Vickie - Day 5 (3/24)

A week in the life of a teacher, day 5, also known as "there's nothing as fun as a puking child first thing in the morning."

Friday:
I got up after hitting snooze on my alarm twice and started getting ready. Just after 6:30 I hear a panicky shout from Evie “mommy, I think I’m going to be sick!” I get her to the bathroom and her hair out of her face just in time. This definitely changes my plans for the day. Once she’s resettled in her room with a bucket next to her bed, I power up my laptop hoping that it’s not too late to put in for a sub. She calls for me again, but this time it’s only for company so I end up putting in for a sub while sitting on her bed. I then text the Latin teacher to tell him I’ll be out and ask if he can cover my tardies and put out my sub stuff if I email it to him. I then start to work on sub plans, all the while worrying that my job won’t be picked up and other teachers will have to cover during their planning periods. I type up my sub plans, grateful that I had written the special schedule for the play on the board yesterday because that’s one less thing to worry about. I’m also happy that I have first period planning- my sub will not have to take a group of students to the play in the auditorium, they will simply have to stand near the fire pull on one side of the balcony. Because this was so last minute, my email includes directions on where to find things, such as look through the messy pile in the black basket. Hopefully everything will be found. It’s simple enough- my French 3s can continue working on their environment packets. I have another worksheet for my French 1s using the verb aller that they complete. I also explain the verb and write out its forms for the sub to put up on the board. I realize that the sub will not be able to teach the French 2 class the lesson I had done yesterday so I quickly find an interpretive reading assessment about daily routines from a blog that I often take material from for subs- the teacher who creates this lessons makes them very self-guided, uses a lot of English, and requires students to write most of their answers in English (this is not something I normally do, but I’ve found it works well when there is a sub and the kids will all be able to understand enough to work on it). I get nervous when I’m about to email the Latin teacher since he hasn’t texted me back so I text one of the Spanish teachers too. I then send both of them the email. A few minutes later, both of them have returned my texts and I received an email from our subfinder system that the job has been picked up. Relieved, I decide to snuggle in with Evie and enjoy my time with her. We spend the day watching tv. Every time I try to grab some papers to grade, she looks at me sadly and says “mommy, no, I need you to stay and lay with me.” As much as I’d like to be productive, I decide I need to enjoy this time with her. Someday she won’t want to snuggle and cuddle like this. Eventually I fall asleep (I’m pretty sure she doesn’t). When I wake up from my nap (which was amazing), I realize that I need to run up to school. It’s 4:30 on a Friday and I didn’t bring home any of the things I need for lesson planning. I load Evie in to the car and we head out. Luckily there is a group of students coming out of the building so I don’t need to worry if the door is already locked. We head up to my room and it only takes a moment to gather what I need. I take a quick look at the notes the sub left- my French 1 class did not too well- 2 students were argumentative and rude and another walked out and didn’t come back. I decide that I will deal with that Monday and Evie and I head back home. Today was not the Friday that I had planned, and I’m sad to have missed the play because many of my students were a part of it, but I’m happy that I got to spend some unexpected time with Evie.

Jenny - Day 5 (3/24)

Day 5 

Friday, March 24, 2017

Before School 7:10 – 8:00

I print handouts and run a few copies. We are short a few teachers today (subs) so I make sure to check around the halls a little more and keep an eye on my areas.

First Period English 2 Inclusion 8:00 – 9:30

It’s a good morning. Kids are present and happy. One student even begins with, “I can tell this is going to be a good day!” Ok, then! We read SSR and kids are loving books. We talk a bit as we get ready for the main lesson and we come around in our conversation to a situation in one of our communities involving a death and a bunch of police cars. A few students share that they know what it was and who it was from Facebook. A kid from our school, it was his dad who was killed. No one really knows a lot. We talk about it all for a little while because it’s a big deal and this kid is one of the sweetest people in our building. It’s awful. Again, not a planned conversation but we cover some serious stuff and send out our thoughts to the student who is hurting right now.

We move on to our lesson and we are continuing where we left off yesterday with planning our essays. Yesterday the kids brainstormed one character and found quotes from the text to support their claims. Today, we set up another brainstorm chart in our notebooks and kids work alone or with a friend to gather more notes for the other character. We share and discuss. We don’t get to the next activity that I had planned because of our earlier conversation, but it’s ok. We’ll pick up here Monday. I encourage kids to read in their books. They draw on the smart board a little as we wait for the bell to ring.

Homeroom 9:40 – 10:00

I have Michael Franti playing and the kids like the music. I chat with a few of them and then pass out library fine reminders. We jam and chill.

2nd Period AP Literature 10:00 – 11:30

We finish reading Act 3!! It’s way fun. Kids volunteer for their roles and we set the stage in the classroom. We read aloud and clarify/discuss as we go. We add Polonius to our Hamlet Body Count list on the board. We are sad to see him go. We review at the end of Act 3 and then watch these scenes in the film versions. It’s horrifying. Murder. Hamlet screaming at his mom. They are horrified but really into the play. We are making good progress. We will finish next week!

3rd Period English 2 Inclusion 11:35 – 12:55

We read SSR. Kids are a little wild as they come in but reading SSR first usually settles them down. We complete the other brainstorm chart and since this group has been a little less focused. I give them an 18 minute timer on the board so they can keep track. I circulate and help. I remind them of their time often so they keep working. We discuss the brainstorm and share.

This class does move on to the next activity. We keep interactive notebooks, so we often use foldables, colors, etc. to make topics more hands-on. Students get six strips of color coded paper. They cut out all the little pieces while we listen to some happy Michael Franti. These pieces are the parts of their essay. We arrange the two sets of strips and glue them down to visually represent the two ways you can organize a compare/contrast essay. We discuss both structures and get them pasted into our notebooks. We will pick up here Monday and students will choose which organization they would like to use for their essays. We are about a day behind on all this, but it’s good. I think it’s important to take your time and work through things instead of just rushing around to cover/do stuff just because. It’s a good class and a positive ending to the week.

4th Period – Planning

Wil and I meet with our BHB students and go over notes we have for their first episode. They listen and we brainstorm ideas and tell them what to work on for about 30 minutes. They go on to the media center to get to work. I check in at the main office and say hello to the guidance counselors. I wish people a happy weekend. I see some yearbook kids in the hallway and ask them what they are doing. The yearbook is due Monday and they are working on teachers and favorite students page. I tell them I have planning, but that I would love to go find one of my favorite kids! We look up a student from my 3rd period and I grab her out of her 4th (it’s maybe 2:45…so I’m not busting in the middle of class) and ask to borrow my kid. I tell her she’s my favorite person today and she grins!! We take our picture and they ask her why she likes me. She says I am high energy! The yearbook girls go on their way and I stop in and chat with our brand new teacher. We talk about all sorts of things and then it’s 3:00 and my little comes in.

After School 3:00 – 5:00

My daughter and I continue our have a good weekend tour by heading all the way across school to talk to one of my friends in the CTE department. We chat about lots of things and she gives us ice cream! Finally back in my room, I start to clean up. Literally clean. Paper towels and Method multi-purpose spray that I keep hidden in the closet….it just smells so much better than the school grade stuff. My daughter colors on the smart board and I clean, pick up track, wipe desks and tables, and pack my things. I head out for tacos and leave my room pretty neat. I know this will make me happy when I walk in on Monday.

It's been a good week, after last week, with two nights of registration until 7 p.m., this week feels really awesome. I am happy about the progress my sophomores made with writing, and we are getting through Hamlet at a good speed. I have a backpack full of papers that need to be graded, so I hope to settle in at some point this weekend and get this done. I also need to work on my National Board renewal this weekend. I have planned a lot but need to start writing this weekend. If you read all these, thanks! I hope you enjoyed a week in my classroom.

Vickie - Day 4 (3/23)

A week in the life of a teacher, day 4
Thursday (or the day in which many things caused me frustration)

8:20-8:50 I arrive in my room and set down my stuff. I immediately see the note I left myself as a reminder and start to pull work for my 2 students who are in ISS-in school suspension (one is the student who left the room when the sub was there last Friday). I pull all their missing assignments as well as the work their classes will be doing today. I then check my email and the Daily Demon. I find the practice AP French exam and print off a copy so that we can start it in class today and realize that I do not have anything concrete planned for my level 2 students today and start to search the folder on my Google Drive that is full of material shared by other French teachers. (It’s a folder started by a Facebook French teacher group to share resources. I was kicked out, which is a fun story for a different day, but they never removed my Google access. 😊 ) I find some decent materials on French high schools but before I can print anything out, the 5 minute warning bell rings. I get my tardy things together, as well as the ISS work for my students and head to the tardy desk.

1st period planning: (8:55-10:25) The tardy station is busier than normal. As I write tardy passes, I jokingly point out to several of them that if they hadn’t stopped for Starbucks/Chik-fil-a/etc, they would have been on time. The smile, nod, and head to class with their cups that gave them away. I head downstairs after tardy duty and drop off my tardy list in the office, say hello to everyone. Then I walk down to the ISS room to drop off the work. One of the students is there and I quickly go over with her what the assignments are. She doesn’t have any questions so I head back up to the third floor. I start to make my copies of the practice exam when my phones rings but I don’t answer. I’m in the middle of cleaning up as my copies run. I try to make sure the work spaces stay clean so I am constantly recycling copies that have been sitting for several days, emptying the hole puncher, throwing away paper by the paper cutter, refilling the Xerox machines, etc. I know I’m not the only one who does this, but I often feel like I am the only one who cleans up. I also spend more time than I should unjamming one of the staplers that someone left jammed. I listen to my voicemail which is about an issue with a prescription and my insurance. I need to call them back, then I need to call the insurance. I keep the phone on speaker the entire time, lucky that I have my room to myself this morning (not having a travelling teacher in your room during your planning is a luxury). I am only able to sort of work on my French 2 lesson as I spend nearly 45 minutes on the phone. I head back to the workroom with less than 10 minutes to run some copies for my level 2 classes.

2nd period: (10:30-12:00) French 2. The phone call and attention I had to give to it have really thrown me this morning. I feel very unprepared. As students enter the room, I realize that I never changed their journal. I tell them it’s their lucky day and that we will move forward without one. As I take attendance, I comment that everyone is there and several students note that 1 is absent. When I tell them that he has transferred schools, several of them are disappointed and I let them have a couple minutes to process. I tell them that I will tell the French teacher at his new school how much they miss him and all the nice things they had to say. They quickly settle in as we look at slides that talk about the French education system with photos of a French high school and links to videos (thanks Google folder). They are engaged and asking good questions. After we go over the French grading system, I hand out an activity in which they need to interpret a French report card. It’s an activity that I am using for the ASW (Analysis of Student work) that that state has us do. It’s the first sample for a culture standard. The students struggle slightly at first, but as I circulate and answer questions, they quickly complete the activity. As they finish, I’m surprised to see that the period is about to end. I have students hand in the activity as the bell rings.

3rd period: Lunch from 12-12:25, class 12:30-2. As per usual, several of my AP and French 4 students arrive early to so some work and eat. I grab my lunch and do my attendance and check my email. One of the students is going over material for her AP Art History class. I used to teach APAH and loved it. She shows me what she is doing and expresses some concern for the exam. I give her tips that I used to give my students and show her the freerice.com website, where you can id the artists of paintings. For each one you get, the site donates rice. It’s not the most intense review, but it is fun and she keeps announcing how many grains of rice have been donated every couple of minutes.
 When we start class at 12:30, my French 4 students (there’s 3 of them), immediately grab their novels. One was absent last class and the other two immediately offer to catch him up and review with him. I thank them and let them work. My AP level students have been less than motivated and today is no different. I explain that we are going to take the practice AP exam so that I can grade it and then can focus their instruction and review on the skills they need most. We begin with the multiple choice. 3 of them settle in with no complaint. The rest complain and whine and I have to keep reminding them to be on task and to pay attention to the time. After we finish the reading comprehension, I offer them the choice of during the audio comprehension or the email response. They choose the rest of the multiple choice. Several of them pay little attention to the audio. I am very frustrated with them and tell them so. When time is up, we still have 2 audio selections left. I collect their work and feel very defeated. I’m not sure what I can do to motivate them.

4th period: 2:05-3:40 French 2. It takes me several minutes to get class started as many have chosen not to pay attention to announcements. As I try to start the slides, several of them are still talking. I offer them 2 options- stay in the room and pay attention or go out in to the hall to talk (and write me a paper). They choose to stay but also continue talking. Another student is having a rough day and instead of leaving her alone, several of the more immature boys have taken it upon themselves to question her and try to make her angry. At this point, part of me just wants to give up on the day’s plans, but I continue. I continue the lesson, talking in my calm teacher voice. The talkers settle down as soon as their classmates’ tell them in annoyance they can’t hear. We go over the slides and are starting to go over the grading system information for the ASW activity. The only interruption is when another of my students knocks on my door to tell me that she can’t come to knitting club today. It’s a few minutes after 3 and the fire alarm goes off. We all jump because it’s really loud. I remind my students where to go as several of them decide NOT to hurry out of the room and instead choose to put things in their bags. I hurry them out of the room (I know we’re supposed to have a drill, but they don’t) and shut the doors and make sure they are locked. I’m supposed to make sure no one is left in the hall so I’m normally one of the last ones out. As we’re waiting to go down the stairs, one of my students walks back towards me. When I ask what he’s doing, he says he needs to go and check on his phone to make sure no one took it. I respond that this is a fire drill and that he needs to go downstairs and the room is locked. His response is to tell me he HAS to check and he walks back to the room. Another teacher follows him as I roll my eyes. I watch him walk to the door, try to open it, realize it’s actually locked and turn and come back. It’s moments like this that make me crazy. Once I’m outside I find my students. I haven’t finished counting them yet for attendance and we’re signaled to go back in. I’m even more annoyed. What’s the point of having me take attendance and hold up a red or green card to let admin know I have all my students if they’re not going to wait until we’ve had a chance to do it. I’m also annoyed because I know that we’re going to have to go through the process of settling in again once we get back. As we get back to class, I hand out the report card activity we did in second period. I explain what to do. Someone asks me what to do. I begin to explain again, but before I’m done someone interrupts to ask what we’re doing. This whole process repeats at least 5 times. Eventually they get to work and all but one student is able to finish before the bell rings to dismiss them. As they noisily leave, I feel frazzled.

3:45-5 Several of my girls in knitting club come to my room. My phone rings and it’s my husband to tell me that Evie is having an off day- she’s complaining of a headache and even her teacher commented that she wasn’t her normal self. He puts her on the phone and when I ask how she’s doing she starts to cry. I really want to go home and comfort her, but I have students that need me too. My knitting girls are disappointed when I tell them that I don’t yet have the yarn dyeing supplies and that our meeting today is to set a firm date for when we will do the dyeing. I also need them to tell me if they prefer the thicker or thinner yarn. We discuss these things, while one of them pulls out her knitting. They’re very excited and ask lots of questions. As we’re talking, one of my French 1 students comes in. He comes to tutoring about once a week. Except for him, tutoring is simply him doing all the work he didn’t do in class and asking maybe one question. He works quietly while my girls knit and chat. I forgot to bring my own knitting so I decide to grade the multiple choice questions that my AP students did today. It turned out to be a mistake because all of my annoyance at the day turned to disappointment and then frustration at myself. 1 of them had only answered 5 of the 52 questions. 2 of them had answered all 65 questions even though we never listened to the last 2 audio clips, meaning they had simply filled in answers. The best score was a 24/52. In all honesty, I felt like crying by the time I was done. What can I do to motivate my students? How can I help them prepare for this exam? I feel like I’m failing them and don’t know what to do. A little before 5, my last student has left. I’m about to leave when my phone rings. I answer and it’s the insurance company following up on this morning. The whole issue this morning and their inability to solve it seems to be the result of some computer glitch and the supervisor’s boss or someone important has done an override so that everything is fixed. I thank the girl on the phone, but am still annoyed that I lost so much planning time to something that should not have happened. I head out the door, going through ideas in my head for my AP students and texting a friend for advice on how to motivate them. I’m looking forward to getting home and hugging Evie.

Jenny - Day 4 (3/23)

Day 4

Thursday, March 23, 2017

Before School 7:20 – 8:00

As most mornings, I finish, print, and copy today’s handouts.

First Period English 2 Inclusion 8:00 – 9:30

Today was really great in this class! Three students absent. I found out one has the flu and will be out until tomorrow. The kids are in a pretty good mood, and I am not going to lie…I love smaller classes because you do really get to know all the kids. I know something about all the students in this class and it makes a difference. When you have 32 kids crammed in, then, it’s all about management, but with smaller groups like this one, you can be more relaxed. It’s nice. We start class by quietly reading in our SSR books for 15 minutes or so. A few kids comment, “I only have seventy pages left!” “I think I do want to read the last book of this set even if we aren’t doing SSR every day when we get back from spring break.” Though it does take time, I have had AMAZING SSR success this semester with my sophomores. I love when they love to read.

We are beginning an essay today on the story we just finished. Kids gather supplies (glue sticks, scissors, highlighters…all provided by me) and we get to work. We block off two pages in their interactive notebooks for work I haven’t handed back. (I am the world’s worst grader!) We paste in the prompt and essay checklist and get to work. We analyze and annotate the prompt and discuss what we need to do. We begin brainstorming for each character (this is a compare/contrast essay). I model my thinking as we set up a chart in our notebooks. Kids write a bit on their own and then we share as a class. Students add to their notes as we discuss. I am big on “collective thinking” which to me is when we all write something on our own, but then we share and write down all ideas on our papers that come from discussion. Our papers are way more complete when we record and we have all the awesome info we need. After students and whole class work through the first characters, personality, motivations, and point of view regarding her family’s heritage (all parts of the prompt), they go back into the story find quotes they will use in their essay to support their claims. Some work alone, others together. After about 15 minutes we share and put all our quotes on the board. I give them a little preview of where we are headed tomorrow and next week and they are off. We were productive and focused today.

2nd Period AP Literature 9:40 – 11:10

We review the fever chart assignment and brainstorm possibilities as a whole class. Students form their own groups and move to different places to get to work. They need to let me know this class who is in their group and what character they are tracking for the project. All groups report and there are a variety of different characters chosen, which is good. We’ll have some variety when we present these later. Their main job is to review ALL of Act 1, Act 2 and half of Act 3 for quotes from their character that will go on the chart. They work and talk and most groups locate and organize 20-30 quotes. Three groups are working in the teacher workroom at the open tables. One group is on a hallway bench and two groups are in the classroom with me. They are mature and responsible young people and they work and I don’t worry about them at all. I check in about twice with each group during the class period, and the rest of the time, I try to clean up my desk, organize papers, and respond to a few emails. The groups in my room and I spend the last 15 minutes or so talking about college, poets we love, tattoos, Hamlet, etc…These conversations are fun and important. You, know it’s business most days, but sometimes, it’s nice to just talk and be humans. Kids are cool and amazing and these conversations, though maybe not linked to a curriculum standard help build and maintain positive teacher/student relationships and positive learning environments.

3rd Period English 2 Inclusion 11:15 – 12:45

This class does same lesson as 1st. They read SSR and are way more sluggish than the other group. We have LAST lunch, and so some days people are just tired and hungry…Ug..me too. But once we get going, we accomplish the same goals as first, but this class wasn’t really as fun. A few kids are just not that into it, but they do their work. I do, however, have to tell this class they must find and record three quotes (including line and page numbers) before they can leave for lunch. Most work super hard and get it done. A few finish right at the bell. And one of my special friends from the other day tries to sneak out. He HAS written three quotes, but not line or page numbers. I make him sit down and do it. His buddy waits for him. He does. It’s fine. We accomplish our targets and they are set to continue.

Lunch 12:45 – 1:25

We have a nice lunch. Since we had the new principal meeting with the superintendent, we do talk a lot about who we think we will get and what it will be like….EEK! At the end of lunch my colleague comes in and says, “Did you get the email about BHB???” OH No! These aren’t words you want to hear….I go into his room.

Planning 1:30 – 3:00

So, as part of school climate/spirit, my colleague, Wil and I have decided to try to get our school’s old news show Black Hawk Broadcasting back up and running. We have three kids enrolled during our planning periods who are working on BHB, as we call it. We trust the kids and they’ve made one video that was pretty good for 8th grade orientation and are working on, like, weekly news shows to show during homeroom. We cannot get this as a class because there’s not room or money, but Wil and I both really believe in it as a way to enhance school spirit and communication, so we are doing our best. BUT, we haven’t been monitoring the kids like we should. They’ve been using a small studio room in the media center and we got an email from the librarians saying they weren’t on task and had messed up the room. So….we call them in and give them a good old fashion talking-to, a come-to-Jesus, what have you…It’s not fun but necessary, and they are good kids, but they need to pull themselves together. We go over new ground rules and they seem sorry and say they will get back to work. We plan to meet them at 2:45 to see what they have of the first BHB episode.

I chat in another teacher’s classroom for most of the rest of planning about a variety of things. Three of us are in there. We talk about changes we’d like to see next year and about ideas for “selling” our school more to the local community. We now have a STEM school in our district and kids think that because it’s STEM and a new building that it’s better. BUT we have AP classes and super instruction and lots to offer kids. We have a robotics club and drama and academic rigor…so we sort of just throw out ideas that might come up as we look ahead to next year’s vision…we’ll see. There are about 4 on my hall (English/Social Studies) who have 4th planning. We are all big thinkers, too…some we do a lot of thinking and talking sometimes during planning. It’s hard to buckle down and grade after three straight classes. Just a fact of end of day planning time.

At 2:45 we go see the kids and the video is pretty good. I have some concerns about the tone of a few parts…we make some notes and plan to meet first thing tomorrow to give the kids the changes they need to make. We have no idea how or if we can even keep this going for next year, but we are determined to try. We need to make an appointment to meet with an administrator to go over the possibilities. Who knows. I wish we could hire another English teacher and offer journalism, debate, creative writing, but…not going to happen. So, we’ll make it work.

After School 3:00 – 4:00.
I pack up my stuff and type this blog!! Time to go punch things at 9 Round, which also, is very important for teachers and any one in a stressful career…find a way to exercise and blow off steam because it makes you feel better and helps me work off some of the stress I feel. I HAVE TO GRADE THINGS TONIGHT!!!!!! LIKE A TON OF THINGS. THINGS THAT I HAVE HAD FOR WAY TOO LONG. THINGS THE KIDS NEED TO GLUE IN THEIR NOTEBOOKS!! So, I will be up grading during the basketball games tonight!! I’ll edit and share my time and what I actually accomplish this evening.

Vickie - Day 3 (3/23)

A week in the life of a teacher, day 3...

Wednesday:
I arrive in my room, set down my things, and turn on my computer. I’m surprised to see that it’s already 8:27 because I dropped Evie off at the normal time. The first thing I do is write the early the release schedule on the board. Today students will leave 2 hours early so that we can have professional development. I then check my email and the daily demon which hasn’t been updated. I decide that I need to finish grading some level 1 work so that I know what assignments students need to turn in, but I can’t find their paragraphs. I eventually find them in a folder on the floor next to my filing cabinet. Maybe they fell out of my bag? I start to grade them and realize that several of the students had used a translator to type out sentences in English. I mark them as 0s with a note about needing to rewrite. I’m very frustrated because the assignment asked them to tell what sports and activities they do and how often. They had the vocabulary necessary but instead of writing a simple sentence in French such as, I play soccer often, they felt the need to think of a complex sentence in English and use a translator. I add a discussion about translators to my lesson plan and wonder how I can convince this group to not do the same thing again.

1st period planning: At 8:50 I head to the workroom to make a few copies on my way to tardy duty. The teacher whose room is closest to the tardy station is not there- her room is dark and her students are gathered outside. I let them in and stick my head in the workroom and ask another teacher to call the office to see if she has a sub since I need to write tardies. Her students keep poking their heads out the door and I tell them to relax and we’ll get things figured out. The sub arrives a few minutes later. I head down to the office to put in a supply request (paper clips) and an announcement for knitting club. I also have a quick meeting scheduled with one of the APs. He is meeting with a student so I wait a few minutes. Our meeting is quick and I head back to my room to keep grading papers and make sure that I am ready for my 2nd period class. I spend the short time I have left grading a few more papers. 

 Honors French 3 (10:00-11:00)- We only have an hour today because of early release. As students settle in, I pass back their subjunctive packets and tell them multiple times that if they do not give me their packet to check for completion before I put up the answers I will not accept it. Several of them try to negotiate and suggest we take a vote. I respond “C’est pas une démocratie, c’est une monarchie absolue et je suis la reine.” They do not appreciate my humor. We quickly go over the answers and students then continuing working on the environment packet that I had given them last class. Most of them work hard but several do not accomplish much. As I circulate around the room, I remind them that the quarter ends in a week. One of my students stops me to tell me about something going on with one of his friends, who I also teach. Another gives me some late work. Several ask if I have the schedule for Friday (we have a school wide event). The period is over before we know it.

Lunch (11-11:25)- I print out progress reports for my level 1 students. I’ve decided to use today as a makeup/catchup day because of 22 students, only 1 does not owe me any work. I also call the pharmacy to renew the dog's prescription, then have to call the vet to send in a new one. I chat with my coworkers in the workroom for a moment and head back to class.

French 1 (11:30-12:30)- Before handing out progress reports, we have a discussion about the writing assignment and the use of translators. Several students blurt out their annoyance at having to redo the assignment, but I few nod in understanding. I also go over some guidelines for makeup/catchup day- mainly that I will not answer any questions until everyone has their progress report and students need to come to me at the back table where I have extra copies of all their work. Despite this, several students wave their progress reports at me, telling me they need all their work. I repeat that they need to come to me and spend the rest of the period 1. Giving new copies of things to students, 2. Helping students who have questions, and 3. Keeping a student from constantly wandering out of class and in to the hallway with a lacrosse stick. It’s a challenge. Several students want me by their side as they work through individual activities and are frustrated every time I have to attend to something else. Two students ask to work outside and when I go to check on them they are at the other end of the hall. My wanderer finally put down the lacrosse stick and did some work. A male student asks me how old I am and immediately guesses 46. I tell him he has failed French for the year with his guess while several of the girls yell at him. I then give him some life advice: 1. Do not ask a woman her age and 2. If you are going to guess a woman’s age, think long and hard, and if you still must do it, subtract 10 from whatever number you come up with. My students decide I must be in my 30s and several tell me their moms are 36. I now feel old but don’t tell them. It was exhausting and by the end, I was starving. I was planning to eat lunch at the early release (our awesome PTSA normally feeds us) but know I won’t make it. As the class ends, I grab an applesauce pouch from my food stash and quickly eat it.

French 2 (12:35-1:35)- We start the second reading packet that the other French 2 classes completed. Three of the boys are talking (1 of whom is the student whose friend talked to me earlier). I ask them to focus and tell them they are welcome to go out in the hall to finish their conversation then rejoin us. They quiet down, but a couple minutes later the one student stands up with his packet and heads towards the door. I ask him if everything is ok and he replies that he’d rather work in the hall today. I tell him that’s fine and a moment later his friend follows. I poke my head out the door when we pause and they are both reading the packet. I let them know which activities to complete and tell them I’ll check on them again. We work through the reading and they complete the activities on their own, asking each other questions. 2 girls I have to constantly remind to stay on task, but they get their work done. As I move around the room, one of my students tells me that my basketball bracket would be completely broken in another day. I retort that at least it isn’t already broken like his and he laughs.

At 1:40 I get my things together and head to the media center. It’s always hard to know what we need on early release days- we’re often told to bring things that we never use and since we’re moving rooms several times, I don’t want to carry a bunch of stuff. Lunch has not yet arrived, but dessert is there. I eat several sweets and almost immediately regret it. We spend a short time talking about our district goals before moving into small groups. The first session I attend is supposed to be about rigor and EC students. I am the only non-EC teacher there. We learn about technology to help EC students and co-teaching (there was apparently a miscommunication). It’s interesting, but part way through the sugar starts to wear off and I’m feeling sleepy. My second session is about rigor in the classroom but is not geared toward a specific subject. The only thing I remember is that the presenter pronounced jargon, jar-GONE. We are finished at 4 and I head up to my room to drop off some papers, organize for tomorrow, and get my things. I leave around 4:30, once again carrying more work home than I'll probably do and feeling more exhausted than usual.

Jenny - Day 3 (3/22)

Day 3 

Wednesday, March 22, 2017

Before School 7:10-8:00

I print out my handouts for the day and run copies. All is well.

1st Period English 2 Inclusion

As usual, about four students are absent!! But as always, we keep on going! I flip the schedule for today to make sure we get through our work. We read the second half of “Everyday Use” and talk and comment as we go. Kids are into it and sharing thoughts. So, one thing is that I constantly am assessing my students’ understanding as we read and talk. We read a little and I ask questions. I take volunteers or kids just share…but I check their understanding as we go. After we successfully discuss the rest of the story I give them a second set of TDQs for Part 2 of the story. Students work on these at their own pace and turn them in when they are finished. After they finish, they read in their SSR books until the bell. Kids are making good progress on books. A few students need the extra time to keep working on the questions. They need more processing time. I spend the last 10 -15 minutes working individually with one young man who has and IEP and English language learner plan to get him finished up. He is a great kid but processes at a different pace than some of the other kids.

2nd Period AP Literature 9:30-11:10

Today we have fun comparing and contrasting different film versions of the Mousetrap scene. The students set up a viewing note sheet and we view a version, write notes, and then compare and contrast each version with the next. They have seen snippets from three of the films but I just purchased the PBS David Tennant version this week and they LOVE it! They actually say it’s their favorite that they’ve seen so far and they want to watch that one from here on out when we view. We have a good discussion about the impact of each director’s choices and how each director’s take can change the meaning and mood of the scene.

After the film comparison, we are pausing to start the main analysis project for Hamlet, the fever chart. This assignment is adapted from an AP workshop handbook. Students will work in groups to develop a question they will answer about a character or relationship in the play. On their own today they brainstorm and write possible questions. They are to bring their brainstorm charts in completed tomorrow and then they will get going on the project. At the end of class I chat with a few girls who are going to UNC next year about roommate selection. Oh the memories!

3rd Period English 2 Inclusion 11:15 – 12:45

After yesterday’s little post-class spat with my two boys, I am ok. It really had more to do with me, I think, than them. Before class I have a little chat with a young lady that I just love in this class. She finished a book, Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe. We talk about the ending and share some cool thoughts on this amazing book. A week ago I had ordered her a book on Amazon and she is reading it now. When kids want a book, I order it. It drives my husband crazy sometimes, but it’s part of the job.

I jump right in with the same lesson as first period. It goes well. One of my boys from yesterday is zoned out, staring around. I don’t acknowledge it or pester him, instead, I turn up the volume. Asking questions, making connections and just all-around putting on a good show as we read. During one of our pauses I ask if anyone knows what Mohammed Ali’s name was before he changed it (a character in the story changes her name…it all fits). And zoned out kid answers!! Yes!!! From that moment on, I play to him a little bit more and keep him on the line. He reads with us and does well the rest of class...The kids work and those two boys from yesterday turn in the work they didn’t finish yesterday without being asked. And they both complete their work today. I’ll take it. Many read their SSR at the end while others use the time to complete their questions.

Lunch 12:45-1:25

I DO actually eat lunch with my colleagues today and it’s fun!! We basically cut up and chat and have fun at lunch. That’s nice. I love my colleagues and we have a good time.

Planning 1:30 – 3:00

I clean up a little in my room. I read a blog entry from a teacher I follow online. I respond to a parent email that’s been waiting for me all day. This parent wants to set up a conference and I email her back some specifics of how the child has been doing in my class. I get out my planner and sketch lessons through spring break and try to start wrapping my head around what needs to happen for my sophomores for the rest of the semester. I head down to my special ed. Co teacher’s room to go over the plan. I share with her my ideas and we talk about our kids and sort of settle on the plan. She gives me some good advice. We chat about other things and have a good conversation. This is collaboration. It’s not always during the time they set aside for meetings or early releases…it’s just all the time. We check in and we plan and we reflect and we improve.

After School 3 – 4:00

I pack up and head in to the media center. Our principal is retiring and the superintendent is meeting with faculty members and parents today to hear our ideas about what kind of leader we want next year. We know a lot of the people who are applying for the position. Some we don’t. We all know who we want, and we know who we think they want. It’s hard because we all love and respect our current principal and even though we know we’ll be fine…our school has had only two principals in the last 29 years. When they open the floor for discussion, I speak first to break the ice. I’m not afraid. People share and it’s pretty positive. I run out at 4 to get my kid to play practice on time.

Vickie - Day 2 (3/21)

A week in the life of a teacher, day 2.

Tuesday:
I arrive in my room at 8:12 and enjoy my latte and bagel while checking my email, reading the Daily Demon, and checking my e-mail at the community college I teach at, which for some reason isn’t working. I try calling another teacher who was having an issue with his gradebook that I promised to help but there’s no answer- I am one of several gradebook “gurus” at my school so people come to me for help. I use the time to go through my students’ work from Friday when I had a sub and the subjunctive packets my students have been working on. I make it through the pile pretty quickly because I am grading for completion and not accuracy (we’ll be going over the subjunctive work tomorrow so I will have students self-correct then). When I look up it’s 8:51. I realize that there will be no bells today because of the makeup ACT and I head to my tardy duty. I only have a couple of students who come for late passes. When I’m done, I head down to the first floor to see if I can catch the teacher with the gradebook issues. It takes a few minutes, but I get everything back to the way it should be and have no explanation for the problem. I turn in my tardy sheet and head to the required professional development that begins at 9:15. I am 2 minutes late and the session already seems to have started. I am not going to go in to specifics but I will say that this mandatory session during my planning period was not helpful. I leave and decide to stop by another teacher’s room who had asked me some questions about the ASW process (analysis of student work) that we are required to submit to show that our students are learning. We go over the activities she has planned, and I offer some suggestions that I hope are helpful. Before I know it, it’s 10:22 so I head to the workroom to quickly use the restroom and get some big paper for an activity. By the time I head to my classroom, there’s 5 students waiting outside my door.

2nd period: (10:25-12:00) This is my smallest French 2 class and it also has many of strongest students. Today though, they are very talkative and it takes them several minutes to settle down and work on their journal- comparing and contrasting French and American high schools. We have a good discussion and create the Venn diagram. I’m pleased with how much they remember. We go over the first reading and complete the activities together. 1 student asks to go to the office because she isn’t feeling well and returns a few minutes later because she couldn’t get an answer at home. She isn’t in class long before she motions towards the door and runs out. When she returns, she tells me that she was sick. I ask her if she’d like to go to the office and offer to have someone walk her down. We go over a second reading passage and students then answer questions on their own. Most are on task as I walk around the room. I remember that I forgot to order lunch so the last few minutes of class, I put attendance in the computer and order Jimmy John’s.

Lunch (12-12:25) My third period class today is my combined AP and French 4. Several students come in to work and eat in my room. One student is very concerned because she took her French placement exam for college and it put her in the lowest level. I’m as surprised as she is. She asks if I’ll look at the test since it was online. I agree and while she boots up a Chromebook and logs in, I run to the workroom to make a few copies for her class. I end up talking to another teacher for a few minutes about a parent issue she is having and run downstairs to get my sandwich. The student from last period is sitting in the office looking miserable. I ask her if she had been able to contact someone and if she needs anything. When I get back to the room, we look at her placement test, and I try not to show my frustration. The test is horrible- lots of reading passages, but the questions are in English. The questions also focus on a students’ understanding of a single word in the text.

3rd period: (12:30-2:00) As class starts, I am finishing looking at the test with my student who realizes that the computer system will allow her to retake it. Another student asks if I can complete some scholarship recommendations for her and it takes a few minutes to go over the information. Only 2 of my 3 level 4 students areh a study period who are also in my room and I have to remind one of them to find something to work on quietly. I have 7 students who are enrolled in AP, and we spend the period walking through the writing and speaking portions of the exam. Students write an email response which we then discuss, we then go through the steps for the long essay and how to approach the sources. I jokingly tell them not to be too traumatized when they he present today, and I instruct them to read 2 more chapters of The Little Prince. They just started the novel so that I can focus on my AP students as the exam grows near. I have 2 other students witar the audio source. As it starts to play, several of them groan- not only is the person being interviewed speaking incredibly fast, there is a ton of static because it’s a radio interview. Luckily this is the only sample where the audio is this bad, but I like to start with it because everything else will seem simpler. With about 30 minutes left in class, a student delivers the school paper. We take a 5 minute newspaper break because I know they won’t be able to focus until they’ve looked through it. After the break, we get back to work on the speaking section and my students are focused and working for the rest of the period.

4th period: (2:05-3:40) This is my third French 2 class. It is also my largest and has my most challenging students. One of the most challenging, the one who had walked out on the sub, moves himself to the front of the room as we begin and actively participates in the discussion. This is very out of character for him so I make sure to encourage him and praise him when he answers correctly. I wonder what has caused this change (I’ve tried talking to him many times). With him focused and working, the entire class goes much more smoothly. The only interruptions in our discussion come when two students are playing with slime- it gets put away when I offer to take it. The second time is when another student starts to toss a basketball that another student normally brings to school with him. I offer to lock it in my cabinet for him so his friends aren’t distracted and he agrees. Most of the students finish their work with several minutes to spare so I allow them to read their newspapers and relax. We chat for a minute about basketball and life until the bell rings.

After the bell rings, several students wander in to my room, and I remember that I had promised a teacher she could use it for a club meeting. I grade a few papers and organize a bit. One of my French 1 students who often stays after wanders in around 4:15. I tell him that I need to leave in a few and jokingly remind him that he wouldn’t need to stay after school if he would do his work in class. He laughs and says he’s too distracted so I offer to move him away from the girls he normally sits by. He doesn’t want his seat moved and promises to do better. I eventually pack up all the things I took home yesterday but didn’t grade last night and head home around 4:30.