The Rantings of an Overly-Tired Teacher

Virtual learning is exhausting. Sitting and talking to a screen for 8+ hours a day zaps the soul of even the most positive, upbeat teachers. Unable to move around a classroom, talk to other people, and share your successes and concerns in a work environment tends to take all of the positives about being a teacher and flush them away. This flush, however, is not immediate. It is like flushing a swirling toilet that you have to wiggle the handle and hold it down for a solid 30 seconds before you can leave the bathroom. For me, this exhaustion truly hit this week. Perhaps falling asleep on the toilet in the morning (as I write, I realize I may be referring to the toilet too much), or simply having a dream that Kermit the Frog is illuminati and wants to kill me, is enough to realize a break is desperately needed. Regardless, my mantra shall continue to be, “It’s going to be okay. Just 2 more weeks.”

In an attempt to find any semblance of sanity when not teaching and being stuck in quarantine/social-distancing/is that pain COVID, I have been watching a lot of TV. Now, I mentioned my TV watching in a previous post this year (yes, I’m aware I may have a problem…shut up and leave me alone), but I have not had the opportunity to openly RANT about some of my observations. So here goes it…

#1 Prison Documentaries

I love me some crime television. Investigation Discovery, Netflix Documentaries, etc., for whatever reason, intrigue me and pique my interest. My complaint does not come about the excessive number of these series or the overly dramatized recreation of the crimes. No! My frustration comes with the fact that male prisoners tend to have more dates than me. Now I know it is COVID and dating is not optimal right now, but how does a man in prison get more attention than me? On a side-note, please crazy people of the world do not start emailing me. It’s just an observation.

#2 The Definition of Fat

I have come to acknowledge myself as a beautiful, plus-sized woman. You can take it or leave it, but that is how I define myself. As I was watching Desperate Housewives earlier this year, a time-jump takes place. The plot goes five years into the future. Eva Longoria goes from being the perfect ideal of beauty to the dumpy housewife. Why am I pissed off about this? Becoming a dumpy housewife for her means going from a size 00 to a 1.

Before

After

Let me just say, uh world…get a freaking grip.

Likewise, despite my absolute love of Modern Family (I have newly discovered the series on Netflix and cannot stop watching it on repeat), the character of Gloria drives me insane. She acknowledges that she eats whatever she wants and does not exercise, yet…

# 3 The Definition of Career Success

Again, please know that I absolutely love Modern Family, but the portrayal of success, and the ease of that success (specifically financial) is truly bothersome. In the show, Cam is a a part-time music teacher, later gym teacher, later football coach who magically becomes an Assistant Principal. He has no experience, no further education, and no background in leadership. As the series continues, he moves on to be acting principal. For those of you not in the world of education, it doesn’t work that way. It takes years of hard work, dedication, exhaustion, etc. to reach a level of financial stability. We all know teachers are underpaid and overworked, so please television shows, do not make it seem like it takes nothing to become successful.

It is not just Cam, however, on this show that has an easy path to success. Phil is an absolute delight, while also being completely clueless, yet his career as a real-estate agent has put his family in an upper class neighborhood in a suburb of LA, while his stay-at-home wife raises their 3 kids with no financial troubles. When his wife, Claire, decides to go back to work, she takes over as CEO of her father’s incredibly successful company. I’ve never been a stay-at-home wife/mother, but my understanding is that the transition back to the workforce can be brutal because there is a gap in experience. So if you haven’t picked up on the thread of my rant, here it is…Hard work, dedication, focus, good choices do not always lead to wealth, especially when your career choice is based on your passion and not focused solely on money. Television, please stop falsely portraying that anyone who wants to be rich can be by simply working hard.

So as I wrap up this blog post, I want to just say, thank you for listening to me rant. I obviously feel better now that someone will read this and possibly empathize with me. Normally, I am not this angry, but binge watching television and being stuck in a limited environment is not the greatest situation. I know I am not alone right now in that sentiment, as we are all struggling with the limitations of a Pandemic.

If I haven’t depressed you enough with Kermit’s turn to the dark side, let me share one story that happened this past week. I have been teaching the same unit with my students for 4 weeks preparing them in each class period for a major part of their Diploma Program. The day before the big assignment was due, a student who had been in all of my classes stayed behind to say, “I haven’t been paying attention for the past 5 classes. What am I supposed to do?”

Deep breaths Christian. Deep breaths. It’s going to be okay. Only 2 more weeks.