A Day in the Life of Ms. T

My first alarm goes off at 5:21 AM. I don't actually consider this an alarm per se, more like a reminder that in 10-30 minutes I will have to get up and stay up for another 18 hours; it's a reminder that I need to treasure the next few minutes of sleep even more than the last 6-7 (5-6) which just seemed to wiz by. I slide my finger across my phone as directed by the "slide to cancel this alarm" message on my phone and fall back asleep. The second alarm goes off at 5:31 AM. Unless I have failed to plan my attire, have yet to shower, or have actually decided to care about either of these facts I kindly ignore this alarm as well. Must. Get. More. Sleep. Another cancelled alarm brings 14 more blissful minutes of sleep before my day really begins. At 5:45 AM its officially time to wake up and seize the day! Depending on my level of preparedness the night before I'll either shower, hurriedly pick out an outfit, wallow in the agony of having to wake up, or a combination of all for those for the next 20-30 minutes or so. Occasionally I'll grab an applesauce, yogurt, or banana bread for breakfast. But more than often it's just tea. Lemon zinger, with plenty honey (get it " i got plenty money"/ i got plenty honey) and an extra squirt of lemon juice. Then, it's time for the 20 minute car-ride to work.

By the time I get to work, I'm usually fully awake. By this time, the sun has usually fully-risen, and the combination of daylight and the smell of middle-school hallways is enough to rouse me from any sleepiness still lingering in my mind. Depending on whether I have evil, terrible, bitterly troubling car-riders duty outside I spend the nest 20-45 minutes prepping my room (cleaning up leftover trash, straightening books, prepping my board, finishing slides, making copies) until the 7:30 AM bell. And what you may ask happens at 7:30 AM?? Tap, tap, tap goes the sounds of 137 7th grade shoes (a mixture of ballet slippers, church shoes, boat shoes, and every other non-sneaker, you can think of) coming down the hall. Now, the day has really begun. After 30-minute homeroom/ reading period, I have my first period class. Overall, I like my 1st period. They're not my brightest class but they're usually pretty well-mannered and respond well to threats ...but that could just be because its 8 AM and their hormones haven't quite kicked in yet. 2nd period comes with its up and downs, depending on who is absent or suspended that day (just as in any class) and usually seems very long. Next comes break time! That's right, every day from 10-10:20 AM we have break time where the kids get to "let off steam and take a break from their hard days" aka organized chaos. Even more strange than this random break in the day is the fact that just 25 minutes later (20 minutes into 3rd period) is lunch time! In my opinion, this fact makes break either ill-timed or completely unnecessary (just end the day earlier!), but who am I to judge, I just work there. Eventually 3rd period ends (thank God) and 4th period comes and goes. Then it's time for my planning period, where I engage in some combination of eating, cleaning my classroom, grading, meeting with parents, making phone calls, or just kind of sitting around. The last period of the day (6th) flies by and then what often seems like the longest part of the day, 2nd busload duty (eek, agh, nooo!) arrives. 2nd bus load duty involves me being trapped in my classroom with anywhere from 12-25 students (depending on who decides to walk into my classroom that day) for 20 minutes until their buses are ready. This time goes very slowly, because at this point I'm completely drained from the day and have little patience for the pubescent hormonal eruptions which occur in the last moments of the day. I have recently started locking kids out of my room to decrease my own misery. This is also usually the time when I have a few students help me straighten up (erase the boards, place books under desks/ on shelves, sweep) while I silently sit in the corner watching and waiting. Finally at 3:15 PM the day is over and the kids are dismissed and forced outside the building. Depending on what kind of enrichment, remediation or staff meeting (remediation disguised as enrichment) we have that day, I usually don't get home until around 5 PM, at which point it's tv and grading/ planning for the rest of the night.

The next morning it starts all over again.