A Day in the Life of a Tech Teacher

I love summer. I sit at home, reading, researching, chatting with friends. I make my own schedule, own my own time, start and finish a project without interruptions.

That is a massive high to me.

Why? I’m a tech teacher. That is like a geek+. I teach–yes–but I’m also the first line of defense (sometimes offense) for colleagues as they struggle to use the digital devices populating their classrooms. From the moment I step foot on campus, life spins out of my control. Here’s a typical day–does it sound familiar:

6:45    arrive at school

6:47    a student enters to use lab

6:48   I greet student with a friendly hi and begin work on a lesson plan

6:49    Student asks for help

7:00   Student finishes and leaves; I return to my lesson plan

7:02   Frantic teacher calls–her computer won’t boot up. She came in early to work and now what’s she supposed to do can I come right away?

7:03   I arrive in teacher classroom to help

7:05   Her computer works (maintenance folk unplugged it last night–who knows why)

7:07   Return to my lab, find a student waiting, jumping from one foot to the other. His printer ran out of ink at home can he use mine?

7:08  His parent who arrived with him wants to chat

7:18   Parent and child leave happy

7:19   I return to work on my lesson plan

7:30   I report for yard duty–managing the students arriving for classes until their teachers are ready to receive them.

8:00  I return to my classroom and throw together the balance of the lesson plan for my 8:15 class

8:02   A teacher calls. Her students can’t get on the internet. Can I help?

8:12   I get back from solving the problem (student was logged in wrong) and run around checking computers, make sure my digital devices survived the night.

8:15   My class arrives. I can’t help but smile as I see their excitement. Everyone loves computer lab time.

8:45   A teacher arrives, face stressed, shoulders tight, knuckles white. She has a tech problem. I smile and tell her I have a break at 9. I’ll come right over.

9:00  Students out, I go to help. She can’t find her slideshow. We try a few search options (ordering columns by name, using the ‘search’ function) and find her slideshow. She’s smiling as I leave

9:15   My next class arrives. I’m booked until lunch time. I ignore all forms of communication–even visitors.

12:15 Students arrive to use computers during lunch. Luckily, I have a small frig in my room so I don’t have to leave. They work while I eat (hiding behind my monitor–I hate having people see me eat).

12:45 Second group of students arrive for their lunch hour. I work on a school tech vision document while they work. They’re older so pretty much ignore me, which suits me fine.

1:15 Two back-to-back classes, one a lower school and one middle school. I struggle to juggle the different ages (they giggle when I call them 2nd graders). Sometimes, it’s easy because they’re working on projects.

2:45  I respond to parent emails. This must be done daily. I understand parents’ need to get questions answered in a timely manner.

3:00 Parent arrive to pick up students and chat about classes, quizzes, projects. Students arrive for extra help or simply to use the computers. I finish with parents and work on school tech issues until 4.

4:00  I leave–or work late. It depends upon what needs to be done.

What haven’t I done yet? Here’s a list:

• graded projects
• prepared future lesson plans
• helped teachers integrate tech into their class projects
• planned and organized in-house PD on tech
• worked on my class website and blog
• mentored new teachers on tech
• communicated with my PLN

I collected a list of what my efriend tech teachers do with their days. Read it–you won’t believe it!

I know–this sounds crazy. But there is never a boring moment.  My brain always chugs along on high. I never think rote is right. What’s not to love about that?

A few other articles you might enjoy on ‘day in the life’. Here’s a walk through Brittney Sanderson’s classroom, Princeton Review’s take on a teacher’s day, and  Parenting’s look at the day of an inner city school teacher.

What’s your day like? Do you get a break every two hours–or every eight hours?

Jacqui Murray has been teaching K-18 technology for 30 years. She is the editor/author of over a hundred tech ed resources including a K-12 technology curriculum, K-8 keyboard curriculum, K-8 Digital Citizenship curriculum. She is an adjunct professor in tech ed, Master Teacher, webmaster for four blogs, an Amazon Vine Voice, CSTA presentation reviewer, freelance journalist on tech ed topics, contributor to NEA Today, and author of the tech thrillers, To Hunt a Sub and Twenty-four Days. You can find her resources at Structured Learning.