This is an article written by an English Teacher, not Algerian, talking about her daily routine.
Julia G. Thompson
I currently teach the ninth grade English component of a world
studies course in the humanities department of a very large suburban
high school near Washington D.C. I have a teaching partner who teaches
the world history component of the course. I am extremely fortunate in
that my teaching partner is not just knowledgeable about her subject
matter, but she is also a very good teacher. Tuesdays tend to be pretty
interesting days. Here is what a typical one for me looks like.
5:45 am Traffic. I am out the door and on my way. I leave
this early because traffic even at this hour can be fierce. I arrive
at school at about
6:15 Even at this really, really early hour, there are always a
few other teachers around (with big cups of coffee). We usually run
into each other at the copier.
6:15-7:20 The early morning race. Even though I make a point
of leaving the room as tidy as I can at the end of the day, somehow I
always sprint around the school as fast as I can just trying to get
everything done before students show up. If I need to clean the board, I
hit that first and then wipe down the desks with disinfectant. We have
had serious flu lately and I don’t want any more of my students to be
sick. I connect the laptop, check email, and scribble everything that
the kids need to know on the board. Then I check in with my teaching
partner. We spend a few minutes working together. When our students
study a particular culture or civilization in world history class, they
then read the literature of that civilization with me. This requires a
pretty tight collaboration with my teaching partner. I am thankful every
day that we make a good team. We not only plan together, but also we
collaborate on the best ways to work with our students. Kids start
coming by to hand in late work, make up assignments, or just hang out
with friends. It tends to be crowded and noisy even this early.
7:20-9:00 The first block. We have an alternating block
schedule, so I meet each class every other day for the entire year. You
can tell from the time frames that our classes tend to be long ones. I
like the length because students can start and finish assignments in one
sitting, but it is a challenge to keep every student engaged all period
long. My first class today is mixture of sleepyheads and hyperkids. I
work hard to figure out ways to appeal to everyone’s learning style, but
it is not always easy. Because this is such a long period and because
ninth graders can get restless within two nano seconds, I try to break
up assignments and alternate types of activities. These students tend to
be well behaved so we have lots of activities where they can work
together and have fun.
9:00-9:15 The whole school takes a break. The room is filled
with kids eating snacks. It’s fun to hang out and hear them talk about
something besides the lesson.
9:15-10:55 The second block. The second block is the same as
first with a few tweaks here and there to meet the needs of a different
set of students. Ninth graders are so funny—they want to be grown, but
they are still little kids sometimes. I enjoy teaching them-the constant
giddiness and perpetual pencil tapping included.
11:02-11:28 Lunch. Our school is so large that we have several
lunch periods. Sometimes I have lunch duty, but it is not
unpleasant—just noisy.
11:33-1:13 Planning period for me. I have about a zillion
papers to grade. The upside of teaching is getting to hang out with
teenagers and the downside is definitely grading endless stacks of
papers. I daydream about smart scanners that can grade student essays
with just a flick of the wrist or hiring an assistant just to grade
essays or…well, you get the picture. We English teachers spend LOTS of time grading essays.
1:20-2:10 Last class of the day. This class meets daily and is
much shorter than the others. The kids can be tired so it is
challenging to keep them upbeat and focused. I am lucky to have a
really cooperative group at the end of the day. They are nice to each
other and helpful to me, thank goodness.
2:10-3:45 It’s not over yet. I stay after school four days a
week to help students make up work, get extra help on writing
assignments, or just work on problems they are having with the material.
Most of the teachers at my school stay after to offer extra help. It’s
not really a formal arrangement, but it seems to work. Right before I
leave, I make sure the room is clean and my desk clear. Even though I am
tired, it will be worth it in the morning if the room is clean and I am
organized.
What about you??? What is your daily routine???
Do you think there are teachers like this one in Algeria ????
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