Saturday, 23 May 2009

A Typical Day

I thought I'd run through one of my typical days in school:

0810: Arrive at school.

0815: Photocopying: I would make sure I had all my masters with me when I arrived so I could hit the photocopier immediately. I'd then head to the classroom and lay them out in the correct order for the day's lessons.

0830: Admin time: Depending on the day of the week I would check the equipment for lesson 1, do any odd jobs I had or attend a staff briefing.

0850: I'm back at the classroom by now ready for my form group to arrive for registration.

0855: Registration: Much to the annoyance of some of the rogues in my form group I am a stickler for punctuality. I always begin reading the register at 0855 on the dot.

0858: Assembly or form time: Depending on the day of the week I either lead my form group to assembly or we'd have some form time. During form time I would complete any admin tasks, have the children read quietly or we might discuss something topical.

0920: Lesson 1.

1020: Break: I quickly check everything is ready for lessons 2 and 3. I'd then head for the kettle and have a quick cuppa and some biscuits. If I had any outstanding photocopying I'd try and finish that. Once a week I would be on duty on the yard.

1035: Lesson 2.

1135: Lesson 3.

1235: Lunch: The first thing I would do is check everything was ready for lessons 4 and 5. I'd then have another cuppa and bite to eat. If I had a backlog of marking I would spend most of lunchtime finishing that. It's not uncommon to eat and work at the same time. I'm fortunate that I don't have any lunchtime duties.

1335: Registration: Again, I always begin promptly so that my form group get to their next lesson on time.

1340: Lesson 4.

1435: Lesson 5.

1530: End of school: The children go home, but I don't just yet.

1530: Admin time: If there was nothing pressing I could go home shortly after the children, although I am normally busy doing something. I would make sure that the equipment was ready for the following morning. I might also try and do some planning or marking. I'm often doing this until about 1700 hrs unless there's directed time/departmental meeting.

1600: Directed time/departmental meetings: A couple of nights a week there will be directed time (meetings/training the teachers are contractually obliged to attend) or departmental meetings. These finish at about 1700 hrs.

1700: Go home: I finally get to go home for the evening. Hopefully I can relax when I get there.