A Day in My Shoes

One of the things I like the most about teaching is that no two days are alike. Different experiences will always present themselves and I will never know what they will be. This is what a typical day might look like:

5:30 Wake up. I briefly reminisce about college when waking up at 8:00 seemed early. I shower, eat, and quickly check newspaper headlines online.

6:30 My half hour commute begins. I turn on my iPod and hope that I don't pass any students on the road; if I do, I hope they do not videotape me singing alone in my car; if they do, I hope they don't post it on YouTube.

7:00 I arrive at school, having seen zero dolphins in the bay on the drive over. Entering the teacher's lounge, I sign in and check my mailbox: no coverage. Off to my classroom to set up my board and line up everything I will need for the day.

8:00 The homeroom bell rings and students shuffle into my room for the first time of the day.

8:25 Classes begin. First on the list is physics, in which I keep the class engaged with our discussion on centripetal force by spinning a bucket of water around and around without spilling. They ask if it would still work with more water in the bucket, so I respond the only way possible: I fill up the bucket with more water.

9:15 Planning period. Time to write a chemistry quiz I will be giving later in the week on trends in the periodic table.

10:05 Chemistry time. Students will be graphing data on the atomic radius of each of the first 54 elements on the periodic table and determine why the data increases and decreases at various points in the table.

11:45 Lunch time!

1:25 More chemistry.

2:15 Physical science begins and we wrap up our unit on conservation of energy by creating children's books that focus on communicating the energy transfer present in everyday life.

3:00 The last bell rings. A few students stop by for tutoring and we chat about class topics from that day for about fifteen minutes. Then play practice starts. We are working on A Christmas Carol and today involves a visit from the Ghost of Christmas Present. After one run through, I kindly remind my cast that, no, our blocking does not involve twerking.

5:00 Play practice ends. Time to head home. Out comes the iPod and the car singing I use to decompress.

6:00 Normally, I would go for a run, but since day light savings time, it has become too dark to run outside. Oh well...there goes my "healthy phase" and my attempt to run a 5K. Why is it so easy to stop exercising?

7:00 Dinner. The community gathers around the table to feast on chicken tacos and to share stories from the day. Normally, the meal ends with my stomach hurting from too much food or too much laughter.

8:00 I settle in for some grading and lesson planning.

9:30 An hour to prepare for play rehearsal tomorrow. We are moving into the scenes involving the Ghost of Christmas Future and I have to find a good way to transition from a light-hearted to bleak tone.

10:30 Time to read. A great way to clear my head and tire the eyes so I'm ready to sleep.

11:00 Bedtime. I set the alarm. In six hours, it begins again.