That Moment When You Wonder If It's Worth It

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I had several of those moments today. I'm hoping it was just because our Monday came on a Tuesday after a 3 day weekend, but the students were not very lively, interested, or engaged today. We were going over some geometry. It was a review of what they'd learned last week. I told them they were going to have a test on it Thursday. Most of them paid scant attention. My first class did okay. My second class seemed okay before they went to electives. After they got back from electives it was as if they were too tired to concentrate. My last two classes of the day are the ones that really disappointed me, though. Especially my third class. Normally, they are my most engaged and attentive class. Today it was as if they had a hard time staying awake. My last class of the day seemed to have only one student who wanted to pay any attention at all. It was during these last two questions that I started to wonder why I even bothered to write lesson plans, look up interesting examples, and prepare interactive activities to help them understand the material. They don't appreciate it, or so it seemed. Then, when the day was over, I reflected on why the day might have gone as it did. When I took into account what a strange start we've had to this year - a four day week following the New Year's holiday, after 2 weeks off for Winter Break, and then a 4 day weekend due to the snow and ice, 3 days of school, and a 3 day weekend because of MLK Day - and I realized the students are probably as weary as I am of trying to keep up with what's going on. Today was atypical, not like them at all. I'm sure tomorrow will be better. Tomorrow we start talking about circles, and you know what that means. We'll be talking about Pi. Everybody loves Pi!