A Day in My Life

I wake up on good mornings at 6:45am so that I can be at school at 7:30 at the latest. On struggle mornings, I wake up at 5:00am or earlier to catch up on work, grades, planning, and other things. While my school day begins at 8:00am, the amount of things that must go on well before then in preparation for the school day is numerous;  I wouldn’t have it any other way.

Students usually come to visit my classroom before the first bell, so one of my first duties is to be mentor, friend, or mom before the day begins. From the time I walk in the doors of my small, urban, Oakland Catholic school, until the time I lock my classroom and leave, there is always some task to be accomplished— some small group to manage, some bulletin board to fix, or piece of litter to clean up, or recess duty to run, or lunch to heat up, or bathroom to patrol, or lesson to fix, plan, tweak or teach, or child to hug. A day in the life of the first year teacher is incredibly busy, but satisfying and wonderful all at the same time. Most of our schools are categorized as urban or under-resourced or both, but I have found that my school community, despite having little, is rich in love and support from faculty, staff, and parents. I am blessed to be in such a tough situation, but such a supportive one.

By 9:00am, I have already explicitly or implicitly taught such concepts as grammar, writing, and reading strategies, as well as social skills, manners, and community-building. This is done by our morning meetings and daily oral language, which welcome students into the classroom. Also by this time, I have given near 100 compliments for the simplest things— sitting quietly, straightening up a mess, starting to make a poor choice but then visibly restraining oneself, et cetera. Kids are constant work, but in such a rewarding way.

By lunchtime, I have taught grammar, math, reading, writing, maybe a little science, we have said prayer, had a motivational talk from our principal. My students have gone to recess, maybe done yoga (on Mondays and Fridays), maybe had music (on Tuesdays and Fridays), and possibly even done some painting or art. No wonder teachers are such multi-taskers, and so tired on Friday! But this is all in a day’s work.

By the end of the school day, my students have (hopefully) been exposed to the 7 major content areas, and been able to dabble in art, physical education, music and team projects. If this sounds like a lot, it's because it is. In the moment, one is miraculously given the energy to do all of these things with a mere iPhone stopwatch, 20 pencils, and 21 malleable minds.

This is my day, every day (except on Saturdays and Sundays, on which the list of things “to-do” is unending, so the work occurs differently). At the end of every night, I have taught some concept that I am proud of, gotten a surprise from a student, given a ridiculous amount of hugs and high fives, talked/Skyped with my family, gone for a run in our neighborhood, laughed with my roommates, filled our kitchen with smoke from searing veggies for dinner, gorged on sweets for dessert, finished or pushed off some ACE coursework (sorry!) and thanked God for the life that I am currently leading. This is a day in my life as a first-year teacher. I wonder if this sounds familiar to my fellow first years?