A Day in My Life-School Edition

Joining the linky party over at The Adventures of a Sixth Grade Teacher.  Head on over and see how many teacher spend their day at school.  It is enlightening!


My alarm is set to go off every morning at 5:00 AM.  Depending on the morning, I might jump out of bed and get directly into the shower or I may head downstairs and spend some time blog hopping.  My oldest rides to school with me (he is in 7th grade) so he varies his wake up call from me, depending on what time we leave in the morning.

6:00-7:15  Shower, make-up, hair, get dressed, pack my lunch and pack up my computer.    I am extremely lucky as my husband is around to feed my younger two boys and get them off to elem school.  I only have to get myself ready in the morning (it wasn't that easy and stress free for me when the boys were younger).

7:15   This is the latest I will leave my house.  I have a 7 min commute, praise God!  If we have morning meetings (which is fairly often, they are on Thurs and start at 7:20 0r 7:25.  Ben rides to school with me every morning and I enjoy having that daily one on one time with him.  If we leave by 7:10 we have time to pick up Starbucks before school.  It is a bit out of the way and maybe that's good or I would get a peppermint soy mocha every single day.  On Wed mornings Ben has Jazz Band so we leave the house by 6:50.  If I have a meeting I try to leave by 7:00. 

I use the morning time until the kids come in at 7:56 to get myself set for the day.  I have to make sure my computer and SMARTBoard are up and running (and sometimes there are technical difficulties so I prefer to iron them out BEFORE students arrive).  Sometimes I have meetings.  I do try and make sure everything is in place the night before I leave school so I can walk in every morning knowing I am good to go.  Monday nights my boards get washed so I have to put my Assign Board back together in the morning.  I enjoy this time to get myself mentally prepared for the day ahead.  I look over my To Do list and accomplish anything I can.   I also drink my breakfast during this time, which is a chocolate rice protein shake.  It is healthier than anything I would eat for breakfast and easy peasy.  If I treat myself to Starbucks (which is rare), I consider that my breakfast.

7:56-8:50 1st hour Accelerated Math 7:  I teach one section of Accel Math this year.  Last year I had two and it was basically Utopia for me!  This year I have 29 students.  The pacing of this class is faster than regular math.  Now with the CCSS we have 15 8th grade standards we need to teach these students.  YIKES!

8:52-9:43  2nd hour Regular Math 7:  I have 27 students in this class.  They are a well behaved class.  My first two morning classes fly by.

9:46-10:31  3rd hour Prep:  While my students are in Encore classes I have prep.  Core classes are 51 min long and Encore at 45 min so I feel like my prep flies by quickly.  I never feel like I get much accomplished during this period, by the time I walk to my mailbox on the other end of the building I have usually burned 15 min.  I usually have a snack during this time.  Trader Joe's Edamame Crackers and Kalamata Hummus is my snack of choice.

10:34-11:19  4th hour Core Plus:  I have a different group of students on A and B days, but I basically do the same things both days because for Q1 and Q2 I had two Intervention groups.  I love this "class".  Students get a U or S for this class.  There is no grading or homework.  We work on activities in class and it is basically whatever I plan to supplement was we are doing in my regular math class.  I have a smaller class size due to it being an intervention group, 14 one day and 15 the other.  I have a Title 1 Math Ed Asst with me every day and she is AWESOME.  Next quarter I will have Intervention one day and Enrichment the other.  My class size will be higher with the enrichment group.  I LOVE Core Plus because it is an extra opportunity to work with the kids who need it every other day and I can be as creative as I want with the activities we do.  Some students have CP every day and some have it either A or B day.  If students are not in CP they are in an encore class.

11:21-11:51   LUNCH  I almost always bring my lunch with me because 30 min does not give enough time to run out and get something and still have time left to eat it.  We do have a  super nice teacher on another team who has prep right before lunch so she often is our fast food runner.  I tend to eat a lot of leftovers for lunch or soup or salad.  T J's roasted red pepper tomato soup is one of my faves.


11:55-1:05  5th hour Regular Math 7:  We have IRT (silent reading) for the first 19 minutes of class (gotta love a school schedule, we could only eek out 19 min) and then the class is the same as my 2nd hour.  This is my team taught special ed hour.  It really is not team taught, but hopefully it soon will be as the special ed teacher and I are taking a co-teaching class together over the next few weeks.  This class has 29 students.


1:08-1:59  6th hour Regular Math 7:  I follow the same lesson plan for 2nd and 5th hour.  This class has 28 students.  They are my loudest and most obnoxious class, but also the class I have the most fun with.  I love 6th hour even though they can drive me crazy.  :)


2:02-2:47  Team Planning:  We meet on Mon/Wed with our 7 Blue team and Tue/Thurs with the 7th grade math teachers for PLC.  Fridays alternate between team or content.  We are so lucky to have this time built into our day.  It really is an integral part of keeping a true middle school concept.  Students are in Encore classes during this period.


2:50-3:15  Home Base:  This is a study period at the end of the day where students can see any teacher to get help.  Every single student has HB at the end of the day.  I love this because it is a chance for students to get help from me or to finish up a quiz or test if they need to.


My work day officially ends at 3:30, but I am usually at school until 5 or 6 or even later most night.  I am on several committees so there are some weeks that I have after school meetings Mon-Thurs.  That is why my word for this year is BALANCE.  My life is definitely out of balance right now because of all my school related commitments.  I love being involved in everything I am, but I do not want to short change my family.  I know this year is unique because we are in a Math Review and because of my role as the Middle School Math Liaison, there is much to do.  It won't be like that every year, but it will for at least the rest of this year and next as we navigate through a new curriculum that has not even been chosen yet.