So, people often ask me what my day looks like. Even though I'm a teacher I don't have a conventional classroom. Actually, my classroom is really a tiny room that was designated as a library & meeting space but we have turned it into a library/classroom space.
We will eventually build a school (once we raise $32,000+ if anyone wants to donate towards that you can do so here * designate for San Antonio del Mar Property Development & note for K-12 school building fund) but for now, we are using a very tiny room that has space for about 10 people if we squeeze them all in. And sometimes, we do just that.
My normal routine varies from day to day, and one of these days I'll sit down & write out a more detailed daily schedule for the entire week so you can see that but for now, I'll just do a typical day.
I normally arrive at the campus around 9:00 - 9:30am and head straight for the library/classroom. I have one student right now that joins me every morning (and a few that join me a few days a week and others only once a week, but I digress).
Landon, my every morning student, arrives between 9:30 and 9:45 in the mornings and we get started typically on Math right away. Landon, is 14 and is currently working through a 5-6th grade math workbook. I wrote about Landon on my missionary blog here so if you want to know a bit more about him & his love/hate relationship with math you can do so now. Basically, when we first started working together he despised math and would get about 2.5 pages done a week, we're talking a total of like 20 problems in one week. Now, however, we are sailing through. I'm pushing him super hard to get through so we can get him caught up to grade level.
I normally teach Landon from 9:30ish until 12:30ish and we work on Math, Spelling, Social Studies and Reading throughout the week. Some days we focus all on Math and other days we do a little bit of everything. Again, just depends on the day and the week and how focused Landon is.
A few mornings a week I am also working with a few other students on their homeschool work, mainly in the area of math or science. I typically also have a few other students once or twice a week in the classroom that my intern helps with their schoolwork. This can include word work, beginning reading strategies, number recognition, lapbooks, reading comprehension, and creative writing with some following directions thrown in there.
Sometimes, the local private school, that many of our missionary families attend, is out of school for holidays or teacher conferences and those students often CHOOSE to come and do school work with me in our classroom.
We have lunch all together with the rest of our community, cafeteria style. We have anywhere from 150-250 people on our campus at any given time and even more on the weekends when we have teams here building. I normally take this time to eat in my classroom while getting caught up on various other things like social media and creating more curriculum and activities.
Afternoons, again, vary but I may be tutoring a student in reading (in Spanish) or another in cursive handwriting or still another in high school science. Afternoons tend to be my one-on-one tutoring time with students who are attending local schools but need a little extra help in some areas. One student I get every Wednesday and we complete his homework together and then work on an area he is currently struggling with like Spelling or Handwriting.
I have also recently added a couple of students that are struggling with reading so I'm basically teaching them how to read fluently in Spanish as they are local Mexican kids. Never thought I'd be doing that but here I am.
Dinner is again served cafeteria style all together and I normally go home right afterwards. I'm fortunate enough to currently live off campus so I have a very clear separation of home and work. Although, like most teachers, I do tend to take my work home with me.
Evenings are normally spent in front of the TV with a random show playing for background noise or while a current housemate catches up on a favorite show. I am also working on my computer to create more curriculum and activities (that we sell on TeachersPayTeachers to earn money for our schools and of course we use them in our classrooms as well). I am usually doing this until around midnight or later, depending on how involved or how engrossed I am in the process.
Then I head to bed to read a bit before sleeping. I also typically use this time to catch up on any social media happenings or any of the hundreds of teachers I follow on Instagram and get some awesome ideas before falling asleep.
We will eventually build a school (once we raise $32,000+ if anyone wants to donate towards that you can do so here * designate for San Antonio del Mar Property Development & note for K-12 school building fund) but for now, we are using a very tiny room that has space for about 10 people if we squeeze them all in. And sometimes, we do just that.
My normal routine varies from day to day, and one of these days I'll sit down & write out a more detailed daily schedule for the entire week so you can see that but for now, I'll just do a typical day.
I normally arrive at the campus around 9:00 - 9:30am and head straight for the library/classroom. I have one student right now that joins me every morning (and a few that join me a few days a week and others only once a week, but I digress).
Landon, my every morning student, arrives between 9:30 and 9:45 in the mornings and we get started typically on Math right away. Landon, is 14 and is currently working through a 5-6th grade math workbook. I wrote about Landon on my missionary blog here so if you want to know a bit more about him & his love/hate relationship with math you can do so now. Basically, when we first started working together he despised math and would get about 2.5 pages done a week, we're talking a total of like 20 problems in one week. Now, however, we are sailing through. I'm pushing him super hard to get through so we can get him caught up to grade level.
I normally teach Landon from 9:30ish until 12:30ish and we work on Math, Spelling, Social Studies and Reading throughout the week. Some days we focus all on Math and other days we do a little bit of everything. Again, just depends on the day and the week and how focused Landon is.
A few mornings a week I am also working with a few other students on their homeschool work, mainly in the area of math or science. I typically also have a few other students once or twice a week in the classroom that my intern helps with their schoolwork. This can include word work, beginning reading strategies, number recognition, lapbooks, reading comprehension, and creative writing with some following directions thrown in there.
Sometimes, the local private school, that many of our missionary families attend, is out of school for holidays or teacher conferences and those students often CHOOSE to come and do school work with me in our classroom.
We have lunch all together with the rest of our community, cafeteria style. We have anywhere from 150-250 people on our campus at any given time and even more on the weekends when we have teams here building. I normally take this time to eat in my classroom while getting caught up on various other things like social media and creating more curriculum and activities.
Afternoons, again, vary but I may be tutoring a student in reading (in Spanish) or another in cursive handwriting or still another in high school science. Afternoons tend to be my one-on-one tutoring time with students who are attending local schools but need a little extra help in some areas. One student I get every Wednesday and we complete his homework together and then work on an area he is currently struggling with like Spelling or Handwriting.
I have also recently added a couple of students that are struggling with reading so I'm basically teaching them how to read fluently in Spanish as they are local Mexican kids. Never thought I'd be doing that but here I am.
Dinner is again served cafeteria style all together and I normally go home right afterwards. I'm fortunate enough to currently live off campus so I have a very clear separation of home and work. Although, like most teachers, I do tend to take my work home with me.
Evenings are normally spent in front of the TV with a random show playing for background noise or while a current housemate catches up on a favorite show. I am also working on my computer to create more curriculum and activities (that we sell on TeachersPayTeachers to earn money for our schools and of course we use them in our classrooms as well). I am usually doing this until around midnight or later, depending on how involved or how engrossed I am in the process.
Then I head to bed to read a bit before sleeping. I also typically use this time to catch up on any social media happenings or any of the hundreds of teachers I follow on Instagram and get some awesome ideas before falling asleep.
As you can see, my day isn't like a normal classroom teacher's day. Mine is varied and all over the place. So, what does your day look like? Let me know in the comments below.
Until next time, you can find me over on Facebook in our exclusive new Facebook group, Education for Esperanza: Tips & Tricks for the Unconventional Classroom or our new Facebook Page, Education for Esperanza. I will be sharing freebies, goodies, tips and showcasing some of our newest activities and some unconventional ways to use them in your classroom. I will also have the occasional giveaway & sale just for you!
Until next time, you can find me over on Facebook in our exclusive new Facebook group, Education for Esperanza: Tips & Tricks for the Unconventional Classroom or our new Facebook Page, Education for Esperanza. I will be sharing freebies, goodies, tips and showcasing some of our newest activities and some unconventional ways to use them in your classroom. I will also have the occasional giveaway & sale just for you!
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