I love my job, I really do, but I often wonder what it would be like to do and do it well. I feel that so many things are holding me back from doing better than I am. Mostly time...
My ideal school day:
8:00 - 9:00:
My perfect school day begins with me arriving at work at 8:00, one hour before the students arrive. During this time, I have the opportunity to get all my materials and lessons ready for the day, greet my colleagues, and catch up with the online community.
9:00 - 11:30
During this time I would teach 3 45-minute classes (5 minutes for bells). At the conclusion of each period I have an accurate snapshot of what my students know and don't know based on the formative assessment conducted during class.
11:30-12:00
Lunch
12:00 - 1:00
I begin reflecting on the lessons I taught. I take an hour to complete reflections, blogging/sharing my experience, and updating the class website/blog for any students who were absent or need more support. Also during this time I contact parents to keep them updated on their students progress.
From 1:00-2:00 I meet with my department to continue to share ideas/successes/failures and brainstorm lesson ideas. OR work with students who need remediation. OR attend mandated professional development from the administration OR attend RTI meetings OR attend IEP meeting. The list here, goes on and on.
Finally from 2:00 - 3:30 I write my lessons for the following day based on the formative assessment and ideas created from talking with my department.
I've often thought about teaching part time in order to be able to do this. Ha, get paid part-time wages so that I can do my full-time job the right way. Anyway, how awesome would it be to have a blog for the students that states exactly what material was covered every day in class including a pen cast/video? Not only for the students but for the parents too. There is no way possible that I can do that for 6 classes a day, with 3 different preps in a 45 minute prep period. If only money weren't a object, I would go for it.
My ideal school day:
8:00 - 9:00:
My perfect school day begins with me arriving at work at 8:00, one hour before the students arrive. During this time, I have the opportunity to get all my materials and lessons ready for the day, greet my colleagues, and catch up with the online community.
9:00 - 11:30
During this time I would teach 3 45-minute classes (5 minutes for bells). At the conclusion of each period I have an accurate snapshot of what my students know and don't know based on the formative assessment conducted during class.
11:30-12:00
Lunch
12:00 - 1:00
I begin reflecting on the lessons I taught. I take an hour to complete reflections, blogging/sharing my experience, and updating the class website/blog for any students who were absent or need more support. Also during this time I contact parents to keep them updated on their students progress.
From 1:00-2:00 I meet with my department to continue to share ideas/successes/failures and brainstorm lesson ideas. OR work with students who need remediation. OR attend mandated professional development from the administration OR attend RTI meetings OR attend IEP meeting. The list here, goes on and on.
Finally from 2:00 - 3:30 I write my lessons for the following day based on the formative assessment and ideas created from talking with my department.
I've often thought about teaching part time in order to be able to do this. Ha, get paid part-time wages so that I can do my full-time job the right way. Anyway, how awesome would it be to have a blog for the students that states exactly what material was covered every day in class including a pen cast/video? Not only for the students but for the parents too. There is no way possible that I can do that for 6 classes a day, with 3 different preps in a 45 minute prep period. If only money weren't a object, I would go for it.
When reading "day in the lives" a few months ago, I found it incredibly demoralizing because I realized how much less opportunity I have to build on my successes than other teachers. I read one of them where the teacher taught two 90 minute class periods a day, got a 90 minute prep period and a 90 minute time slot to collaborate with her department. I'm always sad that I'm a bad blogger- I just can't keep up with the online community and when I do have time I'm so tired that I'm very uninspired. I'm also sad that I don't have the energy to use a lot of the cool things I find online because I get no prep period. I know it's not my fault, but I'm so frustrated with our government who thinks that putting more pressure on us and spending billions on testing will get us teachers more motivated when all we really need are reasonable work schedules and the time to truly grow and reflect on our practices. That "day in the life" teacher was in a public school in Massachusetts- the state leading the nation in standardized test scores. Doesn't that tell us something?
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