I had a conversation last week with our county curriculum specialist for secondary social studies about how we understand what we do in our job as a teacher, but we teachers don't always know what he does and one way to reach out would be to explain more of what he does to us. Then there was a great video about Lily Garcia (NEA President) who was asked by a fellow plane passenger "what is the one thing you need to fix public education," and she pointed out that he's not the enemy, we need to educate him about what we do. She then goes on to list 25 common things that educators do, some of which applied more to elementary school, but I do occasionally hand out some band-aids. So I thought that I'd occasionally (when I have time) try to go back through my days and explain what I do.
Out the door by 7am (actually on time today! How is it that I can be out the door faster on a Friday than a Thursday?) after breakfast and brushing teeth.
Arrived at school around 7:25, checked mailbox in main office, put lunch away in workroom fridge, filled water bottle, discussed APUSH-English coordination with the English teacher in the workroom, used bathroom, head to classroom, realize I didn't have my keys, stop by mentee's classroom to use keys, check in with her for day's plans, open my door, find my keys in my closet lock, return keys to mentee. Start up both computers, pull out WHII notebooks, reply to two emails, read daily school staff email, realized I missed an email with schedules for midterms, print those out. Realize that pencil sharpener isn't working, learn an eraser was shoved in it. Email department to ask who has a small screwdriver. Open up daily powerpoint for WHII and turn on projector by 8am, students trickle in, greet students, run to printer down the hall, back and suggest to one student to finish notes for HW quiz.
1st period - (8:10-9:40) Bell rings at 8:10, announcement of new principal to students, clarify that for them, pledge of allegiance, moment of silence, explain bellwork to them, take attendance, set aside papers for absent students. While they're working on bellwork I move videos from old computer to new computer, open notes powerpoints, then review bellwork with students. Pass out homework quiz, grade notes (mark in gradebook who has notes), finish moving videos and setting computer up for class. Watch for cheating, notice one student trying to pass English class notes off for history notes. Nice try. End quiz, switch papers, go over answers with students, explain commonly wrong answers. Collect HW quizzes and have one group left to present a project. Review handout from a previous class when I was out - randomly ask students to answer the questions, add more questions to spark discussion, try to remember wait time to get better answers. Really impressed with answers about whether the US is a nation state and what allows absolute monarchs to take power. Give students 10 minutes to work on geography practice related to absolute monarchs, pass out graded papers from previous classes. Review map as a class. 9:30, ten minutes left in class, start notes on the English Civil War. Remind students of what to study for quiz next class as they're leaving. Discussing upcoming absences with students who ask.
Warhawk Time - (9:45-10:20) Homeroom period with ability to move classrooms with a pass for remediation. Remind my assigned students to sign in, input 1st period homework quizzes into gradebook. Get a small screwdriver from dept chair, youtube how to fix jammed pencil sharpener, take whole thing apart, pencil shavings explode all over my desk, finally get eraser out, put whole thing back together. No one told me during Ed School that I'd have to learn to be a MacGuyver and repair woman, but I have now learned to unjam copiers (I'm learning to copier whisper), fix jammed pencil sharpeners, and fix some broken computers. I might have to add those skills to my resume. Had a good discussion with junior girls in my WT about college when one of them asks. Write passive aggressive note on pencil sharpener. Walk down hall to return screwdriver, and wash lead off hands (they were pretty grey) and use restroom. Remember to take official attendance. Go over some test questions with APUSH students who came in to review. Return an email to a parent. Pack up to head to library for APUSH classes.
3rd period - (10:25-11:15) Stand in doorway to remind students where to sit in library for APUSH, get whiteboard easel and write up agenda, bell rings, hand out worksheet, explain one side for their personal review on own, explain how to complete the timeline for a unit review. They write the presidents down the middle in the boxes on the paper and then need to put foreign events on one side, domestic on the other, and then think about connections between events. We did this because the unit felt so choppy and out of order and I wanted to make sure they had it in order in their minds. I gave them half the class to work on it and then they could move to the computers if they wanted to work on their Jackson trial prep. I walked around, answering questions, asking questions of students, suggesting ideas, checked in with the lawyers. Feet were pretty sore by the end of class.
Lunch (11:15-11:45) Ate in the work room with many of the department, enjoyable conversations, lots of laughs today, big discussion on the new principal and what to expect (no one knows for sure!)
5th period- (11:50-1:20) Back in the library for APUSH, same as 3rd period but 30 minutes for the review timeline, and then choice to work on trial. Most headed to trial prep for last 60 minutes. Due to more time, I got to get some projects graded for WHII, moving around the room to check in between every 2 projects graded. Entered grades into the online gradebook. Then worked on prepping a jigsaw activity on slavery for next unit, finding primary and secondary resources for students to read and writing questions for them to analyze. Ran to the restroom when I could sneak away for a minute as the library was watching students. Circulated around one last time before the bell for final questions.
7th period (1:25-2:55) same as 5th period. Had a great conversation with the sub for the librarian who was a former teacher in the room next to me, and worked as my sub the week before. Continued to balance checking in with kids and getting a little bit of planning done. Decided to re-do the timeline worksheet for next unit and this unit next year to help students organize the information thematically as well (political, social, economic) after checking in with students and how it was working for them. Sat down to work with the defense attorneys who never wanted to be attorneys, helped with questioning skills and how to cross-examine. Right before the end of the period outside the library the choir serenaded our leaving assistant principal (becoming principal at another school) on his last day with the alma mater, a beautiful and touching moment. Final reminders to students before the bell rang about the calendar changes for the following week and what to finish to prep for the test and then trial.
After school (2:55-4:15) - Packed up classroom for the weekend. Read an article about colonial religion that would be useful for next year and PDF'ed it to save. Worked on a key for timeline while watching students make up a test for another teacher for about 40 minutes, then helped my mentee with when and how to do a grade change from quarter 1 (20 minutes). Packed up personal belongings and headed out for the weekend, remembering my keys.
*That's a fairly normal day, however slightly less on the email front. I have a good day/bad day schedule where on even days I have 2 periods off for planning, and on odd days I teach straight through all periods. On non-Fridays, I would usually head home, attempt to get some yoga in and then grade or plan for 2-3 hours in the evening.
No comments:
Post a Comment