Teacher Talk Tuesday

Hello and happy Tuesday!

Since the start of the school year has been a bit different the past couple of years, I thought it would be fun to capture what I’ve been up to as a teacher leading up to the first day of school. I’m always curious what others do at work and how they spend their time.

*Warning* this post did turn into more of a *long* diary of sorts! The English teacher in me loves to write.

Anyway…summer break is over…

To start the school year, we have professional development. We are required to get 24 hours of PD in a school year.

Before 2022, we always met with our departments for six hours one day the week before school started. Then, the Monday before school starts, we have six hours of professional development at school. The Tuesday before students arrive, we have a long faculty meeting and a couple of hours to work in our rooms. That meant, we had to do the other twelve hours of the required 24 hours of PD on our own either in the summer or throughout the year which is my preferred method.

I like choosing my PD in the summer rather than being told which sessions I have to go to. Also, we’ve moved to coming in seven school days before the students to get contract days in as well as 24 hours of PD. Some of this shift did happen because a couple of years ago, we moved to a week long fall break, so that’s three days teachers have to now work ahead of time. Of course, I understand having to work our contract days, but I would prefer for those to be sprinkled in throughout the year. I feel like I lose a week of summer now.

So – here’s how I’ve spent the past seven school days…before the students have arrived:

Monday, August 5th:

We did six hours of professional development at my school. Typically, we’re in groups, and we rotate through six hours of sessions. We do get an hour for lunch. This year, the English department is getting new textbooks, so instead of rotating through sessions in the morning, we met as a department with two district instructional coaches who led us through the new curriculum. We did end up having about an hour in our PLCs (professional learning communities) to start planning. I met with my English 1 people to map out unit 1.

After an hour for lunch, we did rotate through three sessions in the afternoon. We were finished at 3:30. I did go work in my room for about thirty minutes, and then left at 4:00 to go home.

Tuesday, August 6th:

We were supposed to have a convocation at Rupp Arena, but a couple of weeks ago we found out that it was cancelled.

A little back story – We had a convocation a couple of years ago, and that’s not my favorite way to start the year. We had to meet at school, ride buses to Rupp, and sit through the three hour convocation. Then, we got back on the buses, ate lunch at school, and had three hours of PD at school.

Last year, they did three days of district PD at the Central Bank Convention Center which is connected to Rupp. I will spare you the details, but it came with a lot of issues too. Parking was a disaster, sessions were over-crowded, and more.

Anyway, because of the previous two years when we wished we’d just been given a work day in our classrooms, teachers in our district have been up in arms after seeing this convocation on the calendar. Eventually, the news did a report after an open records request, and the findings included the fact that the district was spending over $25,000 on the speaker and it also costs to rent Rupp. The district instead gave us a work day in our rooms. (Sorry – that was a long back story)

So, last Tuesday, we worked in our rooms from 8:30-3:30. With no meetings scheduled, it was amazing! I got my room in order and started working on things like my syllabus. I also had time to meet with the district technology person for help with Canvas which is our platform for assigning work.

And…our principals grilled hot dogs and hamburgers, and teachers brought sides and dessert. We all got to hang out for an hour during lunch. It was a really thoughtful idea, and it was a great work day.

*Look at the charcuterie board our foods teacher made:

So cute!

We do still have to make up six hours of professional development since we had a work day instead of PD. Our admin has planned to add PD to our faculty meetings throughout the year.

Wednesday, August 7th:

This day was another professional development day at school. BUT…our school was being used as a “hub” for professional development sessions for para educators in our district. So, our admin had to “pivot” and we had three different PD sessions via Zoom. It felt like 2020 all over again, but I appreciated being at home in the morning.

Then, after lunch, we were to find somewhere to meet with our PLCs to work for three hours. My group met at the public library from 1:00-4:00. We pretty much finished planning out all of unit 1 which was a huge accomplishment.

Thursday, August 8th:

This was another professional development day, and this time, everyone in the district went to different hubs. We signed up for sessions online at our assigned hub. All elementary teachers went to one school, middle school to another, and so on. Some hubs were even more specific for intervention or world language. I did go to the intervention hub. We had five sessions with an hour and a half for lunch in the middle of the day. I actually got a lot out of this day, and now have 18 of the 24 hours that are required for the year.

Once I got home, I took the kids and a couple of their friends to school to walk their schedules. It was neat seeing them find their way.

Friday, August 9th:

We had a work day in our classrooms with no meetings scheduled. Yay!

It was the new teacher orientation in the morning, and I had to stop by at my assigned time to share about academic resources and intervention opportunities for students.

Then, I used the rest of the day to continue working on curriculum, figuring out Canvas, printing things like our bell schedule and phone list. I also just continued to get organized and get a handle on my emails. I had almost 100 unread…& now I’m down to five. 😂

Monday, August 12th:

We always have Open House after Labor Day, but this year we have a new principal this year. He scheduled Open House for last night. Since we were going to be at school until 7:30, he scheduled our day to start at 11! So, we arrived at school, had catered lunch, and then had a faculty meeting that lasted a couple of hours. The rest of the time, we could work in our room, and then Open House was from 5:30-7:30. I really liked having our day structured like this, and I was able to meet quite a few students last night.

Tuesday, August 13th:

Today, is one more work day in our rooms. I am meeting with my PLC for an hour just to keep working on lessons for the new units using our new textbooks, and then I’m meeting with my co-teacher to take a look at what we will have the students work on this week, I definitely plan on leaving by 3:30, and soaking in the last little bit of free time before school starts tomorrow!

We always start the school year on a Wednesday which means we have a three day week with students. Then, the following week, the students don’t have school on Friday, so it’s a four day week. I always think this is such a great way to ease into the school year.

We did find out that we can use “flex” time on that Friday which means as long as we fill out the form with what we work on outside of our contract hours, we can stay home that day. Usually we don’t have that option, so I appreciate that opportunity.

I will say with working all these days before the students arrive, I’m always ready for the students to walk through the door!

This year will look different for me. I will have a few classes this year which I haven’t had since 2019. I have two co-teach classes, one advanced class, and then two hours of intervention. I’m excited to have students again, but it will be interesting to navigate as I have some of my kids’ friends in my classes!

With tomorrow being the first day of school, I doubt I will have time for a blog post. Hopefully, I will be back on Thursday.

Have a great day!