Robbie - Day 3 (3/8)

A Week in the Life of a Public School Teacher

Day 3 - Wednesday 3/8/17

7:37-8:00 I quickly walk from my car to the building because it is MUCH colder than I thought it was. I open the spreadsheet to sign up for Chromebooks for 2 more days since my French 3 presentations took longer than expected, but I see they are already reserved by another teacher. I find another cart and am able to sign up for 2 of the 3 periods I need. I'll have to find another option for my other class. That's the problem with pushing things back and/or changing schedules when it comes to technology - our resources are limited, and people sign up far in advance. I try to stay 2 weeks ahead on my planning and stick to my plans, but that's not always possible. I realize I haven't graded one set of French 3 journals, so I work on that before my morning meeting. In this class, responding to a question about what their biggest fear is, several students write that they fear themselves or their family members being deported or separated. This makes me sad and angry.

8:00-8:30 Department PLT (Professional Learning Team) meeting. We discuss cultural and gender differences and the upcoming visit of our foreign language supervisor. We talk about plans for ASW (analysis of student work). Halfway through the meeting, I notice a text from a colleague saying she is going to be out and to help her sub with plans.

8:30-8:55 I go ask another teacher about using Chromebooks one day next week, and we find a way to switch the schedule so we are both happy. I go to find the sub, and the instructions left by the teacher aren't clear to her. The teacher out actually has a student teacher, and the student teacher had a meeting to attend this morning, so she left plans for the regular teacher to use. Once we get the media center coordinator to help us log into the computer using the teacher's account, we realize the plans the student teacher left were intended for the regular, Spanish-speaking teacher and won't work for the sub who doesn't know any Spanish. I find another Spanish 2 teacher who gives me some worksheets that the students can do, and I go to make copies of them. On the way, a French 2 student asks me a question about her test review sheet and another student is patiently waiting in my room to make up a quiz. I give the student her quiz and tell her to put it on my desk when she's finished, and I ask the French 2 student to walk down the hall and talk to me while I'm going to make copies. I answer her questions, make the copies, give them to the sub, explain what she should do, and the bell rings to start first period. I haven't set up for class.

8:55-10:25 French 3H. I'm not ready for class, but they sit patiently while I get myself together and are really great about it. Once I put up their journal assignment, they get right to work, and I am pleased. One student asks me to write a recommendation for her for the newspaper staff, so I put it on my desk so I'll remember to do it during planning. I grade the last few journals and return those while the students are writing today's entry. I still feel a little discombobulated, but it's time for class to start, so I give them instructions for their Venn Diagram activity. A couple groups go out in the hall to work. I walk around and ask each group if they have questions. They have fewer questions than yesterday, and I'm not sure if that means they're more prepared or just afraid to ask. I feel like this is the class I've connected least with and that has adjusted the least to having a "new" (to them) French teacher. An announcement comes on the intercom that we are under a tornado watch. This is a drill, but students don't necessarily know that. I explain the difference between a tornado watch and warning and tell them to keep working until further notice. The students seem to be working more slowly than yesterday's group, so I'm a bit concerned about pacing (I like for my classes to be in the same place as much as possible), but I have a more flexible day coming up soon, so I think it'll be okay. Still, at 9:45, I encourage them to finish within the next 12-13 minutes. I like to give very exact deadlines because I think they will be more salient to students, and they are usually more likely to finish on time. At 9:46, the announcement comes on for the tornado warning. The students are really good about staying in the tornado position. One student chats with me about how he regrets being immature and disrespectful in a colleague's class (Spanish 1) freshman year, and how he wishes he could try the class over again. I tell him that he should tell the teacher that because she would appreciate it. At 9:57, the drill finally ends. It lasted longer than I expected. Students get back to work quickly. We only get through 2 presentations in this class, so we'll have to do the rest next time. I still write the notes for the students, but I have them practice writing a comparative sentence about each topic on their own, and this seems to keep them on task better than the group yesterday.

10:25-12:00 Planning. I go check on the sub to see if the student teacher has arrived. She hasn't, but the sub says that everything went fine first period and that she can have this class do the same thing as the first group until the student teacher gets there. I work on my lesson plan for 1st period Friday - the entire school is being observed, so we are all required to have detailed lesson plans on our desk, and it is suggested that we have really great activities planned for that day. My lesson plans are always extremely detailed, but I'll need to make some changes based on how today went. I intend to spend no more than 5 minutes on it since it's very unlikely the group will visit my classroom anyway (since French is not one of our "tested" subjects). Despite my desire to do this quickly, I spend way too long on this task. I answer a parent email about a student's grade, and this reminds me that I haven't called/emailed parents in a while about students whose grades are low or slipping, so I contact a few parents. I am able to reach 2, and both are grateful to me for letting me know about the situation. I work on a few upcoming French 1 lessons, incorporating a few changes that I wanted to make from last year. They still aren't perfect, but they are better, and I only have 1 section of French 1, so I shouldn't spend excessive amounts of time on it.

12:00-12:35 Lunch. We discuss tornado drill procedures, whether a certain word is offensive, and former students getting married. I like this lunch group. I'm glad to have the down time.

12:35-2:05 French 4/5H. The students ask me what my prediction for snow is as I'm coming down the hall. I guess word is getting out that possible snow is in our forecast for this weekend. This means tomorrow and Friday could be very chaotic if students are excited about snow. While students are writing their journals, I answer a few questions about vocabulary and file away an activity I need to save for ASW (analysis of student work - basically a portfolio we submit at the end of the year showing student growth on our objectives). A few students ask me about how people drive in France, and I share my opinion that French drivers are crazy and pay no attention to lines that separate lanes. One girl says that her grandparents who are French drive recklessly, and her parents refuse to ride in a car with them. They are working on basically the same Venn Diagram activity as French 3 with higher expectations - that's more or less how I've handled French 4/5 this year. Sometimes I worry if I'm challenging them enough, but I think most of them really need the in-depth review of what they've learned and more chances to use the structures in speaking and writing.

2:10-3:40 French 2. We have a test scheduled for today. 3 students tell me that they are leaving early for various sporting events, which is annoying. 2 decide to start the test right then (and miss the review beforehand) and the other plans to come in tomorrow morning to take it. We play the human board game, but for some reason, it takes forever (bad luck, I guess) and neither team gets to the end. I have them roll the die without answering any questions to hurry things along. I give them 10 minutes to "study alone or with a partner", which is something I never really do because it seems too open-ended, but I see that most of them are actually using their time wisely. Maybe this is something I should do more often - less planning for me. I receive an email from a parent about a grade. She thinks her son turned in 2 required assignments, but I only have a grade for 1. I double check and find the missing work. I think I got confused because he submitted one of the assignments electronically rather than a hard copy. I hate making mistakes and am glad the parent contacted me about it and did so in a very nice way. A student asks to open the window because it is hot. I let her open the window, but it doesn't stay open because it's windy. She asks for a yardstick to prop the window open. After a few minutes, the yardstick falls. I send her to go get it after she finishes her test. I read through an email about students who will miss class on Friday for a chorus performance and make a note about who not to count absent.

3:40-4:01 After school. A student comes to make up a quiz. I think more students are supposed to come in, but if they've forgotten, I'm not going to hunt them down or ask them about it. They are in high school and should be responsible enough to know when they are missing work. I talk to a traveling teacher about possibilities for her schedule for next year and about professional development opportunities. I talk to someone in my department who is concerned about the committee coming on Friday to observe us. Her students are scheduled to take a quiz but she is worried that the committee will not like that. I tell her that she should do whatever she was planning to do and what is best for her students. I firmly believe that we should not put on a show for these people. Their opinion matters very little to me. I work for my students, not for these random adults who may or may not spend 15 minutes in my classroom and who, if they do visit, will see a completely unrepresentative sample of what I do each day.