Survival Week

This week is S.E.P. week at school. S.E.P stands for "student education plan" - a fancy term for parent-teacher conferences. Report cards are filled. Data is entered. Goals are set. Plans are made. Meetings are held. We celebrate success and offer suggestions for improvement. We look for ways to improve our own teaching methods. We put up dazzling bulletin boards for parents to admire. We make new seating charts and create small learning groups. We evaluate and re-evaluate. We marvel at some people's ability to procreate and marvel still at their inability to parent. We give each other knowing nods and sympathetic smiles as we pass each other in the hall. We spend 12 hours at a time at the school and then go home and take care of our own kids.

And somewhere, somewhere in the middle of all that, we might even teach a little.

I've simply been referring to it as "survival week."