female student : Miss, you got kids?

me : No. No I don’t. Why?

fs : I was just wondering. It seems like you do.

me : Gotta get that boyfriend first, ya know?

fs : My uncle’s a good resource!

me : (LOL)

fs : I’m just saying…You have my house number, Miss.

setting : I am showing some seniors how to use layers and style sheets to build their e-portfolios.

student : “Miss, you’re a G!”
student : “Yeah, you’re so good…why don’t you make web sites instead of working here?”
me : “Cuz I like working with you guys better. You’re more fun. You keep me learning too.”
student (smiles) : “aaaaw miss!”
student : “I told you! She’s a G!”

Here’s how my day went today :

Wake up late and balance the coffee and the nano on the 45 min drive to Dorchester. Decide that my playlists are boring and listen to sports radio talk incessantly about how badly we want Santana to come to town. NOT the guitarist, folks.

Just in time 7:55 am for my first period study hall at 8:00. Dump the coat and the coffee and the computer on the desk as kids stroll in.

Take attendance. Walk around check that everyone’s on task… “Printing out the Patriots’ schedule is not an assigment…” Have student with “nothing to do” rip sound fx cds for me into iTunes in the lab. Have another student give me feedback on the updated “For students” section on the school’s web site.

8:25 my room becomes the tardy room.

Sip luke warm coffee. Start up my computer.

Log into the gradebook software. Enter attendance.

8:35 Check my messages. I mean…check my Outlook email…26 new messages…Check my gmail email…35 unread messages…and Bloglines alerts me : 676 new items! Oh and 1 voicemail on the phone. A chat line pops up from Hotmail…”Hello Boston! What time is it there?” from my UK friend…I reply to a survey about a social community portal for our alumni…read the bulletin from the BTU…”Attached is the grant I think we should go for…” YIKES! due in 2 weeks…Important deadlines for Masters in ET candidates…copy and paste an already late news article into the school’s web site…FTP changes and test the links…

8:50 “Ms. may I go to the bathroom?” Sign the pass. Walk around check - “Show me the progress you made today. Is there anything you need help with?” Collect time sheets from a student-consultant who is building a web site for a client under my supervision.

Sip cold coffee.

9:00 I have 14 freshman coming in 10 minutes. What are we doing today? Get the class folder. Read the post-it I left myself on Tuesday…Ah yes, teach them CSS today.

Write objectives, agenda, product, homework on the board. Hook up laptop to projector. Turn projector on. Launch the DONOW from my web site. Orient the SMART board.

9:08 Enter classwork grades for study hall students into the gradebook.

9:09 Check schedule again. Realize I am teaching in a different room next period!

9:10 Bell rings.

Unhook laptop. Turn off projector. Pile coat onto computer and go next door. Leave coffee.

9:14 Freshman enter the lab. Write and talk through the objectives, agenda, product, homework on the board. Hook up laptop to projector. Turn projector on. Launch the DONOW from my web site. Orient the SMART board. Take attendance in gradebook.

9:25-9:40 Have students copy & paste CSS into their web pages. Explain the code. Explain RGB color coding. “Ms something’s wrong with my laptop…” Pair students together.

9:45 Tardy student walks in. No laptop. No notebook. No pencil. Speak to student in hallway. Assign him homework hall after school with me on Monday. Direct him onto a lab machine and to the web site for make-up Photoshop assignment.

9:55 Direct students to the homework assignment on the web site. The network connection is lost. Pass out hard copies from the class notebook. Review the rubric.

10:15 - class ends.

FINALLY GO TO THE BATHROOM! Put my salad in the fridge. Microwave this morning’s coffee. Teacher in teacher’s room asks me “so how do I get my web site online too?”

10:30-11:30 show teacher how to build a web page in Dreamweaver and FTP it.

11:30-11:40 “Eat” (inhale) salad.

11:50 Back to class! Junior video class comes into the lab.”What are we doing today?”

Write objectives, agenda, product, homework on the board. Hook up laptop to projector. Turn projector on. Launch the DONOW from my web site. Orient the SMART board. Take attendance.

12:05-12:30 Mediate a heated debate among team members over the topic of their movie. “Is it about bullying or depression?” “I don’t wanna do this anymore.” “No one’s listening to me.” OK, let’s listen to each other. “Oh I get what you’re saying.” “yeah that’d actually be fire.”

12:30 - 12:50 review & approve storyboards, assign cameras, stations and tapes to the teams.

1:00 class ends. FINALLY! A free block!

New teacher comes in “This is definitely the worst day ever.”

1:00-2:00 A support session that turns into a planning meeting that turns into “hey have you seen this on You Tube?”…

2:00 Study hall next door begins.

Take attendance. Walk around check that everyone’s on task… “Printing out the Patriots’ schedule is STILL not an assigment…” Have student with “nothing to do” rip the last of the sound fx cds for me into iTunes in the lab. Have another student give me feedback on the home page of the school’s web site.

2:20 Seniors are dismissed. Joy! The room empties. I get an email inviting me to a Flash meeting between a group of lead teachers and principals in England. Accept the invitation, and the empty room fills with British accents!

3:00 My room turns into the detention room. “Ms Radden this student claims it was OK that he was using a P2P program to find an MP3 to complete your project, even though it crashed our network this morning.” I review that my students in fact sign an AUP for the school and a laptop policy for my class in which p2p usage is not acceptable in any manner. “Done. Suspension.” I move next door.

3:10 My room already is the photography class. I don a headset and continue to listen in on the Flashmeeting. We arrange another meeting for next week. I must get coverage for the study. Find a webcam. And a room!

3:45 Off to Cambridge for my research methods class! Round and round Brattle street til I spy an open meter.

5:30 - 7:30 Show up tardy to class. No laptop. No notebook. No pencil. We review how to transcribe and code our interviews. But I haven’t conducted my interview yet. The BPS has not approved my proposal, and my ipod died 2 weeks ago. Make a checklist : buy audio recorder.

7:25 A quick check-in with my Professor before class ends as to what plan B is. Plan B is simply : I MUST conduct an interview next week. It has to be Monday after school.

Home by 8:00 - Springsteen takes me there (even his old songs still sound fresh).

Online by 8:30. And here I am…

setting : a teacher just caught a student plaigarising.

teacher : “You’re a plaigarist!”
student : “No I’m not! I only got ONE girlfriend!”

setting : me walking into my homeroom this morning

female student (all in one breath) : “Good morning miss, nice boots, nice vest, nice skirt, miss, you lookin SPICEY today!”

setting : me dragging into homeroom after visiting my father in the hospital.

student : ”Miss, you look blue today.”
me : ”Yes, I am.”
student : “What’s wrong?”
me : “Someone I love is sick, and I’m worried about him.”
student : “I’m sorry.”
me : “Thank you.”
student : “Just remember, Miss, time heals all wounds.”

setting : out of nowhere in the middle of a lesson, one irrelevant random question leads me off topic and into an embarrassing ( and yet amusing ) conversation.

student : ”Miss did you get a haircut?”
me : ”Oh yes…”
student : “Cuz you needed one. Looks nice.”
me : ”Oh, I know. I did. Thank you. I mean, you really shouldn’t…”
student :“Miss are you married?”
me : ”No - ”
student : “Why not? You’re so pretty.”
me :  “Oh that’s very sweet but…”
student : “Do you have a boyfriend?”
me :  “No.”
student : “Why not?”
me :  “I don’t know. I just don’t.”
student : “But why?”
me :  “I used to but not anymore.”
student : “Why what happened?”
student :“Did he cheat on you?”
me :  “Uh, no, it just didn’t work out.”
student : ”He totally cheated on you, didn’t he?”
student : “I can hook you up, Miss.”
student : “Yeah she can get you on singles.com.”
me :  “Oh thank you, but really, I’m OK -”
student : “Do you have myspace pictures?
student : ”She can hook you up with mad pictures, miss.” 
student : “Do you pose?”
student : “Yeah you gotta pose.”
me :  ”OK then that’s enough of the 411 on me, folks…”

setting : I assigned the students to search salary.com for a technology job in the Boston area. Most were impressed by the amount of money a web developer could make. Then one student looked up “teacher” and the following dialogue occurred.

student A : “YO MISS! Teachers is mad strapped!”
student B :  “NO WAY!”
student A : “You gotta quit this scene, Miss, go out and make that money!”
student C : “Yeah Miss, don’t you want that house on the hill?”
student B : “Yeah you gotta make that money and get that house on the hill…”
student C :  “…and invite us all over for a party!”
student A :  “For REAL!”