Spring Break '06

WHOOOOOOOO-HOOOOOOOOOOO!!!

(I know you can't see it, but I'm totally showing you my boobs.)

I don't have to go to work for 10 long days. I haven't had that much time off since our wedding. And, before that, since my stint of unemployment in the late summer of aught one.

So, after ten days off, I go back for about six more weeks, then I'm (sort of) off for eight weeks. I say sort of because I'm working for the schools for a month over the summer, but it's only from 7-12. Done by noon every day!

It's great being a school librarian. I get all of the perks of being a teacher (great hours, lots of time off) with only a fraction of the headaches (smart-ass teens six hours a day). I tend to personally deal with maybe 10-20 kids per day. When there is a class in the library, there is always a teacher there, so they are only partially my responsibility. Teachers have an average of 30 kids every period for six periods a day. I think I would lose my mind if I were a high school teacher. An elementary teacher is a different story. First, the kids are younger and more malleable; less apt to test you all the freaking time. Second, you have the same 30 kids all day so you don't have to deal with the same problems every time a bell rings.

I've been thinking that maybe I'd like to eventually make a switch to working in an elementary school. But I don't know. Whole different set of advantages and disadvantages. I would love to help younger kids find a love of reading, but I also love helping the older kids find information. They look at me like I'm magic. It's pretty great. I'm happy where I am for now. I'm not looking to make the change any time soon.

It's very strange working in a high school. There's a weird sense of continuity. Especially for me, working in the school I do. It looks a lot like the high school in Niles. It's a series of squares around courtyards and the halls are ramps. And there are the same girls selling tickets to the prom. And the same guys in a band. And the same kids acting out the same dramas day after day after day. It's like a time warp.

And I want to tell them not to worry so much because everything will always be fine.