get done. Resolve to accomplish as much as you can while simultaneously relaxing and having a super-fun day.

Step Two:

Do absolutely nothing for the first three hours you are awake. Drink copious amounts of coffee, scroll social media, and stretch out in the morning sun. Pretend you are planning for school as you look at classroom ideas on Pinterest and read teaching-related articles on Twitter and Facebook.

Step Three:

Realize that you have accomplished nothing and it is 11:00 a.m. Do some yoga and feel better for a bit. Eat a cookie. Perhaps take a shower.

Step Four:

Make time for fun! You’re a teacher, you deserve fun on the weekends! Go spend time with friends, go to a sporting event, or have a mini-movie marathon. Feel guilty the entire time as you think about the grading and lesson planning you haven’t done yet. Optimistically create a plan of attack for how much you will blow through when you return home.

Step Five:

Return home. Rest from your exhausting day out with friends. Have a snack. Possibly go for a walk because you never get to spend time outside of your classroom and you need some dang fresh air.

Step Six:

Realize that it is 9:00 p.m. and the piles of grading you have stacked in prominent places are still staring you down, daring you to get started. Move the piles even closer to you in a good faith effort to really kick off your productivity.

Step Seven:

Check your email. Berate yourself for checking your email on a Sunday night. What are you, a masochist?

Step Eight:

Decide that what will really be best is if you go to bed early and get a REALLY early start on Monday morning. Put those judgmental piles of papers back into your school bag. “Get ready” for bed for at least another hour.

Step Nine:

Try to find some peace in the fact that you enjoyed yourself during the day and not to feel too guilty. Toss and turn for hours, realizing you would have been better off just staying up and grading some dang papers.