I can’t quite put my finger on it, but Mondays seem strange at my school.
It’s more than your typical Monday feeling. Things feel foggy, a bit other-worldy, like everyone is a little out of their bodies. Less homework has been done over the weekend. Students seem to forget what we’ve been studying. There’s certainly more surliness.
That’s why I try to be extra nice on Mondays. I welcome my students back, tell them I hope they had a good weekend, give them a frame for the new week. I offer a bigger-than-normal smile.
It bothers me that this kind of reboot is necessary. Can’t we just keep on going? I could push through, but it would be forcing things. As a teacher, I have to read the room, and most of the time on Mondays, my students aren’t quite at school yet. Real learning begins on Tuesday.
This, of course, frustrates me. After all, Mondays are 1/5 of the total time we have. It makes me think that I should do more on Sunday evenings to get my students ready. Maybe I should send more let’s-get-excited-for-the-week texts. Maybe my weekender assignments should involve more community building.
Whatever I decide to do, Mondays definitely need a kick start. The dread is palpable, and the energy needs a bold shift.
Yes, Mondays are tough. Especially those in October and November.
From Pable Neruda’s poem, Walking Around:
“That’s why Monday, when it sees me coming
with my convict face, blazes up like gasoline,
and it howls on its way like a wounded wheel,
and leaves tracks full of warm blood leading toward the
night.
And it pushes me into certain corners, into some moist
houses,
into hospitals where the bones fly out the window,
into shoeshops that smell like vinegar,
and certain streets hideous as cracks in the skin.”
See, it could be worse. Happy Monday (tomorrow).