It’s Parent Teacher Conference Week. I’ve heard some schools have conferences during the school day. Or half days. Or something. Apparently there is an alternative to a full week of teaching and shoehorning in conferences before and after school. Or so I’ve heard.
#17 Collide
Parent Teacher Conference Week
Crash!
Bang!
Kaboom!
Life and job collide
Brace for impact
Count on casualties
©Molly Hogan
#18 moon
Some days
my sanity dangles
from the merest sliver
of crescent moon
©Molly Hogan
#20 sprout
A tendril of energy
takes root,
sprouts,
withers away.
©Molly Hogan
The Poetry Friday Roundup is at Jama Rattigan’s blog, Jama’s Alphabet Soup. Jama always provides a feast, so be sure to stop by and check out this week’s offerings!
Nix the comfort zone 
I am so sorry you had such a full week of parents. Argh! I am glad you are finding a muse in the Inktober words. “Some days my sanity dangles…” I get it.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I actually really enjoy Parent Teacher Conferences. It’s just combining them with a full week of teaching that pushes me over the edge.
LikeLiked by 1 person
Always had as a kid in NY half days for parent conferences, maybe 3 of them. As a teacher in NY we had a variety but 2 half days for all and each teacher could take another with a sub (we all know that is extra work). Sometimes if we chose to do a night conf. we got paid extra but they changed that because the SPED and other teachers could not get paid nor come to the conference. Some would do morning conferences. But we always had time. I can’t imagine having to do it with no time off. Also we had them in the fall and spring. I can feel the stress you have had in your poems. Do you have a teachers union or bargaining in Maine? I think the days were always part of the system before they began the contracts in NY in the later 1960s so they were grandfathered in. Good for parents, good for teachers, good for kids. I think a letter writing campaign about all the benefits and harms might open eyes. Also a little research on what goes on in other places. I am really shocked if you get no official time to do these.
LikeLiked by 1 person
The system is set up so that we do get a professional compensation day on the Wednesday before Thanksgiving for these conferences. It’s never felt like a good trade, but, technically, we’re getting reimbursed for our time. There is, however, no distinction between teachers who have 22 kids and conferences, and those planning for only 15 or so, though the time required is significantly different. I’m in the luckier camp this year, but either way, trying to plan for conferences and a week of school and then simultaneously juggle both is really brutal.
LikeLike
I wish I could advocate for you ie you can’t get blood from a stone….and time is finite. As it was I could work 24/7 and never be caught up. I know different strokes, but for those who put heart and soul into their school life and try to have time to read, grow, live, tend…..I think a fresher look would/could potentially benefit all. And in the end, the kids. Yet still you write and create. “Some teacher” is woven in a luminous web above your door.
LikeLiked by 1 person
What a lovely thing to say–thanks, Janet! And I do appreciate all the empathy, too!
LikeLike
Molly, wow what a week you’ve had, yet you still found magic in the words collide, moon and sprout. We can hear your busy week in each poem. My favorite line, making me knowingly and wickedly crack up: “Count on casualties” (remembering my overwhelmed weeks at school when my family was younger.)
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Denise! I’m so looking forward to a less frantic pace over the weekend. I’ll be tending to some of those casualties as well!
LikeLike
And look! In the midst of chaos, beautiful poems AND a unstoppable sprout! Hang in there, dear Molly. Thinking of you. xo
LikeLiked by 1 person
Thanks, Irene!
LikeLike
Glad you found time to write during your busy week. Thanks for sharing these!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Low stakes writing is definitely a plus during crazy times!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I hear you about those conferences. We had the days off, luckily, but the difference in numbers does also tell the tail. Yet in this chaotic week, you wrote your heart! Good for you, Molly. Enjoy the weekend!
LikeLiked by 1 person
I definitely enjoyed the weekend, Linda. Some time outside was a huge refresher!
LikeLike
Molly, I feel your exhaustion–and yet you’ve expressed it so beautifully! Thank you for these.
LikeLiked by 1 person
It’s hard to shift the lens as much as I’d like to. Thanks, Laura!
LikeLike
Very impressed that even with the shriveled sprouts and casualties, you’ve been able to pull out poetry from the wreckage! xo
LikeLiked by 1 person
Pulling Poetry Out of the Wreckage sounds like the title of an anthology or perhaps a memoir. You’ve been so much on my mind, Tabatha. Hope Ben is continuing to show signs of improvement!
LikeLike
That’s just obscene. And everywhere inequity abounds. I hope that spending a few lines–good ones!–on the #InkTober prompts was refreshing for you. It can be helpful just to observe the withering sprout of energy, can’t it?
LikeLiked by 1 person
Your word choice “obscene” felt so perfect and made me laugh! Thanks for that!
LikeLike
Love the last two lines of #17 “Brace for impact
Count on casualties”
Difficult to be a perfectionist as a teacher. If you win 67% of the time, that’s pretty. That’s referred to the Meatloaf standard of “two out of three ain’t bad.”
LikeLiked by 1 person
The perfectionist train left the station a LONG time ago! Love your Meatloaf standard. lol
LikeLike
One more Meatloaf standard in Saturday’s final Route One blog series.
LikeLike
What an intense week! You did a great job of combining the inspiration of your Inktober prompts with your busy week. Wishing you sprouts of energy that will thrive and flourish.
LikeLiked by 1 person
I need to acknowledge and nourish the positive sprouts! Thanks for the good wishes 🙂
LikeLiked by 1 person
Oh, yeah. Parent conferences on top of everything else. Ugh. And then no compensation until Thanksgiving, when you could use the extra time NOW, either to prep or to recover. You captured it all in your poems. Especially that fragile tendril of energy withering. Wish I could help!!
LikeLiked by 1 person
Every year I think–this isn’t worth it. Then on that Wednesday before Thanksgiving I’m so thankful for the extra day.
LikeLike
And over the edge, you go because Parent Conference Week sounds like a whole lot of multitasking. I have partaken in many different Parent Conference times but the night ones wreaked havoc on my winding downtime. I can see why your photography time in the morning is so much pressure to you. This week’s morning photos have been so beautiful.
LikeLiked by 1 person
That morning photography time is absolutely essential these days! Thanks, Carol!
LikeLike
Wow, that sounds really hard. This last time we did conferences, we had a morning of in-service and then the afternoon was conferences. But I don’t remember ever having to teach a full day and then do them. They are so draining, and so is teaching! I like your poems though. Ruth, thereisnosuchthingasagodforsakentown.blogspot.com
LikeLike