Weekend A day in the life
7.30am
I arrive at school and start checking and responding to emails and organising resources for the day. We have maths and literacy groups working on separate work that needs to be uploaded on to Google slides-Google classroom and a few pupils who struggle and need individualised maths tasks printed.
There are multiple sets of slides per group that need to be updated with teacher-to-pupil work, as well as follow-up tasks and extensiondigital tasks – and that’s just for numeracy.
8am
I’m working with a masters student at the moment and we sit down and discuss the day’s plan, what’s on top for her, and finalise how today will work for both of us.
We discuss her teaching inquiry, which she must complete for her university studies, and how it is progressing. I meet with my collaborative teaching partner and we share any good resources we’ve found overnight, and make sure we’re both ready for the day and that our planning is aligned.
8.20am
The pupils start arriving and I make sure I’m available to greet them all individually and check in with how their evening went and how they’re feeling this morning. I love hearing about their life outside of school, and it also helps me think about how I’ll support them today if something has happened or they haven’t had a great start to the day.
8.40am
The bell rings and pupils start making their way down to the mat for the morning routine. We complete the roll, share notices, sports results, current events, pepeha (introductions) and morning karakia (prayers).
9am
We start with maths – we have maths professional development happening throughout our school this year.
It’s my turn to have a lesson with one of the mentors. Our student teacher runs maths with half of the class while I engage with the mentor.
He provides feedback through the lesson and we work together to get the pupils engaging in mathematical discussions. We’re so proud of their ideas. My other eye is on our student teacher, who is doing a great job.
10.30am
We get together for karakia and read and feed. We’re reading Tuck Everlasting, which was published in 1975, and has some tricky language, but they’re enjoying the challenge.
10.40am
Morning tea – I spend some more time discussing next steps with my maths mentor and then check in with my student teacher to make sure the lesson went well for her. We quickly talk about what will happen in the next block for literacy. I dash down and grab a cup of tea and a toilet stop before the bell rings.
11am
We start with daily journal writing – a new exciting topic every day. We finish up and run workshops for speeches – everyone is at different stages, so we try to cater to the concerns that are popping up the most at this point. I am also providing support to a few pupils who were absent throughout last week – another round of flu is sweeping through.
12.30pm
Read and feed – still chipping away at our novel.
12.40pm
The children start lunch and I run down to our dance, drama and music room. One of the pupils in our team wanted to share her love of Bollywood dancing, so I’ve organised space for her to run lunch-time classes. I supervise with another teacher from my team. We tag in and out so we can quickly grab our lunch and I can change into my PE gear for cross-country training after lunch. Today is one of my two duty-free days.
1.15pm
That’s the end of lunch – we head back to class for the roll and silent reading. Then it’s cross-country training. The kids have roped me into running with them so we set the timer and see how many laps we can get in.
2pm
We have half an hour left for NZ Readaloud, where we read a story that other year 7-8 classrooms throughout New Zealand are reading. We get through the first chapter and post our thoughts online with some of these other classrooms. We’re intrigued by their ideas.
2.35pm
It’s time to get the classroom as clean as we can so that the cleaners can get their job done easily. If we are quick and have time left over, we might get a quick game of Scattergories in.
2.45pm
That’s the end of the day for the kids. I say goodbye and talk with the few pupils who stay around to share what they’re up to this afternoon. Time to get ready for the team meeting in my room, which I will be chairing.
3pm
Team meeting until 4pm. We have speech finals, a list of term three testing, and camp coming up next term. We need more parents. Lots to organise, lots of jobs to delegate – more emails to send and phone calls to make.
4.15pm
That’s the end of meetings and it’s on to a conference with a parent who wasn’t able to make it last week.
4.45pm
The school day is starting to wrap up. I turn off the lights, make sure the computers are organised, the maths books can wait until tomorrow morning.
5pm
The strike is approaching – I have an NZEI union meeting until 6pm.
6.15pm
Time to refuel. I leave my laptop for now and get to dinner and watch an episode of a TV show.
7pm
Boil the jug – cup of tea while I check and respond to my emails again.
My student teacher has sent through her lesson plans, so I provide some feedback and move on to organising my own maths lessons, reflecting on today’s feedback from the mentor.
I start thinking about three of my pupils who are making great progress with their speeches and have asked for feedback – better get on to it, speeches are due in one week.
8.30-9pm
This could go on forever, but I finish up and decide I need to call it a night – try to get a good night’s sleep before tomorrow.