A Day In Reivew

7:30 – It begins. Park the car, lock it securely. Narrowly miss being mowed down by one of Septa’s finest as I dash across the street juggling bags, a cookie sheet of cupcakes and what feels like 11 liquid pounds of 100% juice (apple – kids love apple juice, right??)

7:32 – Signing in. Greet Ms. Tart, secretary extraordinaire, various teachers and principal #2. (Richard Wright is a living contradiction to the age-old ‘two heads are better than one.’ It ought to be qualified to suggest that at least one head, though preferably both, must be moderately functional for the advice to hold water. But I digress…) After signing in I get asked to sign some forms from a psych evaluation from one of my students. Then the staff laughs and jokes with me as I say YES maim and NO sir, and remind me yet again how Southern I really am. I believe a true day at Wright has started.

8:09 – My 5th and 6th grade students, anxious for the party they have earned by 6 consecutive days of avoiding attempted manslaughter inside the walls of my classroom, wander into my classroom to chat and get a heads up on the surprise I’ve prepared. I hold my secretive ground, planning to hold the party over their heads to maintain their attention later in class, and send them back to the cafeteria.

8:15 – 8:30 – Various Things? I spend this time (usually 730ish to 830) each day doing the following: ushering students out of my classroom, getting my classroom ready for my students and running off copies. Today was spent on numbers 1 & 2. I wrote our agenda and homework on the board, stashed the cupcakes and got our Do Now folders ready.

8:30-900-: I finally get my 8 students into my classroom. I reminded them to hang coats and backpacks up and to hand in their blue homework folders. I keep my voice soft and calm, hoping that it can stay this way all day. The DO NOW is up on the board and every one of my students actually starts without having to be prompted. This is NOT how the case usually is. As the students are working on their DO NOW I walk around and quietly check in with each student and make sure that meds were taking before school and how each one is doing. I make any notes on my clipboard (which I have with me at all times) and circulate around the room.

900am-930:Writing Time. Let’s just say that this is not the token hour of the day. It’s more or less the pulling teeth, slamming heads, and wanting to kill everyone of my student’s hour. Today’s assignment involves planning a Problem-Centered Circle Story using a graphic organizer. The assignment asked for a title, opening sentence, and filling in the circles for two characters and the setting. That’s it, nothing more, nothing less. Within 5 minutes I had students sliding down in their chairs, throwing pencils, banging on desks and telling me to “get out of their face” (which can be said at any given moment and usually happens when I am across the room) …As I look up at the clock I realize it’s going to be a rocky one if things don’t get turned around quickly. My voice gets a little louder.

935-1030: Math Hour. Math hour is usually an enjoyable hour. Two of my students are extremely below grade level and are working on single digit subtraction, but the other five are working on 4th grade math and are only one or two grade levels behind. Today’s assignment: Metric Units of Length. I knew that this was going to be a stretch for my kiddos to grasp, but I was hoping that the hands on activities that were planned would help. The lesson went pretty well and we only had two episodes of rulers and calculators being chucked across the room due to frustration, which is a vast improvement to most days. The voice got a little softer.

10:30-1045 Down Time: This time is a must with EMOTIONAL SUPPORT and EMOTIONALLY DISTRUDED STUDENTS. I use this time to get to know my students and build relationships with them. What we do during this time varies on the moods and attitudes in the room. On any particular day we could play cards, look up interesting facts on the internet (two days ago we looked up the Amazon River and learned about what kind of creatures live there and other various facts), have my students teach me various dance moves and slang terms, and read. To my surprise my students have been on a reading kick! Before Christmas we finished reading Harry Potter: Volume One and watched the movie. The mood has continued and now we are on the second book! As “grown-up” as my students are, they turn into little boys when I start reading. Just staring at me and begging for me to keep reading!

1045-1130: Prep. This is the time of day when my students go to Tech, Science, Gym or music, it’s my time to do what needs to get done. Or have a scream!


11:35 – 1:00 – Welcome to the Circus! I have 16 5th and 6th grade boys who come to me for reading. I cannot recall a day where they all showed up (do to suspension, in-school suspension or absent) to my classroom. These guys are wild, and the lack of any sense of consistent discipline in the 5th and 6th grade goes far to encourage their wanton ways. They spent last year in a self-contained classroom running amuck, terrorizing a string of subs ( and various teachers who came and went) and generally digressing academically at warp speed. Their ability levels are dramatically different from what their work suggests, due to behavior problems, a mortally wounding lack of focus and a general air of disinterest. They are not convinced that school is worthwhile, and that is what I am working to correct. I want them to want to learn. They can do it, but I can’t do it for them, try though I do. Today was not a stellar day. One of our vocabulary words this week is “wily,” and if the broken-record technique is a successful teaching tool, my students are likely to never forget the word. In the past two days (the entirety of our week thus far), I have had opportunity to point out dozens of examples of wily-ness for my students. Their cunning attempts at trickery are not often well executed, but what they lack in sophistication they make up for in spirit. Their wily-ness alone is enough to convince anyone of their innate intelligence, criminally intentions not withstanding. Our routine (which I’m struggling to institute) is as follows: walk into classroom (do not run, jump, dance or fight), pick up green Do Now folder (your own, and please don’t hide, tear, throw or mutilate anyone else’s in the process), follow the Do Now prompt on the board (raise your hand with questions, do not shriek, flip out, run around or storm out of class). After that, our agenda is written on the board, and we’ll give it a valiant effort to stay somewhere in the same galaxy as our plan.

Today’s Do Now was to brainstorm 5 sentences from our 5 vocabulary words. We did the first one together, and that went well. Some students were in their seats (a welcome change from the days when they were throwing their seats) and participating. They are getting the “raise your hand” game down, but the “and wait to be called on” is proving more complicated for them. At this point shouting that doesn’t involve “your mom”, “crack baby” or various choice expletives and is actually related to the subject matter seems like a victory rather than an example of a broken rule. Our Do Now took about 20 minutes, during which time 2 separate shoving matches took place. My boys are wimps. They want to act tough, but, when it comes down to the nitty-gritty, they’re all too scared to do any real damage to each other. Eventually everyone calmed down enough not to punch anybody else, or even threaten people, and we were able to accomplish our activity. The boys had earned enough class points for a party the week before, and I’d brought in the cupcakes and juice for them. They kept asking what we were having, and my crafty reply was “just wait. The sooner we finish our work they sooner you’ll find out.” This worked until the Do Now was over and we began to review summaries. At this point Jahlil, the goliath of the classroom who towers well above my head and far outweighs his scant 12 years, found the hidden treat. He immediately, and in opposition to my request to the contrary, lifted the foil and exposed my treat to the rest of the boys. Let’s just say it was hard to keep the troops focused after that little reconnaissance mission. Eventually the clock struck 12:30, “party time,” and boys who had previously shown little ability to read a digital clock, let alone the analog wall mounted classroom clock, began to clamor for their treat. I dished out the cupcakes and apple juice (amid whines and complaints of “where’s the soda!?” Are they kidding? Not for all the tea in china, kiddos. Sugar and caffeine? Do I look masochistic to you?) We listened to music, and my students were once again shocked that I knew some of the songs on the radio. They harbor fantasies that I a. live in a cave, b. am pop culture immune due to being white, and c. I’m too old to listen to “their” music. We broke out the disco-dancing-80’s-flashback light ball. It was a good time!

100-145: Lunch and Recess: My students barged into the hallway (Sadly enough we have digressed to the first days of school since Winter Break and they seem to have forgot how to walk in the halls), carrying juice and jeering at their classmates who were not so lucky as to be in my class, and had missed out on the party. A teacher from down the hall came storming into my classroom to inform me that one of my students had – horror of horrors in her eyes – apple juice! In a cup! In the hall! Evidently this woman is violently opposed to apple juice. To hear her rant you’d have thought I’d given the boy an arsenic milkshake and asked him to share it with all his friends. I had to elbow my way through the gladiator-knock off style fighting in the hallway to demand that my student “finish it! Just chug it.” Flashbacks of undergrad were impossible to ignore…

150-300 Social Studies and Science Block: Because my students get science twice a week for 45 mins we do not do Science during this time. Every other day we do Social Studies and the other days we work on IEP goals, (Individual Education Plans) which I am so formula with as I have had one since grade one (being in Sped myself). Right now in Social Studies we are down to the basics. How basic do you ask? We are learning that Philly is a city, in the state of PA and that PA is one of the 50 states and that the 50 states collectively is called The United States Of America and that the U.S.A is on a continent called North America and well you get the point.

305: I walk my kiddos out to the yard, watch them for awhile and walk up to the second floor being thankful that the day is over.