A Day in the Life of a High School Teacher - The Good, the Bad, & the Ugly

I'm interested in knowing what a day in your profession looks like.  Everyone has ideas about what they think a doctor, lawyer, salesman, teacher, or ______ (you fill in the blank) does each day... but what do they really do all day?

I'll start.  :)

Courtesy of some of my students in Art :)

I'm a high school social studies teacher and basically I have about 900 tabs open in my browser head at one time.  

I would wager that most people think a teacher's day goes like so:

• Get to school early to tutor, make copies, prepare for the day
• Teach a section of 25-30 students a lesson prepared in advance
• Repeat step 2 two more times
• Mix in a planning period to grade, respond to emails, and make future lesson plans
• Stay after school for a meeting or two, call parents, grade, prepare for the next day

All of the above is true.  Just add in:

• Filter through about 1+ questions/concerns per minute of teaching time (Think: I left my homework at home.  My mom wants you to call her.  Can I make up my quiz tomorrow?  Did you see in the news that such-in-such happened?  Do we have school tomorrow?  What's the date?  What are we supposed to be doing right now?  Do you have a pencil?  I need a piece of paper.  It's cold in here.  It's hot in here.  Can I go to the bathroom?  Will you assign some extra credit?  Do we have to do this?)
• "Teaching" = putting on a one man circus to engage the 5-minute attention span of 30+ teenagers.
• Finally get a class on task for one sacred minute just in time to be interrupted by a call from the office or intercom with a counselor or principal needing to see a student
• Put 3 meetings during that planning period on top of a to do list you know you'll never complete before leaving school (Grade the honors essays, enter the Unit Test grades, check the end-of-class assessment so you know how to structure tomorrow's lesson, finalize tomorrow's lesson, make copies, call 2 parents, write the referral for Johnny who will not follow directions, put together a packet of work for Luke who just got suspended for 10 days and is already failing, respond to the 20 emails waiting in your inbox, tutor Suzy during her lunch, stop by the nurse's and social worker's offices to discuss another student who told you she's pregnant...etc.)
• After leaving work, respond to 10-15 texts with encouragement to pregnant student, explanations of the homework assignment, updates for parents on their child's progress, times for tutoring sessions, reminders to make up tests and complete homework... all while fixing dinner and packing everyone's bag for the next day
• Have a phone conference while your baby is screaming in the next room because it's the only time you and that parent can "meet" this week and your husband is at a meeting

All of the above is also true and really happened in one day.

Being a teacher is really like being a nurse, mom, mind-reader, secretary, janitor, life coach, counselor, judge, scholar, motivational speaker, one-man-circus, and mentor all at the same time.  5% of my job is actually teaching, and 95% is other stuff.  If all I had to do was teach it would be an easy job!

Society (& myself) expect me to create fabulous lessons with student collaboration that teaches them to make a difference in the world... and understand the state standards that they'll be assessed on at the end of a semester (that's made by someone who's never actually stepped foot in my classroom)...

To sponsor awesome clubs to motivate students to raise the social, academic, and moral standards for themselves and others....

To teach students to think critically, be informed, and advocate for themselves....

To have Pinterest-worthy bulletin boards, maps, and colors on the walls...

To raise future leaders that aren't afraid to get dirty and volunteer to help others...

But the reality is this:

I'm literally teaching 10th graders how to read and tie their shoes.

I'm am giving students the questions to their quiz on their warm up and going over the answers, just to have them ask "Did you even teach us this?" and say "I don't know what this is" as they look at the quiz questions like they are in Japanese.

I am having to explain that there are 12 months in a year when Jane can't figure out the answer to the question "If John makes $3000 a month, how much is his yearly salary?" ...Only to be laughed at by a student who responds "Mrs. Morgan, I didn't know that - it's not like I count the months on a calendar."

I am teaching 10th grade students that North Carolina is the state they live in and the USA is the country they live in... so that they can attempt to learn that the NC General Assembly makes laws for the state and the US Congress makes laws for the country.

I am having to explain to a student why I won't give him extra credit assignments when he has a 5 average (yes, a five, not a 50)... after telling him he could turn in any of his missing work for full credit.  And then he'll ask if he can leave class to go to the bathroom.

This is the reality of my job.

Oh yeah, and that pregnant student you poured your soul into... the 12th pregnant girl you've had in 4 years... you just learned that she dropped out.

Such is a teacher's life.

What's your job like?  :)

Homecoming

Even though I'm not coaching this year, I'm still very busy at school.  I joke that I stopped coaching and started sponsoring 11th grade SGA & Mock Trial, leading our Civics PLC, and working in a group of teachers that lead trainings on technology/MacBooks... and I still sponsor a club called Elevate.  Not sure that I traded a busy 1st year with a less busy 2nd year, but I'm still having fun!

As all teachers know, the craziest week at school is homecoming week - a week that I love as the former most spirited Senior girl of SCHS, but stress over as a teacher.  Our spirit days included Wacky Tacky day, Superhero/Villians day, Neon Colors day, Team day, and Spirit day.  I should've taken pictures, but I didn't.

This year, SGA sponsored the first ever Sadie Hawkins Homecoming dance and it was a huge success!  We had it in the cafeteria - something that many teachers/students had reservations about (including me!), but after hours of preparation, it looked like a totally different place.  This was the best picture I got, but the food table & dance floor was pretty great as well!  The students had nothing but great things to say about it!

We hosted the annual homecoming carnival before the game, and this year Elevate & SGA sponsored a BMX show.  It was a pretty fun addition to the carnival!

SGA had a big blow up hit-your-friends-with-a-heavy-padded-stick-thing and let me just tell you that it is WAY harder than it looks.  That is probably my one and only good blow to Victoria (awesome friend and coworker)... but don't be too alarmed, she ended up beating me.  We may or may not have taken a couple of time outs to recuperate.

Oh Friday night lights...  

Do you ever attend your high school's homecoming?  What are your favorite homecoming traditions?  What awesome spirit days can you share?

The Life of a School Teacher

I absolutely love my job!  Each day is different and full of surprises - some good, some bad.  I laugh at least once a day, and I usually get frustrated at least once a day.  I've learned a lot since I've started teaching... like very few things will be perfect (hard for a perfectionist to learn), not all students care about or want to learn (hard for an honors student to understand), and even though you're teaching high school, you'll still say things that you'd expect only kindergarten teachers to say (including, but not limited to "Put your table down," "Please put your behind in your seat," and "Keep your hands to yourself!" I've also become quite sarcastic.  My not so favorite remarks out of the mouths of students include "Are we going to do anything important today?" (No, of course not), "I didn't get my notes that day because I wasn't here" (Oh, my bad, I meant to take that part off the test just for you since I couldn't make it to your house to teach you personally), and "Is this grade out of 100?"  (no, no, of course not... there's no way you're dumb enough to make a 7 out of 100!)  There are many moments when I shake and hang my head ... such as the class of students that freaked out on the PSAT when they had to write the certification statement... in cursive.  I had to advise them to write in print and connect the letters, otherwise, it would've taken more than the 15 minutes it took for them to copy one sentence.  Oh, how I wish I was exaggerating.

I love my students and I always have stories to tell.  Thanks to those who always listen - particularly my  awesome husband, Parker!  I'm so glad that I have the opportunity to be a role model and influence young people to be good students, citizens, and people.  I think Civics (the class I teach) is one of the most, if not the most important subjects students take in high school (but what teacher doesn't say that about his/her subject?)

I took the following pictures of my classroom at the beginning of the school year/open house, so I guess it's about time to share them!

Student/parent sign-in with freshly cut hydrangeas in a mason jar - stolen from our neighbor's yard (shh don't tell)

 A glimpse of my DIY stool re-do and Pinterest inspired file cabinet update... quite handy I might add

Advice from my 4th grade teacher that still scares students today:

Agenda boards (I have another teacher in my room during my planning period) - this is how teachers use electrical tape :)

Back wall and shelves

 Front wall/board:

My desk (that I never actually sit at, seriously) and open house outfit:

Thanks for visiting!  :)

Students say the darndest things!

Tomorrow is my last day student teaching!  I am so sad about this - seriously!  I'd much rather be in the classroom working with young people than talking/reading about theory and diversity.  I know that I've said it before, but I seriously loved everything about student teaching!  My students were great (most of the time, haha) and I love each of them!  I especially love their crazy comments and conversations...  For example... (by the way, this is totally anonymous!)

AP Government did a Presidential Report Card meaning that each student chose a president and gave him grades for different things (foreign diplomacy, domestic policy, general character, etc).  Then, in groups of 5 they had to nominate one president from the group to be added to Mt. Rushmore.  In one class, the nominated presidents were Jackson, Reagan, Eisenhower, Truman, Obama, and Clinton - the winner was Truman.  In the other class, the nominated presidents were Clinton, FDR, Reagan, and JFK - the winner was FDR.  One student tried to nominate Grover Cleveland, "Because we all want to see that mustache on Mt. Rushmore!"

But if that's the credential we're looking for, I think we should go with Taft.  Just sayin'.

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In Civics, the students had a test on the judicial branch.  They had a short answer on court cases, which we had covered by having students act out.  When the group that acted out New Jersey vs. TLO presented, they nicknamed the main character "Tillo."  Well, I guess one of the students didn't get the memo that Tillo was short for TLO... because that's what he wrote on his test.  When we finally figured it out, we had a good laugh.

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Words from the wise:

"Student: Miss Case, are you single?

Me: No, student, I'm engaged.  I'm getting married in June!

Student: Oh, well, does he have good credit?

Me:  Well, yes, he does!

Student: Well, is he rich?

Me:  Ha, no.  We're just starting out, so we're not rich at all, but he does well enough.

Student:  Well, it is better to be poor with good credit than to be rich with no credit.

Me:  Student, you are right about that.  How'd you get to be so smart?

Student:  My momma.  Does he treat his momma right?

Me:  Sure does.

Student:  That's good.  Does he treat you right?  Do you trust him?

Me: Yeah, he's a great guy.

Student:  Well that's good.  You let me know if he doesn't."

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In Civics, when discussing lobbying, students had to act as lobbyists from different interest groups by giving a speech to legislators who were about to vote on a law that would require first time DUI offenders to have breathalyzers in their vehicle.  One group's spokesperson, with his best MLK imitation, started out his speech: "Since the beginning of history, America has been based on three important concepts - drinkin', drivin', and civil riiightttssss..."

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AP students did current events each week during 3rd quarter.  For the assignment they had to read two articles and email the writer of one/leave a comment online.  One student decided to shoot Obama an email after the State of the Union address.  It was very well written, and included this at the end:

"P.S.  I also appreciate your clever jokes - especially the one about salmon."

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When talking about current events in AP, one student remarked:

"Ms. Case, I am so serious when I say this, but when do people in Egypt sleep?"

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I spent a whole day talking about propaganda.  When I got to cardstacking, I gave the example of a ShamWow commercial on YouTube.  You would have thought I had shown them the secret of life.  The class looked like this: 

So funny.

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For AP's 4th quarter current event assignments, they are using Twitter.  (It is so awesome by the way).  One student tweeted Obama "@Obama, I'm curious, how does it feel to have fired more cruise missiles than any other Nobel Peace Prize winners combined?"

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I'm sure that there are about a dozen other funny stories I could tell, but I just can't remember them all right now.  Maybe later.  Hopefully this will hold you over until then. :)  I sure will miss these great kids!

Hi Blog Family!

Hey blog family!!!

I know that I've been MIA for the last few months, but I'm hoping to make a comeback!  Let's just pretend that it'll be like good friends that don't see each other that much, but can always pick up where they left off...  Sound like a plan?  Okay.  Here we go.

Between student teaching, grad school, and wedding planning, Grace Like Rain has fallen to the wayside.  My last day teaching was on Friday, so I hope to have more time for blogging.  I have loved student teaching in every way possible.  It was such a rewarding experience and it definitely confirmed that teaching is my calling.  Honestly, after hearing all the horror and stress stories, I was a little worried.  My student teaching experience has been anything but horror and stress.   It was quite the opposite.  I kept waiting for the exhaustion and stress to sink in, but it never came.  Overall, the whole thing was fantastic!  There were times that I was overwhelmed by the amount of stuff on my plate, but it never lasted that long.  My mentor teacher was wonderful.  She has been so helpful and she really allowed me to find my own style of teaching.  I know that she and I will keep in touch - she is such a good person & friend.

The students were great and my first set of classes will always hold a special place in my heart.  I had 2 AP Government classes, a study hall, and 3 Civics & Economics classes.  All the Civics classes were collaborative - one was ESL and two were EC.  What a great experience!  I laughed out loud at least once a day (often at myself), my heart broke for students in various situations, and I grew to love these kids - I will miss them so much.  I realized that I have been blessed with the talent of teaching and multitasking, and that I have a lot of conditioning to do before I can be a really, really great teacher - but, I think I'm off to a good start!

My students crack me up - I'll do a blog post with funny stories soon.  They threw a going away/good luck Ms. Case party Friday and it was a really great way to end this journey.  I still have one more week at Chapel Hill High School before I start classes back.  I would MUCH rather teach than go back to class.  Teaching/working with young people is SO much better than sitting in class.  When classes start back, I will submit a portfolio.  We will graduate in May, but then complete the program with summer session one.  So I have one more week at CHHS, finishing up the spring semester in class, graduation, 5 weeks of summer school and then I'll be moving to Greenville!  This has been a crazy (but not too stressful) ride & I am loving it!

Wedding update coming tomorrow!!

Too Late to Apologize

Happy Independence Day!!  In honor of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, I have a great video to share.  My hipper (more hip?) friends assure me that the song "Too Late to Apologize" by Timbaland is a cool song these days, and this video my friends, is a spoof of the music video.  In my neverending efforts to plan great high school history lessons, I stumbled across it.  You can call me a nerd, but I find it very witty - I may or may not have laughed out loud many times.  Humor me will ya?



Oh gosh, "No Tea." Hi-lar-ious.  Have a great fourth!!

A Letter

To my future students,

There are a few things you should know about me. I love Carolina. I like Mountain Dew. I laugh hysterically when I’m really tired. I’m a Type A person – I like organization, structure, and cleanliness. I am deathly afraid of cockroaches. Really. I don’t believe in being politically correct, but I always expect courtesy, politeness, and respect.

But, the most important thing you should know about me is that I have high expectations. I set my standards high. I expect a lot from myself and I expect a lot from you. I know you can succeed and I know you have unlimited potential. I will not stand by and let you “get by” – it is simply unacceptable not to use your talents and gifts. You can do so much that I bet you could surprise yourself. As a minimum, I have two major expectations:

1. Act like a decent, respectable person.
You will treat others with respect. You will take care of your own and others’ belongings. Dress respectable. Apologize when you’re wrong. Have a firm handshake. Boys – don’t undress girls with your eyes – that is someone’s daughter, sister, and perhaps future wife. Girls – don’t lower your standards to include guys that you wouldn’t want your mom, sister, or future daughter to date. Be someone that makes you proud.

2. Do good work.
Do your work. Turn it in on time. Do it neatly. I expect you to make good grades. Failure is not an option. If you need help, I will be there. If you don’t ask for help, I’ll still bug you. I have high expectations, and I expect that you meet them. I want you to be proud of your accomplishments – especially when you work really hard for something.

We are going to learn for the sake of learning. It’s so much better that way. Even if you hate history, you might be able to use the information when you’re on Jeopardy one day – or maybe beat your friend at a board game (smile). Either way, we’re going to learn. History is just one big story with lots of characters and scenes and plot lines – I promise, it’s not that hard.

So that’s what you need to know about me from day one. Act like a decent, respectable person. Do good work. And (God forbid) if a cockroach finds its way into the classroom… please kill it.

With my love and loyalty,
Your future teacher

Day 9 - I am thankful for...

Fridays! Tonight, I get to hang out, cook dinner for my fiance, relax, and not worry about my papers/exams/thesis/reading... I get to just be. Thank God It's Friday!!! :)

Parker is coming to Chapel Hill for the weekend since I'll be driving to Greenville on Tuesday for Thanksgiving break (and my parents didn't think I should spend the time/gas driving home for two days, coming back for one and half days, and then back). I'm excited to spend some quality time with Parker, and if the weather is nice tomorrow, my sweet friend Amber is going to shoot some pictures of us! :)

Update on Mom: She is doing okay. The treatment obviously makes her tired and a bit sick. Her emotions are up and down like everyone else's. Please keep the prayers & encouragment coming!!!

Random: I saw a former student yesterday, which is always weird... but this one was one of my favorites from last year. He's the one who said the capital of Turkey was Rooster :)

Random #2: My friend who is a school counselor told the girls the other day that she had a student named "La-a." Which you would think would be pronouced "la uh" but the girl told her that "the dash is pronounced." Her name was "La dash uh." Seriously. I knew I was going to have trouble with some names in my class... but really???

Boy do I love a good...

... political cartoon.

There is something about sarcasm and politics and anti-political correctness all rolled into one cartoon. I love deciphering the meanings and intentions of cartoons. Go ahead... call me a nerd, I don't care.

In my Teaching Fellows class today, a presenter showed this cartoon, and I thought it was pretty good.
This one has some relevance for the day too...

But, if you're going to be interested in political cartoons... you gotta know about "Join, or die." In my AP US History class in high school, this was a primary document on a DBQ (Document Based Question - basically you take several documents and incorporate them into an argument that answers a prompt). Our whole class used this cartoon in our argument.... but we used it in the wrong context. So... because Ms. Griffin was the most awesome teacher ever - she made sure that we would never forget the meaning of this cartoon.

I think the whole class was on her "Wall of Shame" that day... And, as a result, I will never forget the meaning, nor will I use it incorrectly in support of an argument, ever again.... I will also make sure that my future US history classes know about it too. Haha

Did you have something that you'll always remember because your teacher made sure of it (and by made sure of it, I mean drilled it into your noggin' until you felt stupid for not knowing it in the first place)... man those are the good teachers!

Sweet Summertime

I just moved out of my apartment yesterday and spring-cleaned my room at home today (so all my apartment stuff would fit in it)... 5 bags of trash AND 4 bags & 2 boxes for Good Will later... I can walk in my room! Whew! I pretty much got rid of everything except the stuff I brought from my apartment.

Can I just say that I am SIKED about summer!?! Fun in the sun, relaxation, family, friends, no school… ahh the LIFE! Did I mention seeing Parker every day? Sweet!

Summer plans already in the works:

First off, tomorrow, I leave for a beach weekend with Candice and her bridesmaids! I am so ready – what a way to kick off the summer!

Then, Parker graduates on May 24th – yes, he technically graduated in December, but Barton College only has one Graduation and my boy gets to do a speech (woot woot). Oh and guess what! He got the Religious Life Award this year too! Congratulations babe!

Then, Part 1 of 3 Teaching Fellows escapades – early June is Special Olympics in Raleigh in which yours truly, along with a ton of other Fellows will be running the grounds.

Fast forward to end of June and I will be throwing a wedding shower with some family friends for Candice – let the planning begin!

Early July comes the much needed, wonderful family vacation. Probably the last family vacation before real world life sets in for me, since next summer I’ll be in grad school (yikes!) and then starting a job! (whoa!) Nonetheless, beach time w/ the parents and bro – and I couldn’t be more excited!

Then comes Parts 2 and 3 of the Teaching Fellows escapades for the last 2 weekends of July (I have to do Junior and Senior summer enrichment programs this year since I’m graduating in three years)

And then comes a big one – Candice and Jacob get married! (Praise the Lord!) Parker and I have a great wedding present in the works… haha

Then, finally comes the move to my new apartment – YAY!

I’m not sure which thing I’m the most excited about, though my family vacation and Candice/Jacob’s wedding are probably tied for first!

Oh Sweet Summertime, praise the Lord, you’re here!

Turkey, Rooster

Happenings in the classroom of a future teacher:
During my time at the middle school yesterday, we were doing map drills on the board as an assessment of the class's preparation for Tuesday's test. We point to the country, they say the name, we ask the capital, they say the capital city... mountain range, sea, ocean, straight, etc. Well I've told you funny things that my 7th graders have said before, and yesterday my favorite student made me laugh at something I shouldn't have. It went something like this:
Me - (point to Iraq)
Class - IRAQ!
Me - Capital?
Class - BAGHDAD!
Me - (point to Iran)
Class - IRAN!
Me - Capital?
Class - TEHRAN!
Me - (point to Turkey)
Class - TURKEY!
Me - Capital?
Peter - ROOSTER!

Haha! I thought it was funny.

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Did anyone watch American Idol last night?? I must confess that I've never actually watched AI until this year and I'm only watching it because ANOOP is on. (He's from UNC in case you haven't heard.) Well, he did SO good last night. Take a look, but make sure to pause my music at the bottom:

I mean that is an Indian dude that sings R&B up there singing Willie Nelson! I'm proud to say that he's from UNC!! On the other hand, no one is proud to know this guy:

YIKES! He just made Ozzy Osbourne sound like NSYNC. How can you take a classic Johnny Cash song and turn it into that? That's just ridiculous. I don't have words to describe it. Well, maybe one word - SCARY!

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Finally, I'd like to put out a prayer request for Georgina who is going to mission work in Sweden this summer! Check out her post to read the details. She is in need of support, so if you are interested in supporting a local girl doing God's work check out this. If you aren't able to help support her, you can help her by praying for her! She's asked for these specific prayer requests:

- That she would continue trusting the Lord to provide the necessary finances

- Her heart would continue to develop for the people of Uppsala, Sweden

- That she would best prepare herself - reading the right books, spending time in prayer, etc.

- That her family & friends would be supporting and understanding

You can also click on my sidebar icon (I'll get it up ASAP) to get the information you need to give her words of encouragement or help support her!

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One last thing, I'm currently blogging from the library as my laptop is in the shop because it freaked out. Ok, well that's probably not the technical term, but it's either an Operating System problem or a hardware problem. ITS can fix the OS problem in a couple of days... a hardware problem may cost money and I'll have to go through Sony & figure it out. So PRAY that it's an OS problem and they can fix it quickly! Otherwise... I'll be spending a lot of time in the library.

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Just kidding about the one last thing... I have one more thing to ask for prayer about! I take the GRE tomorrow (yikes!) for Grad school! Pray for me!

God bless!

Hospital Day #4

Weston's enzyme levels went down again today (yay!), but they didn't go down very much (boo!). He is still above the level he needs to be and Dr. Poley doesn't want to try clear liquids until he is at normal levels so no clear liquids today - just IV fluids (yum yum...). Weston went most of the morning without pain medicine which is great! They are going to try and get him to walk this afternoon so pray that that doesn't cause him pain.

And since my birthday is supposed to be this Saturday (in two days on Feb. 7th)... I am hereby changing my birthday to February 12th (next Thursday) a relaxing day, hopefully Weston will be all better, we can eat dinner as a family, Carolina will have beat dook the night before, I will be caught up on all my school work, I will have gotten the awesome camera I want... so February 12th is now my 20th birthday. Just kidding.... kind of.

Thanks for the prayers, I will keep you updated!

Also, I came back to Chapel Hill yesterday because I had to teach my precious (ha) 7th graders. It was worthwhile though... even though my favorite student that I tutor was in the nurse's office all afternoon after being tackled in flag football during gym class. I have some funny quotes to share with you, spoken by our country's future leaders...

(I changed the names)

Me: What is the name of the collection of Confucius' teachings that his disciples recorded?
Johnny: OH OH I KNOW MS. CASE!!!
Me: Ok, Johnny what is it?
Johnny: THE AZTECS!
Me (inside my head): HAHAHAHAHAHA ... HAHAHAHA
Me (spoken): No, the Aztecs is a group in Central Mexico. Does someone want to help Johnny out?
Matthew: Johnny, it's called the Analects you idiot!

They are so nice to each other. Oh how I love 7th grade.

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Ester: Would that be Confucius or Lao Tzu?
Luke: Or would it be Gandhi? (I have no idea why he would ask this because we were not even talking about Gandhi)
Peter: Wait, who's Gandhi again?
Sam: Some Indian dude.

HAHA!