Work sorted

My work situation is finally sorted. What a relief. I'll be teaching two classes (three fewer than usual) and the rest of the time will be filled with other things. I'll be responsible for administering two Vocational Education Training certificate courses and I'll also be doing some policy writing and presenting some inservice to staff. That'll be fun. I've wanted to do this sort of thing for a while but it hasn't worked out that way. Hopefully now I have the opportunity I'll be able to show my worth in that area as well. With a bit of luck that sort of thing will become a permanent part of my role.

I had planned on spending a chunk of the weekend working out how my first week in the position is going to roll out but, of course, that's not going to happen. As often happens, the release of the stress has resulted in a massive headache. I'm onto day 2 and, if it runs the same course as most of my headaches, I won't be fully functional until Monday. I'm spending my day sleeping, only waking to take medication and fluids - and write the occasional blog post.

Working full time

I've just gone back to work full time after being part-time 0.8 for four years. The last two years my part time was in bits and pieces, never a full day off or even two half-days. It had become annoying because my extra time wasn't in a usable chunk. I decided it would be just as easy to be working full time.

And now I'm surprised at how much work that extra day over the course of a week really takes. I'm exhausted. While there's still no word on what I'll actually be doing all year, I'm taking another teacher's classes while she's on leave for a couple of weeks. The full time table means I have five classes instead of four. I've also taken responsibility for all the preparation for a program offered to the senior students that I don't actually teach. So that means six different subjects to prepare for. I've had between three and four for the last four years and hadn't realised how much extra work that one or two subjects would be. Even though I'd been studying that whole time, I'd become complacent about my work load.

Going back full time has also given me a greater sense of belonging. It's not as if I didn't feel part of the place before, it's just that I missed a lot of meetings because of the hours I worked. I was always running to catch up with the information. Now I'm there all the time, I find out things at the same time everyone else does.