Dissociated Thoughts

Difficult Duties

PROMPT September 3rd
What is the Hardest Part of Your Job? Tell us how you deal with it.

         I don’t currently work, due to my illnesses and the pandemic. It was concluded (and not by me) that with the ongoing threat of the Covid-19 virus and my being immunodeficient, along with my other disabilities, it was in everyone’s best interest if I no longer taught. (This was probably a good thing, as my health has been on a rollercoaster ride for the last year and a half - and I spend so much time in one doctor's office or another) The hardest part of no longer being able to teach is feeling that I no longer have a purpose in life. I deal with this issue by praying about it a lot. I also volunteer, write, and try to keep my mind and hands busy in other ways, like gardening. It is a day-to-day battle and some days I am more successful than others, but I manage.

         When I was teaching, the hardest part was dealing with parents and coaches who encouraged me (pretty much demanded me) to give certain students grades they did not earn (usually because the kid just didn’t DO the work) simply because the student was in sports and “the school needed them in order to win.” I am not one for being bullied and I refuse to set my morals aside for, well, anything. I dealt with the problem by having the students in question sit in study hall in my room and complete the assignments they were missing before I would give them a grade – with a certain percentage taken off the top for each day the assignment was late. And since I was doing that for the sports kids, I gave the same allowance to the rest of my students (I’m also not one to show favoritism). Showing I was willing to work with the students to help them make better grades pacified most of the parents. As far as the coaches were concerned, I covered all my bases - it was up to their players to put in the effort needed to pass the class after that.

Word Count: 346 (364 including prompt)

LeJenD'Poet - Just ME