Amanda - Day 5 (3/10)

A Week In the Life of a Teacher - Teamwork makes the dream work!

7:00 Have breakfast with one of my besties. We haven't done this in a while and the waitress says she's been missing us. We laugh way too much and way too loud. While we're there, my phone rings. Normally I would ignore it but it's Molly so I know it must be important. She's having a babysitter emergency and has nowhere for her son to go. I know all about that! I reassure her that I can cover her classes.

8:10 Arrive at school. Get the chrome books for Molly's class. Check my "lesson plan" which is just my Haiku page, printed out. I'll be teaching in the Auditorium today so I'm not sure where to put them, but then I giggle at my own joke. They're not coming to observe me! I get Molly's lesson plan from her desk and put both on top of the chrome book cart.

8:55 Dance 1A (freshmen) & Dance 3/4 Honors (juniors and seniors)

On my way to the locker room I stop to tell an administrator that I'll have both classes in the auditorium in case they're looking for a dance class to observe then I wink and walk away laughing. My class feels even lighter than I expected. Three students are absent. They are at chorus adjudications. They were supposed to make arrangements to show their projects in advance but they didn't. Their groups are confused and want to wait to show but I tell them no. They can show again for a better grade when the missing person makes up. It's ISADORA Day! They are showing their final quartets, wearing colorful tunics that I made six years ago. This is a Dance 1A tradition and the honors class is very excited when they see what's about to happen. Several students hop up, start doing Isadora runs, balances and replicate their dance from three of four years ago. They tell me all of the facts they remember from the research project and the freshmen look at them excitedly. I remember about how my class is "not academic" but that seems a little weird since these students can remember dates, names, cultural and historical references about the mother of modern dance, based on a well designed research project that I created out my very own precious dance teacher brain! We proceed with the showings. The choreography is about normal and what I expect, however, I specifically asked for students to use all available time to rehearse. Several groups had what I call "coffee hour" instead of rehearsing the whole time so I explain that this is disappointing and that their dedication in class is how I determine what kind of concert dance they get. Highly dedicated and hard working classes get higher level dances. They look solemn. One of the honors students tells them about how her class was the "bad" class her freshmen year and they were disappointed when they got to Concert Week and realized that the other classes were better than them. I nod, oh I remember yelling at them, demonstrating the entire dance for them, embarrassing them in front of the department, then cheering when they got it together for the concert!

10:30 2nd Period Dance 1B (sophomores)

I meet them at the locker room. While we walk to class, I see that my friend, a music teacher, is Live on Facebook. So my students and I enjoy the performance of African drumming on our way to the room. They recall their elementary music class. We have a great ballet class. I might have inadvertently revived "Light as a feather, Stiff as a board" while explaining weight distribution and muscle engagement for jumping. They now think I'm magic, even though I thoroughly explained it was just physics! The last five minutes, I talk to them about their concert dance. I cannot tell if they are excited or annoyed. I think they mostly just can't picture what I'm explaining...

12:00 3rd Period Lunch and Planning but today Dance 3/4 Honors coverage

I drink my shake, run errands and check in with Molly's class. They are finishing projects on the computer and in their own world. I talk with the art teacher about the EdCamp unconference in April. We hope this will be a real unconference. We want PD back! We both agree that we want to facilitate a session if possible. We also discuss personal things. The flow between work and personal happens so naturally, we almost aren't aware of how fast we can switch back and forth! We finish by complaining about the useless lesson plan propoganda today and record the photo and video below...

2:10 4th Period Dance 1B (Molly's sophomores)

She is lucky to have a TA who leads the class and pretty much teaches the entire time. I jump in with a few corrections and insights. I taught all of these students as freshmen so it's not weird to cover the class. I miss them and am sad that I will never get to teach them again.

3:40 ITS OVER!!! I admit, it was a strange week and then to pay so much attention and document so many personal things about my career is strange. I loved that my reflections may have opened some eyes and hearts to the Life of a Teacher. Thank you to Heather, who's posts were so poetic and gorgeously crafted. I truly enjoyed this week and will be interested to read all of the other teachers to come! So glad I did this at the same time as Robbie. Our ships have crossed paths so many times, but it was fun to get to go inside of your classroom and your head.

Anyone who wants to come observe or take a class is welcome anytime! I guarantee success!