Day in the Life of Ms. Kohn Take 2

Last year I wrote about a day in my life for the #DITLife Challenge and I was psyched to read that this week’s Explore #MTBoS Week 7 Challenge was to do it again. So here goes…

5:11 am Real alarm goes off. Hit snooze.

5:15 am Hit snooze on phone alarm.

5:25 am Get out of bed and get ready. Drink orange juice and eat Honey Bunches of Oats with Almonds (same breakfast every single day) while checking email/facebook/twitter.

6:16 am Drive to school.

6:24 am Arrive at school (8th car in parking lot). Stop by main office to pick up mail and write a morning announcement about the after school Student Council meeting. Put lunch in math department fridge.

6:32 am Arrive at my classroom. Smile because I stayed later than I usually do on Friday and set it up like this:

Having my stations lab already set up for first period, and remembering that I had already updated the objectives/agenda for the day, made me so happy. It’s the little things 🙂 I logged into my computer and chatted with a STEM team colleague about our weekends.

7:00 am Met with Principal regarding a class officer issue. Solution reached.

7:20 am Took homeroom attendance. Ran to 4 other homerooms to remind students going on a field trip tomorrow to bring in their permission slips and show up on time.

7:35 am Period A begins (Algebra 1). Today was a block day so we had class for 85 minutes, normally our periods are 48 minutes. We reviewed the homework assignment, a MCAS open response question, by having the students correct a partner’s paper. Then, we did this W-R-I-T-I-N-G Equations Stations Lab. It went really well, and many students finished it more quickly than I thought they would. So I directed them to Visual Patterns… Thanks, Fawn!

9:05 am Period C begins (Algebra 2). We started class with a mini quiz on Functions (domain, range, parent function transformations). Then, we took notes on the characteristics of absolute value functions and practiced with some links. Class went just OK. I don’t love starting with a quiz and then having students take notes, but I didn’t see a way around it today.

10:30 am Lunchtime. I eat with the math department, it’s a great time to catch up with everyone.

11:00 am Period E begins (STEM Common Planning Time). We review/choose dates for our Term 2 project and update our project guidelines document. We also plan tomorrow’s project work period and finalize details for an 8th grade visit to the high school.

11:50 am Back at my desk. I respond to a bunch of emails and make a few copies. I don’t think I used my prep time wisely today… I can’t really think of too much that I accomplished…

12:30 pm Period G begins (Algebra 1). Same lesson as Period A, but the lab takes longer and no one gets a chance to play with Visual Patterns.

1:55 pm School ends. Student Council meeting begins. We run through some normal agenda items and then write letters to soldiers (a school wide service project).

2:45 pm Back at my desk. Respond to a few more emails. Received 32 throughout the day and sent 15. Pack up stuff.

3:05 pm Drive to nearby school for Administrative Internship class. Today’s topic is “What to Expect When You Move Into Administration.” I don’t know when in my future I’ll move into administration, but I had an opportunity to be part of a licensure program this fall and took advantage of it. It was great to get the prospective from educators who had gone through the same process.

5:45 pm Leave class and drive to Burlington Coat Factory. I needed a new winter coat and I found just the perfect one! Black, knee-length, belted, and with a detachable hood.

6:30 pm Drive to gym for Zumba class. Zumba! Drive home.

8:30 pm Sit in favorite spot on couch. Prepare to watch the Patriots game. Write this blog post.