#sol21 March 19 A Professional Reflection

 

I'm writing daily this month as part of the TWT's March SOL Challenge. This is post is spurred by a Tweet I read from Matt Renwick. .  

I was in the parking lot when the call came.  "Get here when you can," she said. I knew without her telling me, the gravity of the situation.  "He's hanging on for now," she added, "we've got a few hours according to the nurse."  

I had already shared that I would be in charge of scoring State ELA exams at the beginning of the morning and would need to be at work for the about 2 hours. Given his decline in recent days, I had already talked to my administration and had asked for someone to back me up just in case; however, that had not happened.  It seemed at that moment as if the fate of the district's 3rd graders was in my hands.

I explained my situation to my administration and my small group got to work ahead of schedule with a focus like I had never witnessed before.  I was ready to leave in a little over an hour, my part of the PD day complete. 

I stopped at the office on my way out. "If you leave now, I'm going to have to charge you for the whole day. Plus, you are going to have to reschedule your post observation reflection with me," my then principal said calmly as I left, my eyes filling with tears but not because of her. I knew not to respond, as my response, fueled by grief, would not have been professional.