A Day in the Life: Teacher’s Edition — Mrs. Rey

Distance learning has thrown us all a curve, but we hope that you have found your groove as we head into these final few weeks of school. The transition to full-time at-home learning would not have been possible without our amazing SLOCA teachers and staff. Today we have an extra special A Day in the Life post for you: Lower Middle school teacher, Wendy Rey, shares with us what a “shelter-in-place” day in the life looks like for her and her family.

One quick thing before you enjoy Mrs. Rey’s day: with all the changes and adjustments over the past couple of months, our typical week of Teacher Appreciation didn’t really happen. If you haven’t already, consider taking the time to find a way to show our SLOCA teachers how much you appreciate them and all they have done and are doing. It doesn’t have to be anything fancy, a simple thank-you email or a scanned hand-made picture from your child(ren) will make their day.

Now, settle in for A Day in the Life of Mrs. Rey.

7:30 am – 8:00 am – After spending the weekend out on the water on my paddleboard (my happy place), I wake up Monday morning thinking “Did I give my students the right Zoom link?”, “Did I get the grids attached correctly to the new homepage?”, “Am I prepared enough for our Zoom meeting today?”  “Do I really need to wash my hair?”. I try to push all these questions aside as I hop out of bed and head straight to the coffee pot. After some quiet moments of drinking my coffee, reading, and eating my all-time favorite breakfast, granola and yogurt, I open up my email (the scariest part of the day)..lol! 

8:30 am – In reading through my emails, this is where the “oooopsies” are revealed and I’m usually back peddling a little bit trying to fix things, although as time progresses they are fewer and further between. As I read on I am completely and utterly overwhelmed by the thoughtful and supportive emails from both parents and students as they express their gratitude and understanding of all we are trying to do and figure out. They often bring me to tears and I couldn’t be more grateful to forge these seas with such empathetic, kind, and courageous families. 

9:15 am – I now prepare for my math or core Zoom meeting, depending on the day. I make sure I have brushed my hair and freshened up the face to greet my students. Today I am searching for some review problems to help prepare the students for the end of the year assessment. I also make sure I have a game up my sleeve. Today is a simple game of Math Dice.

10:00 am – Hop on Zoom with my students. It’s truly the best part of my work week. I spend about an hour with my core students and 40 minutes with my math students. Our time is spent having Socratic discussions on the book we are reading, engaging in history simulations, practicing some math journal problems, and just talking about our weekends. It’s good to connect! 

11:15 am – I take a quick break to connect with my husband and son. Find out how everybody’s day is going so far and just check-in. We are all working/schooling from home together and often will need to figure out who will be on Zoom at what time and what part of the house will they need. I usually throw in a load of laundry and/or do a few dishes, but in all honesty, my kitchen often looks like this until one of us gets to it at the end of the day. I don’t know about you, but I feel like I am grocery shopping, cooking, eating, and cleaning dishes 50% of the time.

11:40 am – I usually begin planning my next video, whether it be Math, Literature, Writing, or Poetry. I begin plotting and planning with this goal in mind, keeping the students engaged and learning, with a few laughs along the way.

1:00 pm – LUNCHTIME 🙂 I love to sit on the back patio and enjoy a good meal. My husband, James, and I sit and chit-chat and just relax. Davis hops off his Zoom meeting and comes outside. We can’t wait to hear about how his day has gone and what he is learning. He shares what’s currently pressing in 60 seconds or less. Ummmmm, is that it? We LOVE to ask questions and usually can get 2-3 responses before he heads back inside. 

1:45 pm – 4:00 pm – Depending on the day, I usually spend this time finishing up videos, planning lessons, grading student work, working on the grids, connecting with our LMS team, etc. Today, I’ll be finishing up a Math video and yes, Davis and I both needed to use the same room. After the video, I was able to grade about 10 IEW writing assignments. I always feel so relieved after finishing the grading of writing assignments as it often feels like one of the toughest parts of my job for some reason.

4:00 pm – Time for a walk. My husband and I get out about 4-5 times a week on a 2-4 mile walk with our dog, Daisy. Our favorite route begins at the Butterfly Grove with a full circle through downtown Pismo. It’s been so essential for us both and we are so grateful to live where we do. Our son joins us about 25% of the time and today we GOT HIM 🙂 YEAH!

6:00 pm – DINNERTIME 🙂 Can you tell that I love sitting down for a good meal! Time to really relax. Too tired to cook tonight so we grabbed some burgers at In-and-Out and brought them back home.

7:00 pm – Check my email and lesson plans one last time to see if there is anything else I need to get done to be ready for tomorrow. I responded to a few emails and finished up some reading of The Tempest.

7:40pm – Tonight is chick-flick night. Living with only boys for the last 25+ years, you can imagine how many chick-flicks I have actually sat down to watch with my family. Good thing I like the Avengers! Tonight was my choice and we decided to watch Little Women. I know, shame on me for not watching it yet. James made the best bowl of popcorn for us. 

10:00 pm-10:30 pm – I snuggle in bed and listen to a book on Audible. I am currently listening to Sold on a Monday. 

11:00 pm – Asleep.

Thank you so much, Wendy for giving us a peek into your day. And a huge “thank you” to all our teachers and staff for the creative and flexible ways you have adapted in order to meet our students’ learning needs.

Photos used by permission of Wendy Rey.