Friday, April 2, 2010

All before ten

I am forever copying other people. One of the reasons I even DO a blog is because first my friend Nicole started doing one, then my friend Ami followed and Anabelle continued soon after. So as soon as I announced my pregnancy, I decided to do my own blog to document the events leading up to the birth of our baby. Anyway, I was reading Nicole's blog today and the title of the post was All before ten, and she was listing all the things she did in her day as a stay at home mom before ten in the morning. It was pretty eye-opening since I am not a stay at home mom. It got me thinking about all the times that I have heard, oh you're a teacher, it must be fun to sit around and play with kids all day long! Soooo... I thought it might be an eye opening experience for some people all there to see just how much a teacher does, all before ten in the morning. I'm going to add my own personal stuff to this because I have the added challenge of not only being an elementary school teacher but also being 33 weeks pregnant. It ain't easy! Here we go:

6:00-6:45 - Wake up, shower, get dressed (which in and of itself is a challenge these days since NOTHING fits!)

6:45-6:55 - Heat up water for my hot chocolate (it's my calcium!), feed the dog and pack up my bag full of snacks to get me through the day.

6:55 - Try to be out of the house for my super long commute... ok it's five minutes, but sometimes it takes a long time to cross Rita ;)

7:00-7:15 - Prepare for the day, make sure bellwork and other copies for the day are ready.

7:15-7:30 - Duty. Ugh! I hate duty! Three days a week, I have to spend in the back parking lot, making sure drop offs go smoothly, kids behave themselves, etc...

7:30-7:45 - Bell rings, showtime! It doesn't matter how tired I am, how many times I had to get up to pee in the middle of the night and couldn't get back to sleep and thus am exhausted, it's time to put on a smile and say good morning to 21 smiling little seven year olds who are looking to me for a good day! Anyway, this is where I have to bring all the kids in, unpack, get notes, lunch money, homework etc... take attendance and get them settled to do bellwork. Easier said than done!

7:45-8:15 - Hard to explain this part of the day to non-Vail teachers. Long story short, we separate the kids based on math abilities and re-teach or enrich objectives based on test scores.

8:15-9:00 - Specials time! Thankfully in Vail, we get a plan period ALMOST everyday. Four days a week, I walk my kids over to Music, Computer Lab, Art or PE. During this time, I get my grading done and entered online, lesson plans for the week written or answer parent emails and phone calls.

9:00-9:30 - Recess! Sounds like it's time for a break right? Well, yes for the kids it is a break. Meanwhile, I have kids doing or re-doing classwork, sitting out for behavior issues and of course, kids tattling and generally being kids.

9:30-10:30 - Math! I know I'm going past ten at this point but math takes a long time. We have to do math fluency practice, math review and new math skills so math is a long period of the day. This is all in addition to the math we did before specials. Morning=math!

Now there is a TON more that goes on in the second half of the day but since I'm copying Nicole, I'll stop for now ;) Suffice to say, there is a lot of standing, walking, bending, squatting, etc... that puts a lot of strain on my feet, legs and back. It's also a challenge to find time in my day to utilize the facilities, which I need to do more and more during the day. THEN I still have to go home and cook dinner, do dishes, laundry, grade even more papers, and find some time to get ready for my next challenge... motherhood! I worry A LOT these days about whether I'll be able to handle teaching and being a mom. But I have some awesome super-mom examples to look up to: Jill, Jaymee, Jen, Ami, Anabelle, I know there are more, sorry if I forgot you. I blame the baby for sucking my brain out!

So there you have it. No finger-painting, no down-time, no short hours, no big money. Just lots of work! However, it's a great job, I have fun and I love it! I get presents, hugs, and the funniest stories you will ever hear! Let's just hope I can keep it up for the next six weeks!


3 comments:

Nicole said...

Love it! I know how hard it is to be a teacher and be pregnant! You are doing awesome and I know you will be an awesome mom too!

Anabelle said...

WHAT?!? You mean teachers don't show up right before the bell rings and leave as soon as the kids are out the door? You mean to tell me that teachers take work home? I thought teaching was easy?
Ha ha ha!

Mary said...

Your finger-painting comment made me laugh because when I met Emilio, he swears that I was all I did in kindergarten...But we get to leave at 3:00 so how hard can it be right?? : ) (When was the last time we left at 3:00...)