This has been the longest four-day week imaginable. I got home from school at 9:30pm Monday, 8:30pm Tuesday and 11:00pm yesterday. Inbetween teaching my classes, I also had to attend interviews and “demo lessons” from prospective math teachers for next year. We will likely have 7 openings in the department for next year, and it is virtually impossible to find 7 qualified math teachers. People with math degrees can make a lot more money in industry, and with so much recent talk about cutting back teachers’ pensions and medical benefits, why would somebody in demand for a higher-paying job work in education? We had an opening in my department this entire year which we never filled, so the prospects for next year are not good.

But those problems are for another time, since today is the start of a 10-day Spring Break. As usual, I have a lot of work to do, including grade 4 tests, 2 writing projects, do end-of-the-marking-period grades, and prepare a new chapter in Calculus which I have not taught in 30 years (since I was an adjunct at Seton Hall University). So it should be a busy break, but that’s par for the course.

Happy Easter everybody!