A day in the life...

Moving a little slow today.  I've been fighting the cold that is going around and I'm not sure who is winning yet.  So I show up a little later than usual and find two students waiting for me to help them with Mock Trial.  We work on that until the bell rings.  Somehow I manage to sneak out for a quick bathroom break and to get a cup of tea.
First period--Pre-calculus.  We are working on trig functions.  Right now, we are just doing some applied problems--review of SOHCAHTOA from geometry.  Most of them are pretty straightforward.    A couple of the students need help with the problem of the week.  "How do I do it?" they keep asking.  "Just start guessing!"  I repeat, again...
Why are they unwilling to try?  They are so afraid of being wrong that they won't even guess.  We've created a generation of academic cowards--students so frozen by fear of failure that they can't do anything at all without being led quietly, coddled and cosseted through the horrible jungle of uncertainty that is mathematics.  I do so hope this trend will be reversing soon.  I am seeing glimmers of hope in my younger students...
Between helping students with individual trig problems, I try to get some grading done.  It's hard to do with constant interruptions, but you do your grading where you can.  Towards the end of class, I double check that I am ready for the next class.  The flip side of teaching in a small rural high school is that I teach 6 different subjects.  Always changing gears.
My alarm goes off.  At the end of class, I count calculators--every class, every day.
Second period--Algebra 2.  We are beginning to study quadratics.  I have them using Fawn Nguyen's visual patterns.  Each group has a pattern.  I'm asking them to describe how the patterns grow, then predict, then find a formula for the nth pattern.  They struggle with this.  Describe in words, I tell them.  How do you see this growing?  What is it about the pattern that tells you it is quadratic?  They begin to see.  One group color codes the n squareds, the n's and the numbers.  Progress!
Alarm.  It's break.  Just enough time for a bathroom break and to get my act together for the next class.
Third period--Algebra 1.  We're working on systems of equations.  I am trying to find that mythical balance between skills and deeper understanding.  Last week was the deeper understanding. Today, we work on using elimination to solve systems.  I do one, they do one--boring!  We go back and forth until I can turn them loose to practice on their own.  Next week we will get to the razzle-dazzle.  Next week we will program the graphing calculators, but this week... I stifle a yawn.
I have five possible activities rattling around in my head for next week.   I spend most of my free time now lesson planning for common core.  It is this nebulous, five headed giant that I constantly try to appease.  There is so much information out there that it is impossible to sift through it all.  So much of it is still junk, but there are also some very good resources.  Still, I have to work through the activities myself.  For six different subjects.  Each week.  Time Suck!
Fourth period rolls around--Geometry.  This is a small group.  I try to generate interest.  They say "can't we just do a worksheet?"  We're doing similar triangles.  I would love to send them outside to measure some shadows, but it's too cold.  In fact, it's snowing right now.  There are no shadows to measure.  Maybe we can make a poster?  We could do the thing with the mirror, but it really is snowing outside.  I have created a Desmos activity for this group on quadrilaterals for when we finish similar triangles.  I'm hoping they'll get into that.  I'm excited about the Activity Builder.  That was one of those moments where I felt like asking "Am I really getting paid to do this?"
Finally it's lunch!  I grab a quick bite and head back to the classroom.  More work on Mock Trial.  We're cramming. Every year we run out of time.  Next year...
The bell rings--PREP!  I have less than an hour to do lesson plans for next week, grade whatever papers are there, sub plan for the day of Mock Trial, preview an activity or two, answer any e-mails, make out a shopping list for basketball concessions...
Oh, yeah, Calculus next period.  What are we doing there?  Do I remember how to show them to take the derivative of an exponential function?  How about the natural log?  I review the plan quickly--start with graphing... make predictions...  And how about 7th period?  Am I ready for them?  I have loaded their work onto Google Classroom.  I've just started using this tool.  So far it's gone pretty well.  I can see the possibilities looming.  I can also see that I have about half a million tricks and tips to learn--everything is a time suck.
Except for class!  It's Calculus time.  We do our graphs and make some predictions.  We look at where the derivatives of exponentials and logs come from.  We try some problems.  They remind me the girls will be gone for basketball tomorrow.  I hate that, but when you have a class with three students and two are gone... I give the girls the assignment they'll be missing.  Find time to change my lesson plan to account for the away game I forgot.
The bell rings--7th period.  The struggling class.  I struggle with this class. This class struggles with me.  Our intent was to offer a year of math to students who need another year of math but don't want to take Pre-calculus or Algebra 2.  Our intent was to offer something to 11th grade students who will be facing the SBAC at the end of the year.  I try to make it the "less stressful" class but it invariably ends up being more stressful.  I don't want it to be the "I'm preparing you for the test" class, but there are times when it simply works out that way.  I need to assemble a year's worth of high engagement/low frustration activities for this group.  They're not bad kids.  Earlier this year, we worked through Jo Boaler's "How To Learn Math" class online.  I'm hoping it might have opened some doors for them.  Maybe?
I think about Dan Meyer filming the water filling up the iced tea dispenser.  I need to do more things like that, but I also want to have a life outside of school and teaching.  Is that even possible?  Is it possible to be the teacher my students need and live the life I need as well?
The final bell rings.  I go back to looking for activities for Algebra 1.  I have an alarm set for 30 minutes after the final bell rings to remind me to go home.  Most day's I ignore it.