Day 142

Something's a bit fishy with Blogger today. Hmmm.

OK, so I'm starting to lose track of all there is to count down/up to. For the record, it's been 1,142 school days (in my current school) since I decided to take a day off. With 24 school days left to this current school year I've been pondering on the fact that there really isn't much incentive to keep going year after year - not that I need one, necessarily. It's just something to think about. There are incentives (bonus checks being the common reward) within charter schools for somehow getting past one year of perfect attendance that isn't currently true for traditional public schools. What about making it to perfect attendance over two years? three years? I don't say this to brag because I know the mindset that I used to have about taking time off has radically shifted since I joined my current school, but it's been nearly five school years (not the same as dog years btw) since I've requested a full day off. I've worked through a myriad of physical pain (from the effects of running a half-marathon without training, the stomach flu, etc) to the emotional suffering of losing a loved one and never wanted to step away from the classroom - not out of an obligatory, martyrdom conviction, but because I genuinely love what I get paid to do. But what about those that don't have this same sort of passion for their profession? Believe it or not, there are quite a few people who wouldn't (and don't) mind taking a day off here and there. What's to motivate them from not doing so? If the idea is to keep our teachers happy and make the work sustainable, we ought to seriously reconsider what we're doing to keep teachers in the classrooms and I think more incentivizing might be something that's a part of that consideration.

Today's bow was constructed by yours truly. =)