5:50, my husband taps me on the shoulder to make me get up, a full 2 minutes before the snoozed alarm goes off to remind me to get up so he can take me to work. Ugh. Getting up is inevitable.
6:20, up, dressed, protein shake in hand, my husband and I are out of the driveway and on my way to work. I am so glad that I have streamlined my morning routine to where I can get ready and out of the house quickly so I can get every bit of sleep I can.
6:35 we've arrived at work. It's always nice to walk into my classroom in the morning after the building service crew has worked their evening magic! I get my SMARTboard up with items for my students to work on during homeroom (a list of students who need to visit other teachers, a reminder about a transformations project due, a reminder of homework that was due today and a reminder about their science test for the science teacher), then go visit other teachers in 6th grade to find students I need to see about working on items for MathCounts. Before I know it.... the kids are coming off the bus.
7:05 the kids are coming off the bus and the day has official started. I start off in hallway duty, but quickly get pulled into my homeroom because:
- student A still needs to complete a quiz from before the winter break
- student B needs me to help her print a copy of her English Language Arts Assignment
- student C can't find her assigned computer and needs it to complete her online homework from last night but had internet issues at home
- student D is from sixth grade and needs to make up the MathCounts problems from yesterday's meeting
- students E, F, G, H and I are asking individual questions about the transformations project that we started yesterday
- student J lost his direction packet for the transformation project and needs a new one.
- student K would like help with his science terms
- student L needs to turn in the Geometry Town project that was due last week
- student M would like to know if he could have an extra copy of the paper based homework for the week.
By the time I address these needs (having to pause for the Pledge of Allegiance and morning announcements) I look at my watch and it's already 7:32.
7:37 first period starts. We quickly move through our bell ringers, and start our new unit, Module 17 - Linear and Non-Linear Relationships. We add a tab divider to our Interactive Notebook, and the talk about the 5 star representation way to show proportional relationships before moving into a table challenge of showing a specific situation in these five ways. The bell rings for 2nd period and students leave before we are able to finish the proportional relationships situations. I begin to think, I have planned too much for today... do I scrap something? Do I push something to tomorrow? Do I move faster and just hope they keep up? Do I assign whatever we don't get to as additional homework? I have the next 40 minutes to decide. Crap. I think I will have to make this decision once the students are back.
8:22 - 9:13 is spent grading late work, and collaborating with my Special Education teacher. We had two meetings scheduled for Monday, but then it snowed and school was cancelled. We were just notified that those meetings got rescheduled for tomorrow, which means I need to redo my plans for tomorrow. I am attending the meetings with her, so there will be two substitutes in my classroom for some instructional time tomorrow. I must revamp my class period so that students can work independently. Not what I wanted to do, but what must be done. We also call a parent to discuss the latest county benchmark results with her regarding her daughter.
9:15 - class is started again. We complete the 5 star situations and discuss the table team work before moving into the workbook examples. We do a few examples before I poll the students on how they feel about their understanding. Since this is basically a review of items they should have learned from last year, I was hopeful they are understanding the concept and feel comfortable moving into the last task I had planned. When I polled the class, they did, in fact feel comfortable, so I was able to give them the assignment. Anyone who was unable to complete it before the bell rang was directed to complete it before homeroom tomorrow. We actually managed to get it all in.
10:00 - new class. Since the winter break, my Special Education co-teacher and I decided to 'flip' our instructional model. We do a quick attendance warm-up, and then quickly move into Target Groups. The Target Groups allow us to highly differentiate to meet the needs of our students. We have two small teacher led groups that are currently working on adding fractions with unlike denominators (a standard they should be fluent with by 7th grade), a group that is working on Multiplication facts, and students working through APEX, a highly individualized program that helps students fill in gaps of knowledge based on pre-tests.
Once our target groups are complete, we move into our whole group lesson which today will focus on Simple Interest. We add two items of reference to our Interactive Notebooks before students are asked to complete word problems independently. During the independent practice, students are able to then do the daily math blast folder (which was our typical bell ringer work) and work on their Think-Tac-Toe board when they finish their word problems. The Think-Tac-Toe board is an idea I researched over winter break that gives the students 16 options to complete making a connect four pattern (or four corners) of various activities. They have the month to complete it and can work on it any time during independent practice time.
11:37 - It's time for a new class again. This class is the same content focus as the one that begins at 10 am so it runs the same as above with the exception that I don't have a Special Education support co-teacher so the Target Groups are 100% run inside the classroom.
At 12:27 this class, goes to recess followed by lunch and returns at 1:18. Sometimes it's harder than others to get this class to come back and refocus for the remaining part of the day and since tonight is a full moon, it seems to be particularly hard.
2:05 the dismissal bell rings, and I have another MathCount kiddo come to make up his missing work from yesterday. Once he leaves my room, I grade a few papers, enter assignments into the online grading system, enter the grades into the online grading system, get materials ready for tomorrow, update my class website by updating tomorrow's agenda for both courses and add today's lesson videos, pack my bags to leave and go to the office to check my mail box.
By 3:00 my ride is ready. I have to get my car from the dealership because it was screaming for an oil change. And I mean screaming. It was after all 2,000 miles over due... so the warning light was bound to come on to nag me soon..... But there just doesn't ever seem to be a good time.
3:30, I arrive home and find that my couch is just as comfortable as I remember it being from the weekend. Has it been that long since I sat on it? I think so. My husband wants to talk about a couple of things with his work immediately as I sit, but I'm so exhausted.... I ask to have a few minutes to myself. He decides to go for a run and leave me to relax and replenish my soul.
3:45 The phone rings.... well, I guess I will relax later.
5:00 It's time for tutoring. My regularly Wednesday student is in algebra 1. She and I work together for an hour.
6:15 My second student arrives. He's normally on Thursday nights but his parents needed to reschedule because of a conflict. This guy is a ball of energy. I wish I could bottle a bit of it up and use it for myself.
7:30 My second student leaves and I log into my school computer to check my email. I respond to several parent emails, see two emails from my principal, one from my PLC, one from central office and one about MathCounts that needed to have a response.
By 8 pm, I am done. I am exhausted. It's only 8 pm. I can't believe I feel like I can't stay up one minute later, but I'm toast. I'm going to pack my bag for tomorrow, make sure I know what I'm wearing, take a shower and call it a night. I've got two IEP meetings tomorrow, and flexible sub plans I need to write for them, as they can be slid either direction (called early or run late), making it somewhat difficult to complete. Hopefully, with another good night sleep, I'll be refreshed and ready to rock it again tomorrow.
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