I’m Bad at My Schedule

The schedule I have this year is, by far, the worst one I’ve had in 4 years.  It is not conducive to doing work.  Now, before I get too far ahead, let me say that I know it’s my fault.  I’m a huge procrastinator (should I do work? nah I’ll write in my blog!) and it takes quite a bit for me to jump into a stack of 80 labs.  But I have been pretty good so far at keeping up.

This year my planning (aka “off”) periods come at the beginning and end of the day.  So one day I’m sitting here half asleep, trying to wake myself up, drinking coffee, and staring at stacks of papers.  The next day I’m sitting at my desk after teaching 3 consecutive block periods (90 min), worn out and thinking about how I have time tomorrow morning to grade!  Days like today are the worst.  It’s Friday afternoon.  I have last period off.  I WANT TO LEAVE.  I’m going to tackle about 10 labs before I leave today.  At least, that’s what I’m telling myself right now.

Random side story:

This morning I was showing one of my classes a video called Kaboom!  They love it because it shows a ton of explosions.  One guy actually makes flour explode.  Pretty cool.  Anyway, while they’re watching quietly, I have the time to buy movie tickets for tonight.  If anybody has bought movie tickets from moviefone.com you know what’s coming next.  With my volume all the way up, the stupid computer yells, “THANK YOU FOR YOUR PURCHASE.  CLICK BELOW…” That’s when I hit the mute button.  So now 20 kids are staring at me.  “What did you buy?  What are you going to see?  WHO are you going with?”  Apparently “a friend” is not an acceptable answer.  Good thing they all have ADD.  Look!  An explosion!

Go Back To Sleep

Cnn.com has an article entitled “Falling asleep in class?  Blame biology“.  The article hits on the normal reasons of why teenagers sleep during the school day.  Not enough sleep, different biological rhythms, too much distractions, etc.  This is a huge topic at my school and in the district.  We start school at 7:30 am.  That’s early. Way too early for a teenager.  Even too early for me, a young teacher who hasn’t yet adjusted to an adult schedule.  This kids get up around 6 – 6:30 in order to get ready and get to school on time.  Some get up earlier to catch a bus.

You should see classes at 7:30.  I’ve never had a chatty 1st or 2nd period.  Not that I’m complaining about their silence, but they’re all effectively asleep.  It’s really difficult to get them going, to have any conversation or to get anything into their heads at that time.  They love getting out around 2pm.  So do I.  But I have to wonder what school would be like if we started an hour later.  I mean, I’d actually get to sleep till 7.  Since I fall asleep around 11-12 every night, that’d give me 8 hours of sleep! I really believe I’d be a better teacher.

What time did you guys start school?  I think my high school started around 8 am.