Typical Day
The time is 5:45AM, it's a beautiful Tuesday morning and...
SLAM.
Ms. Penelope Purple—a special education teacher at Shmoop High School—hits her snooze button. She was up late last night grading papers, and she wants to catch just a few more minutes of sleep before...
Gooooood morning. The time is 6:05AM, it's a beautiful Tuesday morning and it's really time for Ms. Purple to wake up—she's already late.
Ms. Purple takes a quick shower and throws on some comfortable jeans and tennis shoes. She stuffs a big pile of papers into her bag and heads toward the door. She drops her stuff by the door and runs back to her office. She meant to print out one of her student's updated Individualized Education Plans last night, but for some reason decided to wait until the morning. She checks the time—6:38AM. She's going to be late.
No time for breakfast, she grabs a browning banana from her kitchen table and heads out the door.
She pulls into the school parking lot around 7:00AM. Just on time—thankfully traffic was light. She even has time to grab some coffee from the teacher's lounge.
At 7:15AM—and after a few cups of coffee—Ms. Purple unlocks her classroom. She begins by writing the agenda for the day on the whiteboard. She checks her email and reviews her lesson plans. The students in her special education English class yesterday really enjoyed the book they're reading. In fact, they asked so many questions that Ms. Purple wasn't able to get as far in the book as she wanted. They need to finish up chapter four before moving on, so it looks like everything else she has planned for the week will have to be bumped back.
As a teacher, you'll come to understand that the classroom is a black hole of sorts.(Source)
As she makes the adjustments to her lesson plans, there's a knock on the door. Mr. Science—the aptly named biology teacher—enters and asks Ms. Purple if she has a few seconds to chat.
He's concerned about a couple of Ms. Purple's students in his second period class. They seem to be falling behind and are at risk of not passing the class. Ms. Purple thanks him for checking in, and asks how she can help. Ten minutes later, she's armed with a new set of tools to help the struggling science students—she'll work with them during their fourth period study hall class.
At 7:45AM, the special education instructional aide arrives and Ms. Purple goes over the changes in the day's lesson plans and the different activities that she has planned. She goes over any updates in each student's IEP and then asks the aide to make some photocopies of a worksheet they'll be using later in the day.
The warning bell rings at 7:55AM, and the students are all in their seats by 8:00AM—well, most of them. There are a few stragglers.
Ms. Purple goes over the plans for first period—special education English—while the aide goes around and stamps the homework from the previous night. The class is catered towards students who struggle with various reading and writing skills. The individualized attention they receive here will not only help them become better readers and writers, but it will help them in their general education classes as well.
It takes the class a little while to wake up, but soon they're off and running—er—reading. By the time the bell rings, they're all caught up to where they need to be. On the way out, one of Ms. Purple's students asks if he can come in and take his math test during sixth period—his IEP accommodations allow him to take tests in other classrooms if it helps him focus. Ms. Purple tells him that'd be fine, and asks her aide to pick up the test from the math teacher.
The plans for second period are the same. Unfortunately, this group is a little chattier than first period, and they're easily distracted. Ms. Purple finally gets them on track, but first they have a group discussion about respect and how they should behave in the classroom.
Third and fourth periods are both study hall periods. Ms. Purple and her aide meet with the students, and assist them as needed with various assignments. The students check in with both instructors, and chat about what assignments they're working on in other classes and if they're struggling with anything. In order to track their work, Ms. Purple has the students fill out a chart to show what they're working on and if they brought the necessary materials to accomplish their tasks.
Ms. Purple and her aide spend the next two hours going around from student to student and assisting them as needed. The students are all working on different assignments, so Ms. Purple needs to be able to move from one desk to the next, helping one and moving onto another. It's exhausting—but rewarding. The feeling that Ms. Purple gets when a student has a breakthrough cannot be beat.
At 12:00PM, the lunch bell rings. Ms. Purple reminds the students to fill out the rest of their charts—scoring themselves on their productivity for the period. She'll go through them before she goes home and will double check their scores. Some students are a little too generous when it comes to self-grading.
Ms. Purple enjoys a second of silence once the last student leaves for lunch, then gets back to work. She needs to prepare for an IEP meeting that's scheduled to take place that afternoon. As the printer spits out sheet after sheet of paper, Ms. Purple stands idly by, enjoying every bite of her turkey sandwich.
Suddenly the bell rings, signaling the end of lunch. There's never a break for Ms. Purple.
The students return, and Ms. Purple is ready for battle. The students are all buzzed up after lunch, and it takes Ms. Purple a little while to settle the class down. Ms. Purple and her aide pass out the books they'll be reading in class, and let the students know that they really do need to get to work. As Ms. Purple begins reading, the aide goes around stamping homework.
A substitute teacher enters and relieves Ms. Purple to go to the IEP meeting. Ms. Purple reminds the class to be respectful of the substitute, preps the sub on the plans, grabs the IEP paperwork, and leaves.
The IEP meeting goes well. Ms. Purple meets with a representative from the district, the student, her parents, and the student's general education teachers. They discuss the students progress in her classes, things she struggles with, and any possible adjustments to the student's IEP. All-in-all it's relatively smooth.
Sixth period is another study hall class, and Ms. Purple returns to class and is pleased to hear the students didn't torture the substitute too much. This class is a bit smaller than the earlier ones, thus a little easier on Ms. Purple and the aide. The student from first period comes back to take his math test, and the rest of the students get to work. Again, Ms. Purple circulates—checking in with each student individually and helping as needed.
The bell rings and the students file out. Ms. Purple doesn't have a class during seventh period, and while a stretch of six consecutive classes can be tough, having her prep period at the end of the day helps her unwind.
She meets with her aide and they discuss everything that happened over the course of the day—who was especially well behaved, who needs help in what subjects, and any other pressing issues.
The aide heads home, but Ms. Purple stays a little later. She has to finish up grading some papers, and she knows that she'll be much more productive at school than at home.
Ms. Purple finally takes off around 4:30PM. She's exhausted, but fulfilled. She gets home, crashes on the couch, and watches sitcom reruns to help clear her mind.