The Roots of the Equation

Day in the Life: October 5th, 2016

This is part of the Day in the Life Project.

5 1/2 AM – alarm goes off

5 11/12 – I actually get out of bed and start getting ready. I always get home late from trivia on Tuesdays, so Wednesday mornings are the toughest. On top of that is this being the first day of the school week thanks to Rosh Hashanah, and it was a struggle.

6 11/20 – Out the door. Even though I got my bike fixed yesterday, I’m not taking it today because I’m carrying my laptop, all my student work, and the five packs of markers I bought online. I head to the subway.

7 1/20 – That took much longer than it should have. If I had gotten on the first local train, it would have beaten the express I waited for. But the express did wind up beating the second and third local that passed through, so I guess it was right to wait.

Because I’m teaching Mathalicious’s Sweet Tooth in Calculus today, I spent the subway right reviewing the assignment and lesson guide. (Since I taught it last year, it was more of a review than a deep dive.) While I read it, I decided that I needed to add some supplemental questions to more explicitly tie it to what we’ve been doing with area functions and Riemann sums. So that’s on the agenda.

I got off the train, loaded up a podcast (Within the Wires), and started walking to school.

7 7/12 – I arrive at school (after also stopping to get breakfast). As soon as I get in a guidance counselor pops in and asks me to find a room in the school for the attendance meeting they’re having today. I run up to my classroom and grab my SAT book to prep for my problem solving class, then settle into my office to get some things done.

8 – Official start of school day

8 7/15 – I’ve written up the supplemental sheet for Sweet Tooth, adjusted my lesson plan, and decided what we were doing in SAT Problem Solving. I also had to print a schedule for a student who didn’t have one at the request of a different guidance counselor. Now to get some printing and copying done.

8 4/5 – That was surprisingly painless, considering it’s the equivalent of Monday morning. Maybe it’s because I went at the end of 1st period instead of the beginning of 2nd, when there’s a line. Now the morning announcements are going on, which make me very grateful I don’t teach 2nd period (and, thankfully, it is in my power to make sure I never do).

9 23/60 – I stapled all my feedback slips to the assignments I graded over the weekend and looked into some of the IEP Compliance issues that need to be corrected soon, as well as a few other miscellaneous programming tasks I had to do. Now I’m just last minute prepping myself for class.

12 1/2 – Well, that was a mess. SAT was fine, but Calculus – I tried to do too much. Sweet Tooth was a really great lesson last year, but it was much later in the year after the students had had more time to grapple with the ideas. But because of the holidays and the fact that I may have jury duty next week, I was feeling pressed for time, and so I tried to squeeze the lesson that should have been a follow-up to Sweet Tooth into the same period. And now I’ll need to take another period (or at least another half) working through those ideas anyway. During 4th period my AP came in for a formative observation (not rated), and I’ll be meeting with her tomorrow for feedback. Not the best first lesson to see.

I’m also having a hard time adjusting to not being in my classroom all the time. I spend most of my day in my office and carry all my stuff to the classroom when it’s time. So I feel like I’m spending so much class time doing things like setting up my computer, putting all the papers in the right spot, etc. Most days the SMART board markers don’t work, which was always something I could check before class started but now I can’t, and if they don’t work, I just have to roll with it. It’s a little stressful.

After class ended I went out to Trader Joe’s to grab some lunch, which I am eating now – though my lunch period ends in 5 minutes.

13 2/5 – I’ve spent all of 7th period trying to figure out exactly what needs to be changed and what doesn’t for compliance purposes. Usually the students are getting all the services they need, but the documentation doesn’t match up, so it’s a lot of getting all those ducks in a row. And the systems for doing it are, of course, not all neatly aligned and in one place.

14 4/15 – Just had to do some schedule changes with one of the guidance counselors and chatted with the AP of Special Education about next steps for the compliance process. Then I futzed around on the Internet for a bit because I’m running low on brain capacity. I was intending on staying late today to do work, but I’m not sure I have it in me, thanks to my lack of sleep last night.

14 1/3 – Official end of the school day.

14 4/5 – I made copies of the assignment that I’m going to do either tomorrow or Friday – I’m not sure yet. I had originally planned it for today, and thus made it yesterday, but decided yesterday to move in back in favor of Sweet Tooth. Based on how today went, I’m not sure I want to move forward to it – but I might also want to, as it might let me clarify some things in a new way rather than sitting on the same ideas in the same way.

Either way, I’m heading home now.

17 – Made it home. I took the long way around, playing Pokemon Go and getting a lot more walking in, and stopping for a snack at the taco cart. (I had wanted to go to the Chinese bakery, but ran across the taco cart first.) Now I’m checking up on e-mails that I got in the past 2 hours, and then I’ll probably watch some TV.

19 1/2 – Or wind up falling asleep. I guess I really needed that nap.

20 1/2 – I made a smoothie for dinner and now am working on my Interim Assessment – sorta like midterms that my school gives but we need to submit several weeks ahead of time. It’s a weird thing to me and I still don’t understand how/why it’s different from a normal test – especially for a course that is not taught by more than one teacher, such as my Calculus classes.

21 1/2 – I’m giving up the ghost on this one – I’ll work on it more in the morning. Luckily I’ll have time then since I’m already planned and copied for tomorrow. Now it’s time for maybe a little Ace Attorney 6, then bed.

Reflection

1. Teachers make a lot of decisions throughout the day. Sometimes we make so many it feels overwhelming. When you think about today, what is a decision/teacher move you made that you are proud of? What is one you are worried wasn’t ideal?Well, the decisions I made planning Sweet Tooth are documented above. My good decision today was probably in eating right, haha.
2. Every person’s life is full of highs and lows. Share with us some of what that is like for a teacher. What are you looking forward to? What has been a challenge for you lately?I’m looking forward to settling into a routine. It’s started to come about – programming is starting to peter off (for now), but we have a lot of holidays disrupting the flow.
3. We are reminded constantly of how relational teaching is. As teachers we work to build relationships with our coworkers and students. Describe a relational moment you had with someone recently.I went to a trivia night with some of my coworkers (they brought me in as a ringer). I got to know some of them better – one of my APs tried to purposely make two of us friends because we have a lot of interests in common.
4. Teachers are always working on improving, and often have specific goals for things to work on throughout a year. What have you been doing to work toward your goal? How do you feel you are doing?My Friday Letters, of course, have been helpful, but I’ve also tried to be more actively there. Some students invited me to see their volleyball game and I actually went, which was nice.
5. What else happened this month that you would like to share?I caught a lot of Pokémon? September is always a work-heavy month, so not a lot outside of it.