A Week in the Life of a Teacher: Day 5 (Thursday): The day after early release -or- I am too exhausted to give this a title
8:15-8:55: Before School
I get to school early, but I'm so exhausted before I even begin that I struggle to find the motivation to get out of my car. I never feel this way. I love my job, but this week has taken an enormous physical and emotional toll. Once I walk into my classroom full of sunshine, I feel better. I turn on some Swedish pop music (my go-to energizer) and my essential oil diffuser with some invigorating wild sweet orange, and I get to work: I have nothing scheduled, so I sit, drink my delicious Americano, and grade, prepare for 1st period, and answer emails. My sweet students saunter in and relax. I look up at 8:52 and realize the bell hasn't run: there must be more testing for something today. I stand outside for a few minutes urging stragglers to get to class. One of my 1st period students, dressed in a ridiculous outfit with a crazy bouncy headband is wandering around a little distracted. She's being induced into one of our Girls' Council groups and was "kidnapped" this morning at 6:30 ("soooooooooooo early" according to her). I give her a hug and usher her into class.
I get to school early, but I'm so exhausted before I even begin that I struggle to find the motivation to get out of my car. I never feel this way. I love my job, but this week has taken an enormous physical and emotional toll. Once I walk into my classroom full of sunshine, I feel better. I turn on some Swedish pop music (my go-to energizer) and my essential oil diffuser with some invigorating wild sweet orange, and I get to work: I have nothing scheduled, so I sit, drink my delicious Americano, and grade, prepare for 1st period, and answer emails. My sweet students saunter in and relax. I look up at 8:52 and realize the bell hasn't run: there must be more testing for something today. I stand outside for a few minutes urging stragglers to get to class. One of my 1st period students, dressed in a ridiculous outfit with a crazy bouncy headband is wandering around a little distracted. She's being induced into one of our Girls' Council groups and was "kidnapped" this morning at 6:30 ("soooooooooooo early" according to her). I give her a hug and usher her into class.
8:55-10:25: 1st Period English I ESL/Standard (27 freshmen)
Today we start rhetorical analysis, so we define the terms we need to know, practice our movements for literary terms, and do rhetorical analysis of the Pantene Dad-do commercial with DeAngelo Williams. They pick up right away on the false statements and are shocked when they realize they can identify the audience being targeted by speaker. It's adorable. Because I love them, I make the mistake of giving them stickers left over from the staff development I led in my room yesterday. The stickers are just small brown circles with a green, blue, pink, or orange dot in the middle. They go to town putting the stickers all over their clothes, faces, and desks, and they have no idea how ridiculous they look or how many of them with stickers on their faces look like they have strange colored pimples everywhere. I can barely contain my laughter as they look at me in earnestness while I explain their next task: design a line graph that illuminates how one of the complex characters in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian has changed over the course of the novel. They get to work making a scale for the complexity (i.e. Perfect, perfect with flaws, neutral, not perfect but nice, and mean). They work on plotting examples from the story chronologically to show the changes in the characters. They work straight up until the bell, and I have to stop them and tell them it's time to leave.
Today we start rhetorical analysis, so we define the terms we need to know, practice our movements for literary terms, and do rhetorical analysis of the Pantene Dad-do commercial with DeAngelo Williams. They pick up right away on the false statements and are shocked when they realize they can identify the audience being targeted by speaker. It's adorable. Because I love them, I make the mistake of giving them stickers left over from the staff development I led in my room yesterday. The stickers are just small brown circles with a green, blue, pink, or orange dot in the middle. They go to town putting the stickers all over their clothes, faces, and desks, and they have no idea how ridiculous they look or how many of them with stickers on their faces look like they have strange colored pimples everywhere. I can barely contain my laughter as they look at me in earnestness while I explain their next task: design a line graph that illuminates how one of the complex characters in The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-time Indian has changed over the course of the novel. They get to work making a scale for the complexity (i.e. Perfect, perfect with flaws, neutral, not perfect but nice, and mean). They work on plotting examples from the story chronologically to show the changes in the characters. They work straight up until the bell, and I have to stop them and tell them it's time to leave.
10:25-12:00 2nd Period: Planning
Or heaven, today. On A-days I have 2nd planning, and I don't share my classroom (3rd period Bdays there is a French class in my room). I put on some Debussy, start outlining my plans for next week, answers emails, and put comments on essays. THAT IS ALL. It feels amazing to have time and space to work.
Or heaven, today. On A-days I have 2nd planning, and I don't share my classroom (3rd period Bdays there is a French class in my room). I put on some Debussy, start outlining my plans for next week, answers emails, and put comments on essays. THAT IS ALL. It feels amazing to have time and space to work.
12:00-2:00 3rd Period: AP Lit (27 seniors with senioritis)
One of the girls whose essay i've just put comments on comes into class. As soon as I see her, I tell her how good her poetry essay is; that it's the strongest essay she's written all year, and that she must I can tell she really understand relationships because she had insightful analysis about the relationship in this sonnet. She tears up. She tells me she's having the best day and that made it even better, that she can't wait to tell her dad because he'll be so proud. It was an awesome moment. Sometimes with seniors I feel like i'm dragging them through the mud, but it feels so good to be able to tell them they're improving. We have a thoughtful discussion of chapters 7 and 8 of Jane Eyre, and they spend the rest of the class working on their sestina poems. I really can't wait to read them and see what they come up with. I love how a creative project makes them blossom in ways that are unexpected to both them and me. Our lunch splits this class in half from 12:50-1:20 then we come back for the 2nd half of class. For some reason, my tired has set in after lunch, and I no longer have the patience of Job that I strive for most days. I end up taking two cell phones from kids who are texting about their plans for beach week in June. The class ends on a pretty stressful note, and I head into 4th period with a shroud of tired I wish I didn't have.
One of the girls whose essay i've just put comments on comes into class. As soon as I see her, I tell her how good her poetry essay is; that it's the strongest essay she's written all year, and that she must I can tell she really understand relationships because she had insightful analysis about the relationship in this sonnet. She tears up. She tells me she's having the best day and that made it even better, that she can't wait to tell her dad because he'll be so proud. It was an awesome moment. Sometimes with seniors I feel like i'm dragging them through the mud, but it feels so good to be able to tell them they're improving. We have a thoughtful discussion of chapters 7 and 8 of Jane Eyre, and they spend the rest of the class working on their sestina poems. I really can't wait to read them and see what they come up with. I love how a creative project makes them blossom in ways that are unexpected to both them and me. Our lunch splits this class in half from 12:50-1:20 then we come back for the 2nd half of class. For some reason, my tired has set in after lunch, and I no longer have the patience of Job that I strive for most days. I end up taking two cell phones from kids who are texting about their plans for beach week in June. The class ends on a pretty stressful note, and I head into 4th period with a shroud of tired I wish I didn't have.
2:05-3:35 4th Period: AP Lit (32 seniors)
We jump right into our Jane Eyre discussion, and I have to take another cell phone away from a student who is using it while other students are presenting. It is a real struggle some days to keep them present. The discussion produces some insightful analysis of the chapters and the most thoughtful connections from any class. They too spend the rest of class working on their sestinas. They are amazing and work diligently problem solving with their partners. They also work straight up until the bell.
We jump right into our Jane Eyre discussion, and I have to take another cell phone away from a student who is using it while other students are presenting. It is a real struggle some days to keep them present. The discussion produces some insightful analysis of the chapters and the most thoughtful connections from any class. They too spend the rest of class working on their sestinas. They are amazing and work diligently problem solving with their partners. They also work straight up until the bell.
3:35-4:00 After school
A girl lingers after class to talk to me and bursts into tears: she is struggling with her mom. Since middle school their relationship has been built on the mother's expectations for her daughter, sitting with her nightly to with or correct her work to make it perfect. Her mom checks her grades multiple times a day and texts her throughout the day asking how quizzes, tests, and assignments are going. The girl is sobbing in my arms. It's nothing new to her, this pressure. She's developed anxiety because of it. She's seen a counselor, but never felt like she's gotten any solutions, only nods. The pressure is consuming her. She's able to calm down and just tell me about it. We make a plan for what she can do if she's ever feeling this way during class, a signal, so I will know why she needs to take a breather in the hallway. She leaves with a hug. I spend a few minutes talking with a colleague who always makes me laugh and whose candid speech brings me so much joy. I head out to pick up my children from school.
A girl lingers after class to talk to me and bursts into tears: she is struggling with her mom. Since middle school their relationship has been built on the mother's expectations for her daughter, sitting with her nightly to with or correct her work to make it perfect. Her mom checks her grades multiple times a day and texts her throughout the day asking how quizzes, tests, and assignments are going. The girl is sobbing in my arms. It's nothing new to her, this pressure. She's developed anxiety because of it. She's seen a counselor, but never felt like she's gotten any solutions, only nods. The pressure is consuming her. She's able to calm down and just tell me about it. We make a plan for what she can do if she's ever feeling this way during class, a signal, so I will know why she needs to take a breather in the hallway. She leaves with a hug. I spend a few minutes talking with a colleague who always makes me laugh and whose candid speech brings me so much joy. I head out to pick up my children from school.
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