A Week in the Life of a Teacher...Day 5!
8:05 I leave the house, proud of myself for leaving on time for the first time this week! Students were gathering at 8:30 to honor the student I mentioned in Monday's post and I really wanted to be there. I get to school around 8:25 and run to the workroom to put my stuff in the fridge and warm up some cheese pastry type stuff my mom had made us yesterday. I grab it out of the microwave and practically run down to the track where the students are gathering. It's a long walk and I empathize with the students who make the trek on a daily basis. Our school's campus is really big so to get to the track I have to walk through the tunnel that takes me to the other side of the road. On the way, I see several of my students who say hello. Some are walking in the opposite direction back toward the main building and some are walking in the same direction as me. I realize that most are probably also headed to the track. One of my students from last year ends up walking with me and we chat a little on the way. I ask him if he knew the student and he says yes, but he'd only met him a few times. He then asks me the same question and I explain how I had taught him, his brother and his girlfriend all in the same year. We finally make it down to the track and see that a crowd has gathered. I spot a few teachers and join them. The student's brother was speaking to the crowd about funeral arrangements and another event happening this weekend to honor the student. Another student then asked the crowd to bow their heads and join hands. I realized that I had been holding my breakfast pastry in my hand and had forgotten to eat it so I shoved it in the large pocket of the sweater I was wearing to join hands with a teacher on my right and a student I don't know on my left. A student prays for the family and I just couldn't keep it together. His mom was in the crowd and I couldn't imagine what she was going through. After the prayer, someone was trying to gather the group for a photo. I needed to get back to class since I knew I'd have students lined up at my door and I still had at least a 7 minute walk back to my classroom. I really wanted to say hey to the brother since I had taught him but he'd since switched schools so I pushed my way through the crowd a bit and made my way towards him. He hugged me and I thought for a second he might not let go. We didn't say a word to each other but we didn't need to.
8:48 I made the trek back up to the main building. On the way I regretted shoving my breakfast into my pocket because there were crumbs everywhere. Totally not something I'd ever do but oh well, I did today. I stopped by the workroom to use the restroom before class but then quickly turned around when I noticed the time. I'd have to hold it until 12. I made it back to my classroom just before the bell was about to ring and let the group of students who had gathered outside my door inside. As I was approaching I heard one of them say, "I really don't think she's here today" and another one said "see? I told you she'd be here!" as I approached them.
8:55-10:25 I promised the class that since we had so many tests this week I would give them a "free day" today. In reality, this was my chance to make sure that anyone who was absent could take their benchmark today and I could also have anyone else makeup any quizzes and tests that they had missed. It ended up being a really productive class period and also quiet. I was grateful for this because the migraine I had yesterday was now lingering as a headache that seemed to be getting worse as time went by. I immediately regretted not making coffee which may have helped. I also thought that I was probably dehydrated but because I hadn't had time to use the restroom before class, I couldn't even think about drinking any water.
10:30-12:00 I did the same thing with 2nd period and I was glad for the chance to catch up so many students and give them a chance to makeup work. I also helped several students organize their binders. Unfortunately, by the time this class period was over my migraine had come back full force and I ended class feeling like I could barely form a complete sentence.
12:05-I went and did tardy duty but ran out of tardy slips so I had to write a couple tardy notes on a random piece of paper I had in my bag. I took my tardy log downstairs and decided to see if we had any substitutes available for 4th period since my headache-turned-migraine didn't seen to be letting up any. I was told to check with a certain sub so I went and found her. Luckily she agreed to watch my 4th period class. I still had a few errands to run before I was able to leave and it felt like everything I did took twice as long because my head hurt so bad. I had to return my testing materials and go over absences with the testing people and then go make copies of the assignment I needed to leave for 4th period, then write up instructions for the substitute as well as instructions for the students to see on the board. As I was about to leave I remembered I needed to print an extra attendance roster for the substitute to fill out. Finally, I was able to grab my stuff from the workroom and head home around 1:30. I looked at the time and was once again reminded that most times it requires more work to be absent and prepare for a substitute than to just power through it. But I had already gotten everything ready so I left. I fell asleep immediately when I got home and slept for almost 3 hours, feeling somewhat better but wondering how 4th period managed without me.
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