Blech Ech

It is the time of year when teachers face the decision of either going to work sick or staying home. Unlike many other jobs when there is an additional person to fill in the gap of a missing employee, the teaching job doesn't allow for an absence quite so easily. You would think with a job like mine that I could miss without too much guilt but it's not so easy. I went to work today under a certain amount of stress and feeling quite green. I needed to not be around the eighth grade classes I was working with in the varying temperature environment of our building. I looked around and while working on the project, I was also evaluating my effectiveness in that room versus out of the building.

We face a great deal of guilt when we miss work. There are loads of people that need me for one thing or another as each day goes by but I don't know how truly helpful I was today. Was it better for the overall project that I was there? Was it better that I didn't miss a Monday? I really dislike missing work, almost as much as I hate the internal debate of effectiveness in the face of illness or life's errands...Blech Ech!