Time Drain?

I went to my first training for the school year. It was horrible, but not a waste of my time. The good news is that I know how to make better use out of my time when I'm placed in situations like these. I simply start working on the curriculum in front of me (in this case English 1 Intensive--I think it will be a great course) and when that runs out of steam I start drawing my house and the plans I have for it. Today I started on the outlets (I want to go from tan to white and add GFCI 4-plexes in the bathrooms) and mapped the entire house by outlets and switches.

I was able to get something out of the training because I saw the need to get better at what I do. I noticed some of the finer details of the course, refined some of the details that always bug me about the course, and was able to sit back and listen to others complaints knowing that they were not mine. It was not a waste of time because I sat myself down and did these tasks as opposed to sitting there waiting for the big revelation to happen.

I was able to figure out what I need to do with my electrical issues in the house, swapping out the outlets and switches to aluminum rated fixtures (white of course) and only having to pigtail the 2 GFCI's in the bathrooms. I also need to get one of those thingies that helps you map out which outlet is on which circuit breaker so I can get a better idea of where the power is actually going to and coming from so I don't blow a circuit or overflow the entire board.

Did I know that I would get either of these particular things mapped out today? Nope. I thought I would get trained on delivering curriculum (although it isn't particularly difficult to read and follow directions--it is the execution of the directions that will be most telling) but when that did not occur (and I knew it wouldn't in the first 15 minutes of the presentation) it was easy for me to switch gears and do my own things without disturbing the presenter or the others around me. I didn't rustle through papers, didn't get up a lot, didn't use my phone, I just wrote out my ideas and started to envision the plan(s) needed to make this work.

Frequently I will hear teachers bemoan the fact that they do not get training (the better teachers always use the word proper when referring to training) and that it is a waste of their time. "I would have been better off in the class today than losing time here." Well of course you would have been better off in the classroom, it is what you are supposed to do. I left well written plans today, plans that I would have followed myself had I been in the class today. It wasn't a waste of time, it was what you do with the time you are given that counts more.

So when I get back to school tomorrow I will clean up what the sub left me (it should not be too much) and I will continue to teach, not wasting my time or the time of those around me. I've told my students that it really comes down to this, you can work hard each and every minute you are in the classroom and take it easy at home or you can hardly work at school and do nothing but work when you get home. As for me, I'll make sure that I bust my butt every minute I'm there tomorrow so I don't waste my time.