Thursday, February 2, 2012

A Day in the Life

     Let’s see... my days usually begin after midnight when I am finishing up my powerpoint or worksheet for the next day, or simply winding down from finishing my lesson at 11:30 and enjoying part of a movie or a book before going to sleep. I wake up at 5:20 to my first alarm and keep hitting snooze until 5:50 or 6. I could just wake up right at 5:50 and get straight into the shower, but I think I enjoy doing that because it gives me the opportunity to suspend the reality of having to go to an at-risk school where good behavior and a high priority for education are not a common occurrence. From the time I get out of bed, get ready, and get breakfast at the gas station up the road, it’s about 6:20. I am supposed to be at school by 6:50 and it takes about 30 minutes to make it from the gas station to school. Suffice it to say that I have this down to a science. When I get to school, I load the powerpoint up to the Promethean Board and start printing out copies of the independent practice for the day.
School usually goes by as normal: notes, modeling, guided practice, and then independent practice. Second period planning usually involves me tweaking any errors or inefficiencies experienced during the 1st period lesson, finishing the week’s lesson plans, going to a PLC (professional learning community) meeting, or talking to our consultant about the kids’ test scores.
Lunch is always fun. First, I always seem to be starving after 4+ hours of walking around a room, trying to keep kids quiet while I put problems on the board, and hoping that the transmission of information occurs at some point. Second, I get to finally relax a little and complain with other teachers about the students, the school, and whatever else comes to mind.
The rest of school goes by like normal... oh yeah, except after lunch the kids are either too tired from eating a 1,000 calorie meal or are too wired from the sugary foods to be able to sit still. When it gets to 7th period in our extra long school day, trying to corral the kids and get them to learn is a next to impossible task.
Once school is over, and if we don’t have a staff meeting or after school tutoring until 5, the MTC teachers usually meet afterward to eat Chinese, Mexican, or play Settlers of Catan (don’t hate). If I don’t hang out with teachers after school, I will typically work out and prepare my lesson for the next school day... extremely exciting, right?

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