If only days had 36 hours. Maybe then we’d stand a chance.
Some teachers, including me, are living our best “there’s literally not enough time in the day” life. That stack of papers to grade? Still there from Tuesday. The lecture slides for tomorrow’s 9 AM presentation? Half-finished. The endless emails that somehow multiply faster than we can answer them.
Our evening reality: Racing against the clock to prep three different courses. Updating Moodle/Brightspace at 10 PM because the assignment links are broken again. Frantically searching for that one research article we know exists but can’t remember where we saved it.
We’ve mastered the art of eating lunch while grading, answering student emails during our commute via voice prompts, and writing discussion questions in grocery store lines. Our weekends aren’t weekends. They’re just workdays without scheduled classes.
The cruel irony? We chose this profession, and somehow we’re still surprised that everything takes twice as long as we think it will. Course prep that should take an hour stretches to three. Grading that looks manageable on Sunday becomes a Tuesday night emergency.
Time management experts would have a field day with our schedules. If only we had time to implement their advice.
Fellow educators: what would you do with those extra 12 hours? Wrong answers only.