Two types of people might find these blog entries we are writing interesting. Other math teachers. This way we can see we are not alone - days are long, nights seem even longer. And all those other folks who think we teachers work 9 to 3 and sit at our desks drinking coffee with our feet up while the kids all sit quietly and thoughtfully at their desks engaged in completing workbook pages. Hmm...
Let's see how Thursday pans out...lonnnnnnng post warning!
5:00 Woke up without an alarm. Haven't used one in years unless I am catching a plane at a crazy early hour. Glad I went back to sleep after someone dialed a wrong number at 2:00 to wake me up.
Watched the latest episode of Walking Dead and drinking my coffee while I checked in and started grading yesterday's collection of papers: responses to a problem-solving activity and their Estimation 180 sheets. Most fascinating response to explaining reasoning for the estimate given: I like almonds. Too early for middle school wit.
Perused e-mail, a few blogs, and started my Day in the Life writing...
6:25 Time to make breakfast and head to the shower.
7:05 Leave home, listen to a variety of XM radio music to get my mood up.
7:25 At school, getting materials ready for class. Copy machines are busy with the other two math teachers. I'll be back.
7:55 Copies made. Principal pops in. Can I meet with M's parents who thought they had a meeting with the sixth grade team today (it's Dec. 5) regarding their son who is failing every class. I'm double-booked at another meeting with the school psychologist with testing results for another student. Tell M's parents he's not doing his homework but behaving better in class.
8:00 Meeting with parent, team, psychologist, and translator to explain testing results. Student will qualify for help! Yippee!
8:25 Out the door and back to the classroom. Greet the multitudes of kids in the patio on my way to the building. It's almost Show Time!
8:44 Bell Rings and.....we're off!
8:47 Attendance, announcements over the intercom, pledge. It's our homebase time. Check everyone's planner to see that they are filling them out and give them a stamp if they are. This is the Accelerated Math Class so they are on it - don't have to cajole them.
9:00 First Period. I am just beginning Fawn's Math Talk routine in my class. I explain how to do the visual pattern routine. Give students time to think and write. Share with partners. Choose three students to share their thinking aloud.
I have students completing two independent activities while I do some intervention with students in small groups. They are cutting apart the pieces of a graphic organizer that we will put together on Friday for our ratio notes. Then they are working with a hands-on activity with cups of Fruit Loops to describe ratio relationships. They must model the ratio and write it three ways, then create two of their own ratios.
Collect homework with the race routine. Give papers to my volunteer to check-in and grade. Talk to anyone who didn't bring in homework. Family dog died. I can't find it. I know I did it. I left it at home. I forgot.
Minimal crunched Fruit Loops and scraps on the floor today.
I worked with over a dozen of my students to help correct their errors in dividing with decimal numbers. Did some reteaching, retweeking, and reinforcing. Corrected their errors. Changing groups, supervising the ones at their desks, answering questions.
What I didn't plan for was the rotating doors in my classroom today.....office aides in and out asking for students to come to the office for discipline issues, adults coming in to talk to kids, other teachers' students coming in/out who were sent to my room to complete work, monitor coming in to pick up kids early for lunch detention....I honestly said out loud that I wanted a quarter for every time the doors opened and closed yesterday!
Handed out tonight's homework. Clean-up. Time's up!
Three minute passing period.....start again!
The day is a large blur ....All five classes are pretty much like shampooing - lather, rinse, repeat! I read e-mails from staff, parents on the fly in between all this. One parent wants a meeting - says I never responded to her request. Principal has forwarded her unhappy e-mail to me. Must solve this problem in my head in under one minute.....I never got a request. She requested that meeting with me and another teacher via the other teacher. Request lost in translation. Quickly send off e-mail - let's meet Friday at 4:15. Why not? It's Friday...I don't have a life anyway!
12:08 Lunch time. Today is my day to have lunch detention for anyone who did not bring a homework assignment during the week. Ten little monkeys join me for part of lunch time. Not a bad number out of 150 students and homework 4 days per week. Sweet partner brings lunch for me, and we eat at the table while I help a few other students who come in and want to re-do quizzes and/or get help on homework.
12:20 Dismiss detainees....finish gobbling lunch. Run to the office to use the little girls' room, check mailbox, and get back to class before the bell rings at 12:41.
The afternoon is a repeat of the morning on this day. It's more like a hamster on the wheel......
1:45 Ahhhh....my planning time! I tried to shuffle through the mountain of papers on my work table so that I can find the tutorial folder for the kids for the afternoon. I prepare the work the kids are getting and answer more e-mails. Don't have time to organize the mess....I move it to another area. Three colleagues come through the room to discuss various issues....so much for my prep time.
2:50 Last period of the day....another set of accelerated students. They are my bright, verbal, creative, most rambuctious of the day! Smart. Keep me on my toes. They are the ones who can't handle Fruit Loops without throwing them. ***grrrrrr*** Tonight is not my night for the custodian to sweep my room (only happens every other day).
3:45 Clean up, pass out flyers for the Pizza fundraiser tonight, collect their R&R cards (behavior recording card) and send them out the door.
3:50 Bell rings and the afterschool mandatory detention kids who are failing a class start arriving. I have all the kids grades 6-8 who are failing math plus a few kids who are failing Language Arts. Two other colleagues have the rest of the bunch. Take attendance. Separate kids as much as possible. Talk to the three boys who have some behavior issues about my expectations. Teacher arrives with our math volunteer (former teacher) who is here to help. Get materials passed out. Everybody starts working.
We are circulating, offering help. I help one of the boys who is having trouble figuring out what 4 + 5 is.....These are the numbers he got from estimating some fractions. Ironic that he can do one thing but not the other.
My behavior boys keep turning around, wanting to talk, and now want to start the Potty Parade. I remind them that they were to take care of that before coming to tutorial. Lots of lip from them. Move one to another area while I keep helping kids with math. The Potty Parade is allowed to start - "You have two minutes" I say. This begins the parade of everyone who now MUST use the bathroom. One doesn't come back in two minutes. I talk with him. I get more lip.
Move one of my sixth graders to a desk that is halfway in the hall. It's my friend M from earlier this morning. Glad he stayed to get caught up on something.
4:50 Can't come fast enough. We collect all the work done. Kids scatter to the bus or to their rides.
Time to sweep the floor and wash off the desks from the Fruit Loops. Gather my pile to sort and finish grading at home. Last check on e-mail crises.
5:15 Out the door and on my way home. Call a friend in Minneapolis on the ride home to de-compress from my day.
5:35 Home at last. Wonderful partner has dinner ready. We eat like civilized people at a table.
6:00 Wash dishes, put away leftovers. Pull out pile of work from school. Sort, grade, write comments, record papers. I am especially pleased at the re-tests of two students whose grade jumped from 45% to 80% due to the extra effort! This makes the whole day worthwhile!
8:30 Done. Put a fork in me. Look at some personal e-mail. Get in bed.
11:00 Still trying to get to sleep....
Is it Friday yet?
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