Daniela - Day 3 (3/8)

A Day in the Life of a Teacher...Day 3...

8:10- I leave the house and pump on the way...yes, while driving. Liam woke up earlier so I put him down for his first nap before I left and therefore didn't have time to get things in order before leaving the house. Not too much traffic today, so that was nice at least.

8:35-I run to the workroom to put all my stuff in the fridge and catch up with a few teachers. I then run down to my room, open the door for my usual students who wait for me in the mornings and quickly get situated for class. My computer decides to install updates and I'm not able to have the warmup on the board before the bell rings. Oh! Yes, I almost forgot! I heard a bell today which meant NO TESTING (or so I thought). I finally got my computer to load, but decided against doing the warmup because I knew 1st period was about to get crazy. I told my students we'd be having our annual statewide tornado drill today and we reviewed the procedure together. I remembered reading somewhere the drill would be at 9:20, but then I saw 9:30 on the day's announcements for teachers. Yesterday I had told my students we'd spend the entire class reviewing and doing a fun model using food and candy. Today I had to tell them we'd be taking a practice test instead. They were bummed but I tried to sympathize with them (I truly did feel bad) by letting them know how I felt and that we'd play some review games together. We got logged in to the chrome books where they'd be taking their test so that we'd be ready to start as soon as we were back in class after the tornado drill. We played some review games and at 9:29 our principal came over the intercom to make the "tornado watch" announcement. I realized the drill would be taking much longer than I had anticipated so I told my students to go ahead and start the test. While they tested we waited for the "warning" announcement which also signaled for all students except for 1st and 2nd floor to proceed to their locations. By the time our floor was called, most of my students had finished their practice test. I was pleasantly surprised by how well they did. Finally, it was our turn to go out the door. I had made this big deal about staying together during the drill but by the time we were in the tunnel beneath the building, my students were all sorts of scattered. Luckily I only had 13 and was easily able to spot and count them. I spoke with another colleague while we waited out the drill and before long we were all on our way back to class.

10:25- I was expecting a bell to ring to signal the end of 1st period but one never rang....I guess there was still testing going on after all. 2nd period went much more smoothly than 1st. Several students had forgotten their passwords so I spent the first 15 minutes resetting them. The student from yesterday's parent teacher conference was absent today and I couldn't help but wonder and worry a little. I got an email halfway through class from another Biology teacher asking if I had sent down my student information to the EC and ESL testing labs for the benchmark tomorrow. It was probably meant in a nice way, but for some reason it bothered me. I've never had another teacher ask me that and I guess it just felt like it was already assumed that I hadn't and therefore an email was necessary...? At the end of class, one of my students asked me what it was like for me when I was in high school and we had a really good discussion. They all laughed when I talked about how all the farmer's kids used to drive their tractors to school on spirit day and park them on the school's front lawn. I laughed too as it was something I hadn't thought about in years! At the end of class a student sold me a piece of chocolate to raise money for a field trip her theater class was taking. I almost never have cash on me but I was so glad I found a dollar in my desk because I really wanted a kit kat.

12:00- Tardy duty until 12:10 and an IEP (legally required) meeting that also started at 12:10. The student also attended and it was actually really nice to be able and discuss his goals and academic progress with him present. This student in particular isn't doing very well in my class, but he's never been disrespectful and it's always so much harder to see a failing grade next to a student who always smiles. Throughout the meeting, anytime someone made mention of a failing grade or lack of focus, he never once got upset but instead let out a bashful laugh as he looked down at his lap. Not once did he get defensive and I really believe that he is trying the way he knows how to and wishes to do better but can't seem to get there. We set some goals with him and talked about some strategies and within 30 minutes he went back to class and I ran back upstairs to pump. Within 5 minutes I get a call from the school on my cell phone. Surprised, I answer it and am asked to join in on a conference call at some point during my planning with the principal and a parent. I ask if I have time to eat lunch first and am told yes. For the first time I'm oddly relieved to be giving a practice test next class because I know that once again I won't have time to actually get any planning done during my planning period. I finish up, and run to the workroom to join the usual group of teachers I eat with for lunch. After lunch, I once again run downstairs to the front office and enter the principal's office. I'll be honest, till this day, even as a teacher now, I get nervous about going to the principal's office. We attempt to call the parent several times but are unable to reach her. I run back upstairs to my room and it's 1:46. I use my 14 minutes of planning time to organize the papers that have taken control of my room since last week and enjoy the movie that's playing for the 3rd period class that is in my classroom today.

2:00-All day I was dreading having to give my sheltered class the practice test. I knew they'd be the most devastated but also complain the least. They always have such a good attitude. As I had expected, it took them much longer to work through the wording of the questions and I circulated the room the entire time since I know they are more likely to ask me questions if I am close by than if I were to sit and wait for them to raise their hands in front of their peers and ask for help. As usual, most of their questions weren't about the biology content at all. One student asked what "shrink" meant, another asked what "affect" meant and another wasn't sure what "pink" was. After they finished, we only had 20 minutes of class left. Not enough time to do the vocab work I was hoping to do with them so we reviewed the questions from the practice test they had just taken and focused on word associations. One of the students was being extra talkative today so I called him up and asked him if he'd like to teach the class today instead. Of course I was joking, and I knew he'd be a good sport about me calling him out this way. The class got a good laugh out of it and after he reviewed the question with the class, I was surprised that more students asked if they could go up and "teach" the next question. We finished out the rest of class this way. All the chairs were put up again today.