Part 2 A ~Real~ Day in My Life ..

This is the second half of a real day in my life, January 5th, 2007, which actually started on the previous blog entry. This is part 2. (See also:Part 1 and Part 1.5. 11:40 a.m. Bring students in from playground, try to take electronic attendance -- the network is still down. Grr... Argh! And that scraps my computer lab lesson plans. Okay. No habitat research online. Fine. We'll just move on to Social Studies and extend the period, then we'll transition to writing a little early and extend that period as well. 11:52 p.m. ran finger over laptop mouse and was surprised when the screen didn't light up. :( This comp is never off when I am at work. My lesson plans are in there! 1:07 p.m. I decide to do some grading while my students work on their writing. My grade book is electronic. Pft. 1:10 p.m. living dangerously -- I am about to open my novel and read while my students write. I hope they don't know that if I get really into the book, they could all get up and leave without me noticing. 1:24 p.m. Cindy comes to me and says, "I can't spell inbaressed. It isn't in the dictionary." I said, "It starts with e-m." She said, "Why? That's silly." "Embarrassed," I said slowly. "E-m. Trust me." "Okay," she said, "I'll look, but I'm sure you're wrong." She went back to her seat. I watched her flip the dictionary pages. She stopped, ran her finger down the page, stopped again, then looked up at me in surprise. Fancy that. Teacher is right. 1:48 p.m. Still no Internet. I forgot to go to the bathroom at lunch time and there are still 51 minutes to break. Argh! 2:15 p.m. the NCLB tutor students leave for their special class. 2:17 p.m. the NCLB special tutor students return to get their tutoring notebooks and pencils. 2:32 p.m. We've been listening to Mr. Texas-Drawl through the wall for over 45 minutes. He hasn't stopped talking. I wonder when his kids have any time to get their work done. Mr. Texas-Drawl comes through the door talking. He gives my class the Vince Lombardo-Jim Valvano speech he just gave his own. We all stare at him in shock. He ltells a joke, laughs at it all by himelf, then leaves the room as abruptly as he arrived. 2:40 p.m. I tell my students to "Clean it up and get ready to go." Chaos ensures for 60 seconds while bags are packed, chairs are stacked and the homework assignment is repeated 16 times. My kids march off to P.E. I march off for my daily professional development class. 3:30 p.m. bell rings, kids leave, silence falls 3:35 p.m. I look at my laptop and realize I could have used the computer any time I liked. All I had to do before I turned it back on was unplug from the school network and Internet. I was told to turn it off. I turned it off. How can I expect to teach the kids to think when I just blindly follow orders? 4:00 p.m. home, check the net, change my clothes, head for the gym. 4:35 p.m. weigh-in. My weight stayed exactly the same. I think that is pretty good considering the holidays. I didn't lose, but I didn't gain, either. I lost a few more inches, and my body fat dropped three-tenths of a percent. Not great strides, but any loss is better than a gain. 4:50 p.m. exercise routine (45 minutes), and then home for the evening. A little dinner, a little Internet, a little novel reading, and bed. I hope you enjoyed this day in my life.