A Day in the Life

I woke up before my alarm clock did this morning. It felt great. In recent years, I was not getting up at 5:15AM to conquer the day. It was more like trying to will myself out of bed and the only way to rouse myself was to frantically extrapolate how many minutes I could hunker down under my covers and then how many essential tasks could I sacrifice before I had to leave for work. There were mornings where I would bargain with myself over whether I could either lay about for an additional 10 minutes or whether I would actually shave. Oh, my. I knew that there was a limited window of opportunity to get to work without arriving late and looking like a total louse to my morning program students. I report to work daily at 7AM to work with students who need assistance in the morning and then I supervise morning recreation in the gymnasium at 8AM until we begin to transition to the regular school day. I promptly escort the students to their 'holding areas' until the first class of the day begins. Today, I helped my students prepare for a quiz that they have tomorrow on the responsibilities and obligations of citizens. We use our student laptop computers to access online study resources with Quia, Quizlet, and iCivics.org. With the first two, I am able to create online study tools such as flashcards, vocabulary games, and interactive activities that are based on the standards that we need to know to pass the Florida Civics End of Course (EOC) exam. This is where the fun began. I had two classes with at least 28 students each. I had only 25 laptops. In a sweet show of late-stage capitalism, I solicited offers from students to allow another student to use their assigned laptop computer if they happened to have a smart phone. Yes, I am having to ask students to use their own personal devices to compensate for the lack of overall support from the State of Florida to fund the very mandated standards-based education with formative and formative assessments that all must be produced on the backs of the school districts. But, I digress. The morning goes a bit sideways when I had to deal with a discipline issue during the first class period of the day. I handled it with a lot more patience and forbearance than I possessed when I was a rookie teacher. This is why I believe that we should bring back some form of teacher tenure to our public school teachers. I made my share of mistakes when I was younger, but I learned from those mistakes. I doubt that my anxiety would ever allow me to work at the mercy of an annual contract for life. Academic freedom and due process are central to our ability to best serve our students and protect our constitutional rights. I am especially grateful to the American Federation of Teachers' AFT PD program. I worked as a facilitator for a course called "Foundations of Effective Teaching." I felt like a new teacher all over again because I connected with educators from around the country (including a delegation of our fellow Americans in Guam) and the energy inspired me to take a fresh look at my work as an educator. I also believe that the retirement of our longtime principal of 12 years spurred me to engage in deep introspection. And this was even deeper than my normal introspection. I tend to become my own echo chamber of either self-aggrandizement or self-demonizing. But back to my day. I had to admit that I was already worn out from being up with the farm report but my spirit was fortified by my bag lunch (A group of students from Guam gave me and my co-facilitator nice lunch boxes and other groovy tchotchkes) of a sandwich, chips, apple sauce, and lime flavored seltzer water. Returning to class from lunch was no picnic as I had to put the kibosh on restroom foolishness and shenanigans. I am fortunate that I created something new for my classes that also kept me from burning out early in the year. I created student committees on which student volunteer to serve. I have students who help clean up the classroom, take care of our laptop computer cart, mediate disputes between peers, tutor classmates, and monitor supplies. If I have students who want to pass out papers or sharpen pencils, why not let them harness their seemingly unlimited preteen energy into community service? The delegation of duties and tasks does not come naturally to me. I have serious trust issues. I have been let down too many times in the past. So, I figured that I would save myself the trouble and just do stuff myself. I just don't like the feeling that I have when someone else drops the ball or when someone flakes on me. I feel like I should have 'sucker' stamped on my forehead. And, I am not the micromanaging type because I would rather...do it myself...than have to ride someone and spoon feed them. But my student volunteers, right? They kept things flowing smoothly to the time when my planning period began. We normally use this time to grade papers, make phone calls to the parents of disruptive students, go to the restroom (our restroom breaks are very limited as we supervise children all day) or respond to emails (another task that we are afforded little time to address during instructional time). Well, today was normally our department meeting aka Professional Learning Community (PLC) meeting that was actually preempted by my work as the chairman of my school's Teacher of the Year selection committee. We observed teachers, two of my colleagues in action, and we came to a decision. This was actually the denouement of a saga that began last Friday when I sent a quick message to the folks that run the county teacher of the year award to ask when we were going to get the Teacher of the Year information. I was told that an oversight led to us not getting the material regarding 'T.O.Y.' ('Teacher of the Year') but they would send me the stuff and the deadline for making our pick was August 30. We had less than a week to get our stuff together. I rallied the troops as our longtime committee chair and put together a timeline for getting it done ASAP. Well, I did ask for and was granted an extension (I figured that it's better to have the extension and not need it than the other way around!) I also like to underpromise and overdeliver. So, after scrambling like a mad man since last Friday, we made the deadline WITHOUT an extension! I had one more class to teach and then I went outside to handle car pick up duty. For the first nine weeks of the school year, I am responsible for marshaling the parents who drive to the school to collect their precious cargo. This damned Florida heat has me sweating like a whore in church (Thank you, President Johnson for your colorful language!) but I did my job in a sport coat at that! I tend to wear shirt and tie out of habit and because I have been doing that since my substitute teaching days. The jacket is optional - depending on my mood and the weather. As soon as my duty time ended, I met up with my local union staff consultant and we arrive in my classroom five minutes before our school's union meeting begins. Thankfully, she brought snacks as I forgot to pick up the promised 'light refreshments' and she was totally clutch! She briefed us on union matters and contract issues. I think I may have recruited a new member (My fingers are crossed!) I took notes during the meeting and shared a copy with her to take back to her office. Am I done yet? Nope! I report to my after school program where I work with students on their homework and give them access to student technology (laptop computers) for those who cannot access the internet for 'blended learning' at home. Blended learning is the new buzz phrase that kind of reinforces the digital divide. I stayed on to work on my after school program binder where I keep my after school work and documentation. When I got back home, it was time to eat. I saw that my mother dropped off laundry that she picked up earlier this week and washed for me. I thanked her and then left a happy birthday voice mail message for my aunt up north. Hello, GrubHub! I had Chinese.