Amanda - Day 1 (3/6)

A Week In the Life of (traveling) Dance Teacher (single mom, activist, member of society)

Thank you to Heather for inspiring this kind of action. Because I couldn't separate all of my roles and pull out just the teacher things, I have chosen to show how my teacher life is unsystematically woven with my other many lives!

7:30 Drop the dog off at the doggie day care because, upon analysis, I determined that I would not be home until after 7pm today and it would be too late to take him to the park and he would be stir crazy. He is excited to play so I suck up the $10 fee and drive away feeling like I just provided Noodle Christmas!

8:10 Arrive at school in time for faculty meeting but am met in the hall by a student who meets me most mornings. She always has a question but it is rarely important (in my world). She does this with several arts teachers. We sometimes wonder if she is the oldest of 9 children or something because she requires a lot of attention at school.

8:30 Finally make it in to the faculty meeting. The principal is discussing what the visitors will be looking for on Friday. I don't care about this because I refuse to change anything for these visitors. Students can smell this types of fakeness from a mile away. They probably won't come to my class anyway so I'm not wasting any of our time. We are also asked to consider whether or not we should allow the career center students to leave early. I don't teach these students but I despise the career center. I listen to my colleagues suggestions. They think 5 minutes. I question why his issue is being discussed. People don't like when I ask these things but I continue to do it because I think reflection is important. We are also supposed to discuss if it's important for students to come to tutoring during exams and if so, how to incentivize. Again, this doesn't pertain to me since most of my students exempt the exam so I listen to others ideas. Seems like most of us are on the same page but don't want to admit that exams are not a big deal to us. That's the curse of being an arts/elective teacher.

8:45 Leave the faculty meeting, met at the door by another student who wants to talk about her grade. The internet isn't working so I can't check. I tell her to see me in class tomorrow. The same student was in tears on Friday because she didn't check her grades since January and hadn't completed any of the beginning of the semester assignments.

8:55 First Period - Dance 1A (freshmen)
Molly (the other dance teacher at my school) and I walk together toward the locker room. This is usually the only chance we have to talk about things. We discuss our weekends and ideas for dances. I walk my students from the locker room to class. I give them 10 minutes to review their duet projects before showing. In the 10 minutes, our lead dance teacher pops in for a random visit. She asks how things are going and what my kids are doing. She stays for the first few groups then leaves to see the other teacher. After my students finish the showing, I merge their duet groups into quarters and go over the new guidelines. I cannot find my stapler. One problem with your desk being in a public workroom is that people feel that your desk and items are public and they walk away a lot. I finally walk barefoot to the office and ask the secretary for a new one (my second one this year). I dismiss my students at 10:15 and quickly review my brand new ballet class for 2nd period. I run to the workroom to get my ballet shoes.

10:30 second Period - Dance 1B (sophomores)

I walk my class to the room. I talk with one of my favorite, bubbly, students about my weekend on the way. This class is very sweet and caring and they tend to be very interested in me, personally. When we arrive in the room, I inform them that this unit is newly redesigned and I am nervous about all of the new combinations and cues that I have to remember. They smile and wait to begin. The barre exercises go ok, but some of the music was too short for the exercises so I make a mental note to adjust for tomorrow's group. We proceed with some challenging material that I haven't taught to the level before. They do ok but I have a hard time watching them because I'm worried about how I'm doing. I wonder if they think I'm a good dancer. This is different for me because usually I teach with a lot of confidence. I dismiss them at 11:50, rush to the workroom to hide my new stapler and check the emails I haven't been able to read today.

12:00 Third Period (lunch and planning)

I eat lunch with my best friend, the art teacher. We talk about everything. I tell her about the ballet unit and she reminds me that they won't remember my combinations anyway so I can fix them, plus she thinks I did the right thing by telling them I was nervous. We also discuss our weekends and she laughs when I tell her about shag dancing Friday night. We go to plan in her room because it's impossible for me to get anything done in the workroom. People love to chat, ask for help with the copier, or I have to listen to everyone's bathroom noises... She shares the progress her Art 4 students are making in the project that I helped her design two years ago. We spend a lot of time talking about lessons, units, successes, failures, and we reflect to and for each other. She is an invaluable resource in my teaching.

2:10 Fourth Period (planning again)

It may sound cushy but believe me, I've earned this planning. I go to the workroom and update grades, clean out my bag, check the last few emails. I hate working in the workroom and I cringe every time I hear the door open.

3:00 Leave early for an appointment in Greensboro but first have to pick up the dog from daycare, take home, then pick up my son from school. Because I drive so much, I sometimes go on autopilot. Today I turn the wrong way and have to circle back to Clemmons before dropping dog off in Ardmore then heading to son's school in Greensboro the to get a snack before meeting in downtown Greensboro. My blood pressure is through the roof and my eyes are heavy.

5:00 Arrive at the Biltmore, Greensboro right on time to be interviewed by Japanese researcher wanting to learn more about how I teach somatics in my Dance courses. I spend a little over an hour asking my son to stop being noisy and to do his homework while trying to explain how I teach body awareness to teenagers in my class. I feel like I am doing a pretty good job at this. When the hour is up I want to ask her about her research. She is tired and having a hard time with her English so I stop pressing. She presents me with a gift (see below) of a beautiful fabric and origami papers. I am so excited! Then she pulls out some forms in Japanese that I find out are receipts for her monetary gift! Thatcher and I learn that 8,600 yin is about $75! I had no idea that she was going to pay me! Thatcher is amazed! She asks if she can come observe me in the fall when she comes back. I, of course, agree!

7:15 Thatcher and I arrive at our favorite restaurant (Finnigans for dinner). Thatcher falls asleep in my lap so I have to carry him to the car. Then I have to carry him into the house, let the dog out, transfer some laundry, put the $75 into the Disney envelope, drag myself upstairs to type this, only discover an awake Thatcher watching Netflix in my room.