As a teacher, Mondays are always a big deal because they set the tone for the rest of the week. This week, however, this Monday is a much bigger deal because of a few factors.

First, my district canceled school on Thursday and Friday out of concern that the hurricane would impact a large number of students and their families. That means that I have to rethink my lessons for the rest of the quarter, and my time was already fairly compressed before that.

On Tuesday, I’ll be out of the classroom at a mandatory district meeting, so I’ll be spending a lot of Monday on detailed substitute plans. Ask any teacher and they’ll tell you that they’d much rather plan a lesson for themselves and for a substitute. You have to think out every last detail and write each one down to ensure that the substitute ( and the students, too) will be much less likely to misinterpret any of the planning.

The quarter is coming to a close, so there is a ton of paperwork to complete before grades are closed. I’ll also be going out of town for a family reunion, so anything I would do to close out the quarter on our in-service day has to be done before I leave.

All of the starts with a very productive Monday. I have to be organized and streamlined to ensure that I get as much done possible then so that I’ll have less to do between then and the end of the quarter.

(Now, go ahead and tell me how teachers have it easy and that, “Those who can’t do, teach. And then there’s the matter of how well-paid teachers are…)