Ohh…Wait, You’re a Teacher? So…What Do You Do??
Right.
Sometimes when you ask this question, I want to punch you. I’m a teacher…what do you think I do??? Is that a joke?
And then you say something dumb like, “wait you get paid to do that?” or “yeah I know you teach but like, that’s only for a couple hours a day so you probably like sit around the other 6 hours” or “I mean, I have a REAL job…you, like, babysit, let’s be honest.”
Really, you’re asking for it buddy.
Buttttt just for today, I will cut back on the judgment and answer this question straightforwardly - for you, for those who are genuinely curious, and for those of us who do what I do but are tired of explaining (you can cut and paste, yeah?). I’m not going to repeat, so pay attention.
Ready?
Tuesday: This is my Monday. It’s a regular 9-5/10-6 day and it’s the day that I normally set aside to lesson plan. Ahhh lesson planning! You forgot I have to actually take time to do that right? I’ll take that as a compliment.
Here’s what lesson planning actually involves:
- Reading the curriculum
- Reading around the curriculum - related topics, current literature, things it might be associated with that your kids might encounter at school or in pop culture
- Deciding which elements you want to cover in your class (key messages/objectives)
- Deciding how you want to do that in the language of activities
- Preparing a discussion around those activities (this involves creating questions which is a science in itself, and running through the discussion yourself so you know that it actually works)
- Running it by a colleague and make the necessary adjustments
- Making sure you adjust your lesson plan for those students who need extra attention (I have 80 students, by the way)
- Creating or finding resources for your class (youtube videos, props, trips to Hobby Lobby)
- And oh yeah, what about homework and the kids who were absent?
The best part is that once you get to know and understand each of your classes, you realize that different classes have different needs. So basically, a few months into the year, you sometimes have to repeat the above process anywhere from 2-5 times…a week. It’s mentally exhausting.
Tuesday is also spent answering emails that came in over the weekend, calling parents to follow up on absences or misbehavior, and if you happen to do all of this, then you can start to turn your attention to planning unit projects and assessments as well as field trips.
Wednesday (1:00pm - 9:30pm): YES it is a late start. And it’s awesome and well deserved when you have to deal with 20 kids at night who sometimes drive you crazy.
1:15pm - 2:45pm - Staff meeting to talk logistics, concerns, upcoming events, potential professional development opportunities, etc.
2:45pm - 6:30pm - reflecting on last week’s class, grading assignments, reading through and responding to journals, inevitably working with other colleagues on their lesson plans and readjusting yours, making copies (lots and lots of copies) and occasionally meeting with your co-teachers to go over lessons and ideas. And of course, if you have time (I never do): work on preparing end of unit/term/year projects, assessments, and field trips.
7:00pm - 9:30pm - put on the performance of lifetime so that my students can understand that the knowledge and interaction they get in these two and half hours might just be slightly more valuable than the Gossip Girl episode they’re missing to be here.
Thursday and Friday: Repeat
Thursday meetings involve discussing content concerns, sharing best practices, incorporating research into our work, teaching techniques and behavior help.
Friday meetings are with my Professional Learning Community (PLC) where other 9th and 10th grade teachers get together to discuss what we’re each doing in our classes, make sure that we align with our messages, share what’s working and what’s not and get ideas when we’re stuck. It’s actually pretty awesome.
Aaaannddd every Friday at 4:00pm I get to spend quality (scheduled) phone time with the Boss who helps me be better at everything all the time in the classroom.
Saturday (11:00am - 6:00pm): Back to back classes.
And none of this accounts for days we devote to professional development, countless meetings we have with managements, co-teachers, and special-action groups who want access to the most sought-after constituency in the community.
SOOOOO my friends, our pennies are hard earned!!! :)
It is now the end of my first year and I can say with confidence that I really thought I wasn’t going to make it. Really. It was hard man. Every single week was tough. Sometimes it was the students that made me want to quit, sometimes it was the lack of creativity in my brain, sometimes it was the unbelievably overwhelming workload (keeping track of 80 students is…unbelievable) and sometimes it was just accepting what my lack of confidence wanted me to believe: I’m not cut out for this.
And the truth is, I didn’t save every student. Actually, I didn’t save anyone. Actually a couple students never came back to class…oops. There were no heroes borne from the overly inspirational discussions, and no one is going to be the next President because I told him he was a good critical thinker. I didn’t prevent anyone from becoming a drug addict and I’m pretty sure that I didn’t move anyone to be a teacher… :-/
(Butttt I did just make myself a pretty nice to-do list for next few years, huh?)
The rest of the truth is I gave my students a platform to think and share and discuss - which they appreciate, I showed them new perspectives, I practiced on them, I learned A LOT this year, and I’m so, so excited to put all of the difficulties this year toward being better next year.
(Still hella terrified, but excited.)
That was a pretty bangin’ breakdown, wasn’t it?
Here’s hoping you never look at teachers the same way again… :)
