Oh to have the carefree, easy life of a teacher. Monday to Friday from 9-3pm, weekends off, 12 weeks of holidays…..the stuff of dreams really isn’t it?! If only….
More and more, I find myself having to defend the status of the teaching profession. I am not sure who or what exactly is to blame, but let me tell you that the way teaching is portrayed in the media, on social media or through public conversation is not in fact reality.
So much accuracy in this image.
I recently read an article with a particularly profound quote that definitely hit the nail on the head when it comes to putting into words what it is actually like being a teacher these days. “Remember when you were little and you’d fall while on the trampoline but everyone would keep jumping so you couldn’t get up? That’s teaching”. An insanely accurate description of every single day as a teacher.
Let me take you with me on a day in the life of a teacher.
5:00am – It’s Monday morning. The alarm goes off. Another week. Let’s do this!
5:30am – Caffeinated. Dressed. Sitting on the couch doing some last minute lesson prep for the week. Thinking that there really does need to be a day between Sunday and Monday for teachers to get ready for the week ahead...
6:30am – Arrive at work. Think to myself that I have 1 hour and 50 minutes until the bell. Plenty of time to sort the day out, photocopy, set up the classroom, reply to emails, catch up on some paperwork, do some marking, put up some classroom displays, enter some data…right? Wrong.
7:00am – Hmm probably should have some breakfast to give me energy for the day. What shall it be today – coffee? Or.....coffee?
7:45am – I'm in the zone, typing away at my laptop. Then....Knock Knock. “I was hoping you’d be here. Just wanted to check in to see how little Ginny is going in Maths?”. I answer ever so politely but inner me is thinking 'would parents just turn up to their child’s doctor to ask a question without an appointment and interrupt their important work?'.
8:00am – Take a sip of the lukewarm coffee. Wish it was hot. Don’t have time to go and make a hot one. Have to decide between photocopying a sheet I forgot to photocopy earlier or getting the materials out for the Maths Rotations. Instantly regret choosing Option A because of course I jammed the photocopier. Spent 10 minutes troubleshooting and trying to unjam it so A. I could have my activity sheets instead of trying to think of a different activity. B. It was ready to go for the next person so they too don't lose 10 valuable minutes.
8:25am – The bell has gone. I don’t have time to go to the bathroom…again…oops. Time to go and collect the class.
8:45am – Time to settle the class down and get into some learning. I can just about read how the students weekends went, like a book. Ron looks tired. Harry and Hermione look like they had a disagreement and are mad at each other. Hagrid looks like he’s got himself a leg injury. Snape looks angry. I make a mental note to check in with them all sometime in the morning.
9:00am – Every single day as a teacher you make hundreds of decisions, put out some fires and your patience is tested. After the first 30 minutes in the classroom I am reminded that today would be no different.
9:10am – Yes Dudley, you can go to the bathroom.
9:11am - I am starting to regret that I didn’t go to the bathroom earlier myself. My bladder will have to wait another 1 hour and 40 minutes….
9:40am – Part way through the fun Maths lesson I spent an hour planning yesterday, on my Sunday. “This is boring”. I have no words....but this meme sure came to mind:
10:30am – Made it to lunch. Time to go the bathroom….finally. Just kidding! Have to run out to playground duty for 20 minutes first. You can do it bladder, you’re nearly there!
10:54am – Back from playground duty. I have exactly 6 minutes to go to the bathroom and have a sit down. My throat is feeling irritated after so much talking. Better use the last 3 minutes of my time to make some tea to soothe it if I am going to make it another 4 hours. But tea means a bathroom break that I can't have....sorry bladder.....
11:00am – Back into some learning. Everything is calm. Students are about to do a Maths test. This is what dreams are made of.
11:17am – Oh, a lockdown drill. Conveniently timed as always. I think to myself that society’s views of a lockdown whereby children calmly and silently sit under their desks against the wall until it is over would certainly be more magical and ideal than the chaos that ensued.
12:30pm – We have just finished a phenomenal Science lesson and I asked the students if they had any questions. In hindsight I should have rephrased it to “do you have any questions about the thing I just taught you about?”. Ahh hindsight, a wonderful thing.
Reminded me of:
1pm – Lunch again. This time I get a whole 20 minutes of “me-time”. Sounds blissful doesn't it? I could sit down, put my feet up and recharge. Or I could make a dent in my pile of marking (visual representation below). I again choose the latter option because I am very behind. But to brighten up my day I go to the kid’s prize box and get myself a freddo and a small packet of Malteasers. Well-deserved I tell myself as I munch away as I tick and cross. All is going well until I dribble some chocolate onto a student’s maths test. Hmm…I’ll just have to leave that there to dry. I tell myself a bit of melted chocolate is better than tears! Look at me, thinking on the bright side.
1:30pm – The students are back. 28 of them are good to go in, 2 of them are bleeding. I thought I might have been able to get through the day without any sickness or injury. Never. I patched one up myself and sent the other to the office because there was more blood than my little first aid kit could deal with. It just wouldn't be a normal day without putting on my Nurse hat!
1:35pm – Excellent. Time to get into some whole class learning. Wait – why are there kids crying? I better sort out some issues that happened at break first....it wouldn't be a normal day without putting on my Counsellor or Mediator hat now would it?! Sigh...
1:40pm – I can feel myself getting tired, I have the start of a headache and am generally struggling to be enthusiastic. Lucky there is always someone to tell you when you’re a teacher that you look awful or tired or that you're having a bad hair day or all of the above! (What makes up for their blatant honesty is that they are also awesome at giving random compliments too. Many a compliment has given me the energy I have needed to even get to this point in the day).
1:45pm – I instruct the class to get out their scissors and glue. Look around and wonder why 7 kids do not have scissors and glue? Someone must eat stationery. Thre is no other explanation. What happened to the 1000 pencils, 100 glue sticks and 5 staplers I bought at the start of the term?!
2pm – Awesome. We’re good to go. I just finished telling the students how important this vocabulary lesson will be and that they will need to know this to be able to do tomorrow’s lesson. All is calm. Then the phone rings and two kids are getting signed out early. I make a mental note that I will have to somehow catch them up on this activity before they can do tomorrow’s activity. Sigh...again....
2:40pm – Have made it to the final 10 minutes of the day. Main goal: make the classroom look like a bomb hasn’t just gone off, make sure everyone is happy and smiling, have a quick debrief about the day and pack them up ready to go home. The kids are tired, they've had a big day....getting them to clean up, stay calm and be nice to each other until the bell rings is easier said than done, that's for sure.
2:52pm – Ahh, i did it. Time to sit down and appreciate the silence and tranquillity for a moment. Bliss. Pure bliss. Mentally making a note of the jobs I need to do this afternoon. Make a ‘to-do’ list to work through and then I hear over the loud-speaker “Just a reminder that the staff meeting will start in 20 minutes”. Even though it is in my diary for each week, it both surprises me and disappoints me every single week. I guess I’ll have to find some more time to do those follow up jobs and get ready for tomorrow....maybe instead of eating dinner or while I'm eating dinner....
4:30pm – Arrive home. Tell myself I'm incredible. I've done it again. I've been a teacher, a nurse, a lawyer, a therapist, a soccer coach, a Mum, a mentor, a councillor, a clown, an actor, a decorator, a cheerleader, a friend. I've made 19876689 decisions. I'm fabulous. Then I sneak a glance at myself in the mirror and wonder how long I've had that blue marker on my face for and why did nobody tell me? Is that glue on my forehead? Wait - did I even talk to an adult today? Time to shower….
6:00pm – Eat dinner and decide if I'm actually going to do the marking I brought home or if it just came for a nice ride home with me like it does 98% of the time. Realise that my marking goes out more than me...
7pm – Fall asleep in front of the TV. Wake up occasionally, highly disappointed that this is my time to relax but I am too exhausted to enjoy it.
8:30pm – Find the energy deep within me to transfer to the bed, ready to sleep and to wake up and do it all again tomorrow.
Thanks for coming along with me on a somewhat typical day in the life of a teacher. Obviously this is not a true depiction of every day as a teacher, but I hope it paints a picture that teaching is more than just standing in front of a class and, well, teaching.
I absolutely love my job – it’s rewarding, it’s fun, it’s high energy, it’s challenging, it's stimulating, it's creative, it's exciting, it's fulfilling, it's life changing, it's crazy and it's, in my opinion, one of the most important jobs on the planet. What I don’t love however, is society’s blatant disregard for the complex and demanding nature of our work as teachers which has led to an unreasonable lack of appreciation. Do better, society.
I'll leave you with the following thoughts:
And finish with the following LOL because if you don't laugh about it, you cry about it, right?!
Thanks for sticking around. Let's hope one day very soon I won't have to defend the status of the teaching profession and we will get the appreciation and respect that we deserve.