Jan. Week 3: Wednesday...

Leah pushed open the heavy classroom door, the familiar scent of old textbooks threatened to overpower the coffee from her travel mug.

With practiced ease, she shuffled through her lesson plans, fingers brushing against colorful sticky notes and well-worn papers. The vibrant posters on the walls—historical figures and motivational quotes—seemed to cheer her on as she set up for another day of teaching. Or were they just judging her?

As she organized her materials, she stole a glance at the clock ticking steadily above the blackboard (well a whiteboard really)—a reminder that time was slipping away. With each tick, anticipation bubbled up inside her; today would be another chance to connect with her students and share her passion for history. She hoped it would count down to her getting tenure. But it felt like she had a long way to go.

While the students in her first period class were focused on waking up and doing their warm-up exercise she had on the board she took the chance to relax behind her desk and took a deep sip of coffee. She hoped it would be an easy day. Leah noticed she got a new email from the subtle ping that emerged from her desktop computer.