My Routine

I like to have a routine. This might be my little way of feeling like I have some sort of control when everything else seems crazy. Though I'm only 6 days into the school year (less than 17 weeks till Christmas break!) I've already started trying to establish some sort of routine. So far, I've been at school before 7:00 am every day. Since the official school day doesn't begin until 8:10, I am usually one of the first in the building (the custodian and ROTC teacher always beat me there.)

My first stop is the teachers' lounge to put my lunch in the fridge and check my mailbox. Next, I usually have to make some sort of copies. The copy machine is in the very back of a room located at the very back of the Media Center. Since I'm there before the librarian, the media center is always completely dark. Unfortunately, I haven't located the light switch for the media center yet, so I fumble along in the dark till I can feel my way into the copy room. After making my copies (on days when the copy machine actually works) I make myself comfortable in my department chair's classroom, preparing for the day and pretending that I have my own room- until he shows up at 7:30. Fortunately, he is on saggy-pants duty in the mornings with most of the male faculty, so I have the room to myself again from 7:35 until 1st period begins.

I'm also discovering that teachers are required to do much more than lesson plan and teach. For the first 20 minutes of my planning period, I'm required to be on duty at the "Tardy Table." Basically, I sit at a table and record tardies and give passes to students who didn't make it into their classes before the bell. I actually look forward to this part of my day, because it's perfectly acceptable for me to sit and think about nothing in particular for 20 whole minutes.

I haven't set my routine for the second half of my day yet, no two afternoons have been the same so far.

Interesting conversation in 1st period World History:

-Me: What is a fortification? Does anyone know what that word means?

-Student: Isn't that like, having sex before marriage?

-Me: Um, no. That would be fornication. I'm referring to a wall or some form of defense....