Nilda

A Day in the Life

Name: Nilda Velez
Age: 31
Years teaching: 9
Grades/subject: Middle school
language arts

Other school responsibilities:

Coaches two teachers and is
grade-level chair

Professional goals: Getting

scholars work published in a
periodical, becoming a data
analysis magician, and
continuing on my journey
toward teacher mastery.

Personal commitments:
Squarely focused on planning
our weddingthis is a thrilling
timeand making our new
place feel like home.

Proudest teaching moment:

Fortunately there are many small
moments Ive been proud of as a
teacher. One Id rank near the
top is sharing reading data with a
scholar who was several levels
below her seventh-grade peers.
We were able to talk about it in a
way that made sense to her and
then she was empowered to
track her own growth.

How she is working to

become even more together:
I think a struggle remains kid
organization. There is so much
content to do that binder
clean-ups dont make it high on
the agenda items but, as you

know, being organized is not

something you do naturally. I
would love to teach some
organization skills to my
scholars, but I just dont know
where that would fit in their day.
I drop it in here and there, and
its usually a ten-second preach
about how not to lose this
homework assignment.

A Day in the Life

5:15 AM: Wake up!
Breakfast and
lunch were
prepared the night before so
they just need to get bagged. I
shower at night to make sure
the morning is a quick routine. I
leave for school by 6 AM.
6:15 AM: I arrive at school, make
coffee, and eat my baked
oatmeal while reading that days
lesson plans. Our school plans a
week in advance, so I need to
refresh myself on the details of
my plans daily. I transfer
necessary materials to my cart (I
move from room to room) and
set up my writers notebook that
I use as an anchor or make
whatever charts I need. I check
e-mail for about fifteen minutes,
looking specifically for anything
urgent that may change the flow
of the day.
7:00 AM: My cart and I zoom to
the seventh-grade hall and I

prep all boards with my aims,

agendas, and homework. This
makes transitions into classes a
bit easier after breakfast.
7:15 AM: Breakfast duty! I
simultaneously finish my own
breakfast, review the days
schedule in my Together
Teacher System, and check exit
tickets from the previous days
last class. This is possible
because we have silent
breakfast.
7:30 AM: Morning homeroom.
Scholars are working silently on
morning brain blasts. During
this time I take attendance and
have any necessary culture talks
with scholars.
8:00

AM:

Teach writing.

8:45 AM: Between these two

classes I have a very short
window of just fifteen minutes.
This is usually a time to check
e-mail, use the restroom, and
refill my water bottle.
9:00 AM: Teach small group
reading intervention.

No More Missed Deadlines

57

10:00 AM: This varies depending

on the day, and I have really
tried to cluster my work.
Monday./Tuesday. Our school
has a Tuesday 6 PM deadline
for the next weeks lesson
plans, so I schedule no
meetings on Mondays or
Tuesdays because this
two-hour window on both
days is dedicated solely to
lesson plan creation. I sit in
the team room, headphones
on, and have developed a bit
of a reputation for not wanting
to be disturbed on these
days. This helps me filter out
all distractions, and allows me
to get all my plans done in
schoola great feeling!
Wednesday. I spend my time
focusing on the two teachers I
coach. I work on their
learning plans, create
agendas for our meetings,
schedule or conduct
observations, and review
lesson plans.
Thursday. As grade chair I
use this time on Thursday for
my batch processing. Ill meet
with the dean of students to
address the grades culture
needs, work on any long-term

58

The Together Teacher

projects such as end-of-year

trips, create the agendas, and
tackle any action items.
Friday. I never leave for the
week without having all class
work, homework, and their
photocopies made and stored.
Ill look at the following weeks
lesson plans; create all the
materials I need, whether its
my own writing for an anchor
text or hunting down the right
author for the genre were
studying; and create all
copies. Everything is stapled,
hole-punched, and put in a
plastic drawer behind my
desk. They are labeled with
the days of the week.
12:00 PM: I usually eat lunch
while Im working. I realize that
some people would appreciate
having the downtime in the
middle of the day, but I prefer
to crank it all out. On days Im
finished with tasks early, I eat in
the teacher resource room and
chat.
12:30 PM: Teach two writing
sections and small group
interventions.
3:00 PM: My energy level is
getting pretty low by this point in
the day and Im usually scouring
the school for a chocolaty

snack. I save to-dos that dont

require much thinking for this
time of the day. I check e-mail
and call families. I review my
Weekly Worksheet and make
sure all deadlines for the day
have been met. Any unfinished
tasks from the morning have to
get cranked out here.
4:15

PM:

Leave for the day.

5:00 PM: Read, relax, start

dinner.
6:00 PM: At least twice during
the workweek Ill get in a
workout at home. I tried the
gym, but leaving the house once
Im there becomes nearly
impossible in the cold, dark
winter months. Jillian Michaels,
on several DVDs, makes every
minute of the workouts count.
7:00 PM: My fianc, who is also
an educator, arrives home from
work; we eat dinner and pretend
we wont talk about work, but
we always do!
8:00 PM: My very nice fianc
cleans up from dinner and
packs breakfast and leftovers for
lunch. We hang out on the
couch, watch very important TV
like Top Chef, and make
wedding plans.
10:00

PM:

Bedtime!

Dan

A Day in the Life

Name: Dan Rouillard
Grades/subject: High school
chemistry

Years teaching: 7 years

Commitments outside
classroom teaching: Coach to
several other high school teachers

Professional goals: Develop

my teacher coaching skills and
work on relationship building
with parents and families

Personal commitments: Work

out three to four days a week,
cook at least five nights a week,
keep weekends free to spend
with my girlfriend, and budget
one to two days a week to
spend quality time with friends
Did you ever struggle with
being organized? Heck, yeah!!
My mother still reminds me how
much a mess I was when I was
in school. I told her last year
that I couldnt believe how
disorganized my boys were. She
quickly put me in my place and
told me that I was just as bad, if
not worse, when I was their age.

A Day in the
Life
6:15 AM: My
alarm goes off
and I promptly sleep walk to the
shower. Freshly cleaned, I get
dressed, grab my bags and my
bicycle. It is about a fifteen-

234

The Together Teacher

minute ride to work and I do it

year-round, rain or shine. I like
to ride to work in the morning; it
clears my head and gets me
ready for the day. It also saves
me a bundle on public
transportation costs.
7:15 AM: I arrive at school, go to
my classroom, and change into
my work clothes. I keep a few
days worth of pants, shirts, and
ties there in my closet. When
the supply is up, I transport
them back home to do laundry
and restock the next day. I grab
a quick breakfast (which I keep
at school in the refrigerator). By
7:45 AM I head downstairs to
greet students with my coffee in
my hand. Its interesting how
something as small as a cup of
coffee becomes part of your
identity.
9:00 AM: This is a mixture of
activities depending on which
day of the week it is. It is always
a combination of teaching,
leadership team meetings,
observations of and meetings
with my coachees, and paying
visits to other classrooms to
check out best practices and
learn from my colleagues. I also
schedule about twenty to
twenty-five minutes in the
morning to address e-mail and
small errands that can be taken
care of quickly. Its amazing

how, if left alone, small tasks

can add up and become
incredibly time-consuming. I try
to knock things out as quickly
as they come up so I can keep
my sanity.
12:00 PM: Lunchtime! I learned
very quickly to take my lunch
downstairs with me for lunch
duty. Its nice to be able to relax
and eat in peace, but its also
nice to be able to eat, period
which I have not done at times
in the past. With a schedule that
includes afternoon meetings and
classes, its hard to find some
downtime after lunch. So, I have
learned to kill two birds with one
stone. Its also nice to be able to
sit and eat with the scholars. I
often pull up a chair and talk
about their day, my day, help
them out with work from various
classes. Its a good time to build
relationships! There are one to
two days where I do not have
something to do right after
lunch. On those days I will
spend about thirty minutes with
my colleagues in the teacher
workroom decompressing,

joking around, and if I havent

done so already, eating. Then I
will go to my room to grade
papers, make phone calls,
check e-mail, or make copies
for the next days lesson.
2:30 PM: Last science class of
the day and then on to
freshmen advisory. By this time
everyone can be tired from
working all day, so I have to
keep my energy and positivity
very high. I make sure to find
ten minutes before this home
stretch to shut off the lights, put
on my headphones, listen to
some chill music, and drink a
small cup of coffee. Doing this
is key! It puts me in a good
frame of mind and lets me
finish the day strong.
4:00 PM: Some days I have
grade-level meetings or a
coaching meeting for forty-five
minutes to finish my day.
Regardless, I dont like leaving
work without having everything

in place for the next days

lesson. I take about an hour to
make sure the room is
straightened up, my boards are
ready to go, and all lesson
materials are in place. This
gives me peace of mind in the
morning and leaves me stress
free for the evening. Before I
take off I make sure to go into
the gym and shoot around or
throw the baseball and get a
workout in. Its a great way to
end the day. To be able to
reflect on the moments of the
day, both frustrating and
positive, and work out any
frustration before I leave is so
important. I really value my time
with my girlfriend, friends, and
family and want to be in a
positive mind-set to enjoy every
minute with them.
6:00 PM: I cap off my day with a
ride home and think of what I
will make for dinner. I love to
cook and will do so right when I

get home! I try to accomplish

all of my teacher duties at
school so that this can be my
personal time. There are always
going to be two to three nights a
week where I have some small
task or tasks to complete, but I
have been really good about
making sure I plan my day so I
am not wasting any time at
work.
8:00 PM: Whatever happens
here, it is not school related. I
may call family or friends, hang
out with some friends, or just sit
and relax with my girlfriend at
home. I try to read when I can,
which is not as often as I would
like.
10:30 PM: Before I go to bed I
pack my bags for tomorrow, get
my clothes ready so I can grab
and go, and make sure my
lunch is packed. A good nights
sleep is essential to my mood,
because no one wants a surly
teacher.

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