I don’t know about you, but I have been seeing a lot of social media posts and news articles about how there is a teacher shortage all over the country. Those articles really hit home with me, and how I have many teacher friends who have left the profession. So, I am going to share everything I do a day hoping this might shine a tiny light into why there is a teacher shortage. 

My Typical Day

Beginning of Day

My day normally begins about 5:30am and I’m out the door by 6:30am. While I’m on my way, I read/listen to a Bible reading plan and podcast by Tara-Lee Cobble from The Bible Recap. Then, I thank God that He has allowed me to teach my students and make a lasting connection with them. I, also, pray for each one of them – for each of their safety, home life, school life, anxieties, depression, etc. 

I arrive at school by 6:45am, and I am ready to start my day. This might be TMI… but I make sure to use the restroom as I am walking to my classroom because I am unsure if I will have time before my planning/lunch to do so. 

When the Students Arrive

The doors open at 7:00am for school to begin by 8:00am. Normally, I have several students who ride the 7:00am bus and are waiting for the doors to open. Not all of these students are in my first period. Some come to just hang out and we get to know each other. Others come to play with my robots and learn some computer science skills on CodeHS for the Computer Science Club that I sponsor. Still others come for math tutoring, and sometimes these are my students and sometimes they are not. 

While these students are waiting for the school day to start, I am also prepping my classroom for the day as I supervise them. Normally, I teach two different classes, which is referred to as having “2 preps”. (I know I am one of the lucky ones… some have 3+ preps a day.) So, for each of my classes, I am loading my lessons, finding my copies, making sure assignments have posted online, and making sure the notes can be found online – all the while, greeting the students by name as they come into the classroom for the day. 

Just some quick background, teacher contract times normally begin about 30 minutes before school starts and last until 30 minutes after school lets out. So, there are schools that schedule parent-teacher conferences before school starts because that is the most convenient time for all to meet. Also, during this time, teachers are performing bus duty and watching the students who are in the hallways and making sure they aren’t where they are not supposed to be. 

So, just to recap, before school even begins, I am supervising students, potentially having parent-teacher conferences, doing bus duty, getting ready for the day, teaching students new material, reviewing old material, and making relationships. 

Beginning of the School Day

Now, the bell rings at 8:00am to begin the school day. Someone comes over the intercom and we have a moment of silence, say the pledge of allegiance, and listen to any announcements. 

Beginning of First Class

Once the announcements are over, First Block begins and I have roughly 90 minutes to teach 30+ students. From day one, they know to switch out their phones for a calculator, getting out their warm-up papers to review previously learned material, pencils sharpened, homework finished and prepared with questions, and paper out ready to take notes before class begins. 

Bellringer

On the board is a warm-up slide which contains the date, what materials they need for the day, what we are doing in that class period, and a “bellringer”. (I have about 53 of these just for my Honors Algebra 1 class that I had to create in the summer because I don’t have enough time during the school year.) My bellringers consist of speed drills and word problems. There is a timer for them to finish both within 10 minutes so that I can go over any questions they may have and we can keep the class moving forward.

While they are working, I need to make sure I take attendance, mark students tardy, and individually help any students that are struggling. 

Homework Review

Once we finish with the warmup/bellringer questions, we move to a time where students can ask about any homework problems they did not understand. My job is to clarify at what point the confusion begins and how to help them understand where the step comes from and how it leads them to the correct answer. 

Quiz Time

After the review of the homework, the students take a 3 question quiz to check for mastery. This allows me to figure out if I need to review the material again before the test. 

The Lesson

Then, we move on to the content and it takes about 45 minutes to cover the material.

End of Class

An “exit ticket” is assigned at the end of class. This includes a rating of how they feel about the lesson, what the objective was for the day or what they learned, and at least one problem for them to practice. The problem is carefully chosen to challenge students for application of the lesson, not regurgitate the information. 

As they finish, they are to turn in the exit ticket form into their “mailbox” and begin the assigned homework until the bell rings for them to move to the next block. (We have 4 blocks a day and are on semesters.)

Once the bell rings, those students leave and approximately 30+ new students enter. This means that teachers have approximately 5-7 minutes to either restart the lesson they just taught or bring up the material for the second prep, greet the students as they come into the room, answer any questions they might have, and try to go to the restroom before the bell rings.

To me, that doesn’t sound horrible… BUT that’s all the outward portraying of the lesson. What you don’t see is everything that’s going on inside the teacher’s head and what he or she is watching out for and all the decisions he or she is making. 

What’s going through my head?

This is just a list of some of the things that I could think of that run through my head while teaching. 

• I am scanning the room looking at body language to see if they are understanding the material.
  • Eyebrow furrowing, tilting of head, writing notes, doing the problem before I can finish explaining it. 
  • How can I say this in a different way that makes sense to the students?
• How can I encourage the students who are not doing well? 
• Should I take any students out in the hallway to discuss one-on-one what is going on with them? 
• The classroom phone is ringing.
  • Did I take attendance?
  • Is someone leaving?
    • If so, what work do I need to tell them to do?
  • Did my GoGuardian timer run over to someone else’s block and I need to turn it off?
  • Does the front office, guidance, or admin need to see a certain student?
• How can I make learning math fun and have these students enjoy something they hate?
  • Show them the application in real life?
  • Fun activities?
  • Get to know them?
  • Tell jokes?
  • Stop and have a “brain break”?
  • Share a random story?
• How can I inspire them to be and do better (having high standards) without pushing too hard?
• Why is so-n-so acting this way? Is something going on at home? Or outside of the classroom? How can I help? How can I work on my behavior management with this student?
• Are the students distracted in any way?
  • Did they put up their phones and get a calculator for the day?
    • Do they have their phone because they need to contact some for some reason? 
    • Is there an emergency that they need to have a phone and not a calculator?
  • Are they on a tab on their Chromebook that they shouldn’t be?
    • Did I turn on GoGuardian so they couldn’t? 
    • Are they working on another class’s assignment instead of focusing on my class?
  • Are they talking to a neighbor when they shouldn’t be?
    • Why do they feel the need to talk if I am talking?
      • Maybe to figure out where we are?
      • Maybe to discuss something that they have going on in their personal life that can’t wait?
      • Maybe because they don’t understand and are acting out?
• Am I hitting all the indicators on my teacher evaluation rubric?
  • Am I walking around the room helping individual students?
  • Am I calling on volunteers and non-volunteers to answer questions?
  • Do I have them work in groups or pairs or whole-group?
  • Am I making sure to stress the objective so they know what they are learning that day?
    • Did I place the objective and corresponding standard on each slide so that I can get a 5 on my evaluation?
  • Am I asking higher-order questions?
• Am I abiding by all the behavior plans, IEPs, and 504 plans and are the students’ needs being met?
• Am I fulfilling all of the new ELL (English Language Learners) standards while I am teaching?
• Am I watching out for students that are being bullied or are on suicide watch?
• Answering ALL types of questions.
  • Can I go to the bathroom?
  • Can I go to guidance?
  • Do you have a bandaid?
  • Can I go to the nurse?
  • Can you go back to the previous slide?
  • How did you do that?
  • Where did that come from? 
  • How did you go from that step to the next?
  • I don’t understand. 
• What am I going to do if…
  • … we go into lockdown?
  • … we have an active shooter situation?
  • …  a fight occurs in the classroom?
  • … we have a bomb threat?
  • … we have a fire?

Important to Say:

… And all of that is just for ONE class. This same structure and questions happen for 3 blocks a day. 

Planning Block

The fourth block that I haven’t mentioned is the planning block. What happens during this time, you may ask? Well, the first thing I do is go to the restroom, then I grade papers, so that I don’t have to take my work home and can spend time with my family. This adds up to about 90+ papers for each assignment I have given and could take my whole plan or longer to grade depending on the assignment. I check my email and respond by being careful of how I word them. I make all of the copies that I can for the next few lessons.

Sometimes meetings are scheduled that I need to attend (IEP, 504, parent-teacher conference, PLCs). I adjust anything in the lesson that I feel they didn’t understand and I schedule the notes and assignments to post by 7:45am the next class day. Updating the pacing and schedule for my two different preps is a necessity to keep on track. There are times when talking to guidance and the administration is required to discuss different students and what I can do to help them. And lately, with the substitute shortage, we have been asked to watch other teachers’ classes. 

Advisory/Homeroom

There are two other times in the day I haven’t mentioned: advisory/homeroom and lunch. Advisory happens at least once every two weeks and maybe more (I’ve seen up to 3 times per week.) It is a 20 – 30 minute block of time that is set aside to teach different types of skills to a different set of 20+ students.  

This includes social and emotional topics, building relationships with teachers and classmates, learning about what types of jobs and career paths they can take. Other times, it might be to gather information on what the students want this time to be about and teach them about those topics. For instance, banking, how to write a check, how to address a letter, credit cards, taxes, how to apply to college, what to look for in a college, what colleges are out there, etc. It really is what the students and teachers want to make it. 

Some advisories are structured so that you see those students for all four years of their high school career and can mentor them the entire time. This also means that we are laying eyes on the same students and building a relationship with them. I see this as a great way to prevent bad things from happening and catching them early, if necessary. From a student stand point, I would want this teacher to write me a recommendation for college/scholarships one day since they have known me for four years! 

Lunch Time

Lastly is the 30 minutes-ish that is carved out for lunch in the middle of the day. I say 30-ish minutes because it takes about 5 minutes for the previous block’s students to pack up and move to their next block. It takes about 5 minutes (depending on what type of lunch you pack) to prepare your meal. That leaves about 15 minutes to eat, check on husband, wife, children, make any phone calls necessary and leave 5 minutes for you to pack up and make sure you are set for the class to come back both mentally and physically. 

End of School Day

So, eventually the 3:00pm bell rings and school is out for the day. However, there is always a potential for an after-school meeting!

I am mentally, physically, and emotionally drained. Then, I am going home to be a wife and a mom to a toddler. Shew! I don’t know how I do it!

Interesting thing I saw somewhere said that teachers make over 1,500 decisions a day. That is a tremendous amount! No wonder we are tired when we go home!

Why do I stay? 

With all this being said, teaching is hard and that’s an understatement. But why do I come back everyday? Well, I was once in a teaching interview and they asked a very weird question, but it has stood out to me. They asked, “If you died tomorrow, what would you want your obituary to say?” My immediate response was “I want to have made a difference in just one person’s life and it would all be worth it.” I know this is my “why”. I love teaching and being able to make a difference in a child’s life. 

My second “why” is that I get to show them Jesus everyday. Of course I can’t say that in school, but that doesn’t mean I can’t show them love, patience, kindness, goodness, graciousness, faithfulness, gentleness, and self-control! I might be the only “Jesus” they see and I want them to see how wonderful He is!

So, what do you think is contributing to the teacher shortage? Please comment and let me know!