Seriously. I'm good. I got this.

I am good at my job.  No.  Seriously.  I am.  A lot of people may say that and what they really mean is "I am good enough at my job to be able to get paid without actually expending much effort," but that's not me.  I eat, sleep, and breathe teaching.  I'm always thinking about ways to make the lessons  I teach more engaging, I read all the time in an effort to keep my brain sharp and to try to find new works that might be of interest to my kids, I'm not afraid to try things beyond my comfort zone, and I love love love talking about what I do with like minded folk.

To that end, I work with amazingly passionate people.  Two of my colleagues/friends and I serve on a committee that met today, and throughout the afternoon I caught myself several times thinking how awesome it is that I get to be in a job where I can say, "THESE are my colleagues."  These guys--smart, funny, engaged, committed--are two of the best, and along with our cross town counterparts, we assembled today to do a job that really needed doing only to be derailed late in the game by a bombshell that sort of threw off all we had accomplished in the preceding three hours.

I am not angry at the woman who ran our meeting, I don't think she realized the late in the day information was as potentially game changing as it turned out to be (and yes, I realize I am being cryptic, but public education is taking a hit right now and I want to be careful).  And, I think she means well.  She advocates for us, wants us to get what we need to do our jobs effectively and efficiently, but the powers that be make that as hard for her to give to us as it is for us to get it.

So, today my question is this: should it seriously be this hard to do my job?  Should I seriously have to spend hours and hours planning and drafting language about what should happen only to be told that all of it is contingent upon a maybe for next year, or that some of our assumptions have been altered due to the change of mind of outside parties?  SERIOUSLY.  This is teaching.  This is education.  I don't need committees and administrations and technology departments and textbook companies and the federal government an standardized tests and common core and state boards of education and angry local newspaper commentators to help me do my job.

I'm good.

I got this.