entry eight

 Monday 3/10/25 

I am drowning in paperwork while trying to teach at the same time. Writing IEPs is always a demanding task, but right now, it feels impossible. The deadlines are piling up, and somehow, I find myself responsible for drafting IEPs for students who aren’t even on my caseload. I barely have any background on these students—just a name, a few vague notes, and a deadline looming over my head. I reach out to their general education teachers for input, but responses are minimal, if they even come at all. How am I supposed to write meaningful, individualized plans when I have so little to go on? And yet, the expectation remains: get it done, and get it done well. 

On top of that, I still have my own students to support, lessons to plan, and behaviors to manage. Lesson planning should be a priority, but it keeps getting pushed to the side because the paperwork never stops. I spend my evenings catching up, staring at a screen filled with goals, accommodations, and progress notes, trying to make sense of it all. By the time I close my laptop, I’m too drained to even think about tomorrow’s lesson. The pressure is relentless. 

I know I’m supposed to advocate for myself, to set boundaries, but how do I do that when the work just keeps coming? I tried to take small breaks today, just to reset, but each time, I was met with another email, another reminder of everything left undone. The weight of it all is crushing. I have to hold it together for my students, but I feel like I’m barely keeping myself together. 

I keep telling myself to push through, to get through one IEP at a time, one lesson at a time. Right now, I don’t see an end in sight. How am I supposed to give my students what they need when I’m barely keeping up myself?