Should I Stay or Should I Go Now?
(Ah, what would we do without The Clash?)

This past week I've been wrestling with the question that every teacher faces - am I too sick to teach?

You'd think the answer to that would be easy enough: in other jobs I've had, staying home sick simply meant that work piled up on the desk until I returned. But with teaching there's a complicating factor - the class(es) of students who need to be taught something by someone.

So instead of it being a simple question, there's in fact a series of questions to be answered:

1) Am I contagious, or physically unable to keep upright or from involuntarily expelling various fluids? If yes, go home; if no, continue to the next question.

2) Am I feeling badly enough that I'm willing to write up a full day-plan and do photocopying for the substitute, and willing to reteach lessons when I get back?

3) Can my classes cooperate with a substitute teacher, or will they duct-tape the poor person to a chair and start swinging from the light fixtures?

4) Can I plan a day where the teaching is less intensive and I can lean against the nearest wall while the students work on their own?

Usually I can get to question 4, and answer yes. Then it's a matter of staggering through the day, heading home immediately after school and going straight to bed. But this week was different - the flu sent me home from school part way through the day on Tuesday (thanks to my colleagues who looked after me), and I've been muddling through ever since. It couldn't have gone any other way - although I'm sure some of my students would have found me vomiting on them to be quite fascinating - but I'm still feeling guilty and out of touch. It will take most of Monday to figure out where my students are, what needs to be reviewed, and what to move onto next.