Good morning. It's 0:01 on my computer clock. I have much more to say than I currently have time to write, but I have been thinking a lot recently about the fact that I haven't updated this blog since Thanksgiving, and tonight I thought I would write a quick word about why that is so. I'm going to explain by way of taking you through my day today.
6:00. My clock alarm goes off. It has to be set to the obnoxious beeping rather than the radio, because I don't wake up to the radio.
6:05. My cell phone alarm goes off. Even with these two alarms set, I still occasionally don't wake up. (maybe it has to do with staying up for stuff like this? but hey, as a student continuously reminds me, "we only live once.")
6:11. Get out of bed, shower.
6:30. Wake up the four girls who leave for school early on Tuesdays and Thursdays to participate in the middle school hand chimes ensemble. This group achieved a top rank in a competition last week - they only got one point taken off! Unfortunately, that point was lost for style, because four of the girls were chewing gum. :(
6:35. Breakfast of yogurt, a bagel with cream cheese, and orange juice. Read the lesson.
7:00. Wake up the other two girls who aren't in chimes. Check on the chimes girls to make sure they're eating breakfast.
7:35. Leave for the classroom. I spend the 40 minutes before students start to arrive by drawing the date on the board (I'm doing a theme of games this week, and today was Parcheesi. Turns out students don't know that game anymore), cleaning up my desk, and grading Gulliver's Travels essays from my eighth grade class.
8:15. Students start to arrive. The next 20 minutes involves keeping the mayhem to a dull roar as students relax during homeroom. This group of seventh graders is particularly social and energetic, so they need some time in the morning to let it all out. Unfortunately, even with this time, they need to let even more out every couple of minutes during the 80 minutes we spend together for Language Arts and Social Studies.
8:50. Class starts. Today I switch LA and SS time to make use of the computer lab first thing. We head over, where the students start making charts of the stocks they are investing in with their "OakBuilder" accounts. More on our class economic system, Oak Bucks, in another installment. Even though the students told me they have graphed on the computer multiple times already, they still don't remember how to enter data or format graphs. *sigh*
9:30. 5-minute break in between classes. I spend the time drawing a map of the new seating arrangement on the board. We are reading A Midsummer Night's Dream in LA, and the students are having a difficult time acclimating themselves to Shakespeare, so I assigned parts for the play and we'll be acting it out in class. The seats are arranged in a sort of semi-circle (if you know Tenacre, it looks like the shape of the old logo), with space by the white board for a stage.
9:35. When class starts, I hand out a list of the assigned roles and the students rearrange their desks based on their characters. I outline the stage in duct tape at the front of the room. After giving the students more time to let it all out, we act out the first half of Act III, scene ii. There's only minor chaos, and the visualization seems to help the class understand what's going on.
10:15. The students pack up and head off to their next class. I get a call that there are "various breads" in the teacher's lounge to celebrate my half birthday (which is actually February 29). The lounge is all the way up the hill, so I postpone a visit and grade more essays instead. I also start replying to the daily onslaught of e-mails and check in with other staff members about dorm issues.
11:30. I head up to lunch at the Dining Hall, which today is teriyaki chicken, rice, and green beans. I'm not on lunch duty, so I have the privilege of eating with people who don't act out a fainting spell every time I ask them to eat one small head of broccoli.
12:00. Middle School core teachers' meeting. We discuss weekly detention location options, homework issues, curriculum, and other daily logistics. Accompanied by Thin Mints, this meeting is a good one. I also partake in my half birthday banana bread.
12:40. Back to the classroom for my last planning period, where I finish grading essays and answer more e-mails.
1:25. The sound of small rolling wheels alerts me that eighth grade is on its way. They come into the classroom, wheeling those odd crossovers between suitcases and backpacks behind them; they remark on the date and the new desk arrangement and generally goof off for the 5 minutes before class starts. One of the boys puts my frog cushion outside on the window ledge, which he later justifies by telling me that the frog was hot. Yes, my classroom has a regular (and uncontrollable) flow of heat, but I don't think it affects inflatable frogs.
1:30. Eighth grade spends LA finishing up illustrations for the satirical fairy tales they have been writing (to culminate our study of Gulliver's Travels) and adding assignments from Winter Term to their portfolios. Even though they are working independently, the room is relatively calm, with an air of productivity. What a change from seventh grade. I collect miniature replicas of the Globe Theatre that students were given the opportunity to create for extra credit. Pretty neat model I found on the internet: www.papertoys.com/globe.htm
2:10. 5-minute break between classes. Some students continue working on portfolios, others go to ask the Admissions Director for chocolate, others lounge about in the reading corner and attempt a power nap. I check e-mails.
2:15. Social Studies begins. Eighth grade happens to have two projects going on at a time; as they finished their satires in LA, they have been finishing a research project on the colonies in SS. This is a working period, where students have time to add facts to their colony-shaped posters, print out pictures, and conclude their research. Each was assigned one of the original colonies to study, looking for facts on the colony's history, geography, and culture.
2:55. Class ends, and the longest 10 minutes of the eighth graders' lives begins: nutrition break. Because PE is the final period of the day, our schedule allows for a 10-minute break for students to eat something that should give them the energy required to make it through sports. Most middle schoolers have eaten their snack before 9:30, though, so this break amounts to 10 minutes of trying to escape from my classroom.
3:05. Eighth grade is set free, and seventh grade descends upon the classroom to complete their Oak Bucks classroom tasks; they put chairs up on desks, pick up bits of debris from the floor, straighten bags and coats in the hallway, and clean up the couch corner. Five minutes later, they are gone, leaving me in peace to decompress from the day. I answer even more e-mails and print out a selection of propaganda posters from WWII. We are beginning our unit on the war tomorrow in seventh grade, so I will decorate the room accordingly.
4:15. The students return from PE. Instead of returning to the dorm, as we usually do at this time, I stay with the eighth grade dorm students for a meeting about the upcoming trip to Costa Rica. Each grade in Middle School takes a trip in the spring, but the trips are in jeopardy this year because of the economic situation. Today's meeting was an opportunity for students and parents in eighth grade to suggest fundraising ideas. Various bake sale and service project ideas are tossed around, with the promise of more discussion to come.
5:45. I head up to dinner with the dorm kids. On the menu: BBQ ribs, roast potatoes, cooked zucchini, and baked beans. The ribs go first, followed by the potatoes, followed by the beans. Each student dutifully takes two slices of zucchini, leaves the rest for the staff, and gapes as we adults scarf down the delicious vegetable. Conversation is sparse as students fill their empty bellies.
6:30. I return to the dorm with the students who have passed up the opportunity for free computer lab time. I quickly realize my time would be better spent in my classroom, so I return with high hopes of getting settled for tomorrow. Instead, I find a dorm student frantically searching my room for a poster in the shape of South Carolina. I have no idea where it went, which is unfortunate because the project is due tomorrow. We hope my dutiful hallway monitors didn't take it for recycling. :/ Ready to get down to business, I instead find an e-mail from a parent that needs attending to. By the time I finish, I need to rush back for...
8:00. Flute lesson with a dorm student. The student complains about not being able to play a low G, which I take to be procrastination or excuses. He tends to avoid actually playing (although he is opening up to the idea more as our lessons progress). In an attempt to prove him wrong, I try out the flute, and discover that there's a problem with the keys. I give him my flute to play instead, which he takes a liking to. We manage to finish up the lesson - he on my flute, me playing the old flute I learned on back in fifth grade. As usual, our playing is interspersed with questions about life and Christian Science. This student is not a CSer, but his interest in it has grown over the past few months. After the lesson finishes at 9:00, he stays to continue talking about prayer and healing - a fascinating discussion.
9:30. Suddenly remembering that one of my students has a birthday tomorrow, I run out to the grocery store to pick up butter and chocolate chips. The student is a dorm student, so I also arrange for one of the other dorm staff to make cupcakes for breakfast (our traditional birthday celebration; for some reason it makes the most sense to celebrate at breakfast. I'm not sure why, come to think of it, rather than doing something in the evening. Not everything in the dorm is backed by logic).
10:30. Cookie preparation begins. As the cookies are baking, I continue answering e-mails and planning for classes tomorrow. Eighth grade is easy - we'll be eating cookies and reading satirical fairy tales. Seventh grade LA will involve a continuation of A Midsummer Night's Dream (acted out, as I described to the class, over the course of midwinter mornings. Some of them appreciated the humor). SS will be a discussion in response to the questions, "what are the causes of war? Is war ever just?" along with an introductory PowerPoint I found online. It's not cheating, it's being resourceful.
0:01. Accompanied by fresh cookies and cold milk, I am inspired to update my life on the internet.
0:45. With the kitchen still, sadly, a mess, I will brush my teeth and fall into bed. And this is why my blog goes for several months without an update. :)
