Today we hear from Sarah Billings Wheeler:
I currently teach full-time at a 6-12 public school in NYC; the schedule below is how I live my life once the school year starts. I teach grades 6,7,8,9,11 and 12th, with each grade (except for 9th) seeing me for four classes a week. I also have a 10th grade advisory that I see once a week.
This is a pretty typical schedule for a full-time dance teacher in a NYC school. As you can see, it is full and there is little time for anything else but the job, which is one of the reasons why I need to make some changes soon in my life. The schedule below is for last week, which is the week leading up to the end-of-marking period and when end-of-term grades are due.
I began teaching in the NYC public schools in September of 2005 after working for six years as a teaching artist for American Ballroom Theater's Dancing Classrooms program. My motivation to become a full-time dance teacher was to be able to share more of my dance background with students and to be able to work with them for a full year. At that time, I felt confined by teaching only six dances in a short residency.
As my husband was just starting his college studies, I needed a job with benefits and a regular salary. My first school was a middle school in the Bronx. In my second year there, the school was notified that it was to be shut down for poor performance by the Bloomberg-Klein regime. The school had restructured and test scores were improving, but it was too little, too late. It was a tough school, but I had the support of my arts colleagues and my Assistant Principal.
After my third year, I moved from that school on to a small college prep high school in Brooklyn where, at first, I was the only arts teacher. It was there that I discovered my love for teaching high school kids. Their naive enthusiasm and optimism can simultaneously be a source of inspiration and frustration, but they are aware of their learning process. Seeing them grow up over four years and go off to college is extremely rewarding. There is so much change that happens over those four years.
I'm back teaching middle school again in this (my fourth) school and am having to adjust to the needs of that age level. It is very different, but I am learning.
Tuesday, 1/16:
Wake at 5:15am. I have the cold from hell and got very little sleep due to fits of coughing. It is going to be a rough day.
Bathe, pack lunch, fix breakfast, walk dog at 6:35am, and set things up for the dog walker. Pack decongestants so my head can stay clear. Try to get out the door by 7:10am.
Arrive at school at 7:35-40am, depending on traffic.
I have a prep first period and a grade meeting with my AP. Tape the floor, labeling the floor spots for the 6th graders. Sweep, tidy classroom, and make sure all of my materials are set and ready to go. Bring grade info up to meeting; meeting ends up being short.
Teach 3 classes from 9:50 - 12:09. After leading through the warm-up and some standing exercises, the 6th and 7th are working on rotation studies. 12th grade is learning some sections from Kurt Jooss' death solo from "The Green Table."
Lunch, where I pop another decongestant and down some water.
Teach two more classes: 8th grade and 11th. Still working on Jooss material in those classes.
Tuesdays are the days we stay to do teacher work and parent outreach, but the phone in the office is usually in use, so I wait until after 3:30 to make some calls. During the hour from 2:30-3:30 I do some grading of work and data entry into our online school grade system. We are approaching the end of the term, so I need to make sure attendance and grades are all logged in.
4:10, packed up and going to the car. Some parents were chatty, so my calls took longer than expected.
Home finally by 4:50, time to take Gracie (the 9 month old puppy) for a long walk.
Back from walk at 5:35, feed dog and give her a dental chew so she might let me get a power nap for 20 minutes. Nope, she wants to play, so no nap for me. Make some tea and look in the fridge to see what to make for dinner. Check with hubby to see what time he is coming home. Begin to prepare dinner, while playing with puppy.
7:00pm eat.
8:00pm check e-mail and do some school data-entry, reconfigure a "parts-of-a-stage" worksheet for my 6th graders.
9:30 chug some NyQuil and begin to get ready for bed after another cup of tea.
10:00 sleep.
Wednesday 1/17:
5:15am wake. Now hubby feels sick. I didn't sleep well, was up twice coughing. Repeat morning routine. Try to leave by 7:05am because Wednesday is my brutal day with 6 classes, four of them in a row.
Get to school by 7:35, so I have time to sweep the floor and get things ready for my 8th graders who come in 1st period. Teach warm-up and work on some exercises in 2nd position, continue Jooss work and then assign groups for their death movement studies. Prep for the next classes and where I'm going from 9:50-12:56. Today I see the 11th graders twice. They need to begin showing the movement part of their research project, but they say they aren't ready, so I've scheduled them for Thursday and Friday. Grades 11 and 12 had to research Isadora Duncan, Kurt Jooss and Bill T. Jones. They had to pick one artist and either create a solo in that artist's style or create classroom dance exercises that would help the class embody the artist's style. They could also teach a section of a dance choreographed by the artist, but no one opted for that.
Made it through the four classes and only had one coughing fit. Lunch and then I see my 11th graders again 8th period. Rush to pack up, because I need to go home. Wow - I'm leaving at 3:10pm, a rare thing!
Get home at 3:45 and put the puppy in the car to go to the dog run. I'm too tired to walk her, and it is a nice day, so maybe she can burn off some energy there. Dog run from 4:00 to 4:25, when the German Shepherd named Monster appears. Both the beagle owner and I scoot out because that dog is dangerous.
Gracie had fun playing. She lets me nap from 5:00 - 5:30pm. Hubby says he'll pick up some dinner and is home at 7:00 or so. I manage to do some tidying, make some tea, pay a bill, check e-mail and take pup out again, before he gets home.
Dinner and some conversation. Dozed from 8-8:30pm on the couch. Got on computer at 8:45 to do more data entry and begin to grade research projects, but I'm not feeling particularly motivated. Complete and photocopy my "Teacher's Choice Accountability Form" so I can turn it in tomorrow.
NyQuil and bed at 9:45pm. Will I be able to sleep?
Thursday, 1/18:
Regular wake time and morning routine. Slept better, feel marginally better. Hoping this cold is on the way out.
Thursday's schedule is better than Wednesdays. 8th graders began their death movement studies, and they are super dramatic. Very cool. So fun to watch them create.
7th graders are working on rotation dances and a few groups have some interesting turns. A student farted during the second to last group presentation, and I had a big coughing fit at the same time. Students vacated the area around the offending student and were running around the room. I was hacking away. One kid said to the offender, "You made Ms. Billings cry!" Pretty funny.
12th graders didn't really prepare well for their presentations. I don't think Isadora Duncan would be gyrating her hips with clenched fists, but maybe she would? Still, some students really tried to get the style, and it was fun to see what they came up with.
11th grade did better. A couple of students really came up with great exercises for their choreographers. Kids are handing me research papers and complaining that they are not going through via e-mail. They have typed in the e-mail address incorrectly. Aaah, youth.
A bunch of students come in during period 6 to work on some dance routines. I manage to leave by 3:15 again.
Home by just before 4pm and walking Gracie in the daylight. We do a long walk. It is warmer. I think about what I'll be doing next week with the 6th, 7th and 8th graders, since the high school kids will have Regents exams. I do a lot of creative planning on dog walks.
Put pup back in the crate and crash from 5pm to 5:45. Wake up to hubby calling. Get up and do some clean up, check mail, tidy, and play with pup, who is bouncing around again.
Manage to do some more grade and data entry after dinner. Respond to e-mails. Check Linked-In. Wonder if I should follow up to some jobs I've applied to.
Watch TV at 9:30 and drink some tea. NyQuil and bed.
Friday, 1/19:
Slept a full night! Feel better - cough is still there but head clearing up. Repeat usual routine, get to school at 7:45am and get classroom ready.
Day runs smoothly. 10th grade level meeting is cancelled so we can work on our grades. Pack up room and leave by 3:30pm.
Stop at grocery store on the way home so I can get things for dinner. Too much take-out this week. Long walk with pup and then check in with hubby to see when he'll be home. Manage to take a 20 minute power nap, somewhere just after 5pm.
Begin cooking and have dinner ready just as he gets home at around 6:30. (It is unusual for him to be home so early.) Decide that I'm not doing any school work and will watch TV. Have a glass of wine before taking cold medicine. Discuss weekend plans.
Saturday, 1/20:
Up at 7:30am. Feeling better, slept well. Bathe, dress and get puppy into the car to go to LIC for her behavioral interview at a boarding facility. Drop her off at 9am, and we go to a nearby diner for breakfast. She passed and we return, retrieve her and make a reservation for the weekend in February where we'll be working at the Exclusive Dance Weekend in Asbury Park, NJ. Long discussion with hubby about whether we'll perform. No time to practice, so no cameo Rumba for us.
Get home and do some cleaning, get laundry ready, pay bills, do some personal correspondence and then begin going through the piles of things I have to grade. I also am printing out student projects. Um, they were due on Tuesday guys, but I guess better late than never.
Putter slowly through grading and manage to get Grade 9 completely done. Order Thai food because I need spice to clear out my head. A little TV and bed at 9:30pm.
Sunday, 1/21:
Did not get a good start this morning. Up at 8am. Breakfast, do some dish cleanup, talk to my parents, surf the web. Then start grading. Get 8th grade mostly done.
On and off the computer for the day, with a short walk and a little wandering in the back yard. I am trying to redesign the tiny space, but have absolutely no skills for this task. Dance around in the sun for a few minutes with the dog.
Lesson plans. Do plans for the next week's classes. Look up some curriculum maps for 6th graders. Print out materials for the week. In bed by 10pm.
Monday, 1/22:
Back to the grind. Today I only have grades 6 and 7 thanks to the miracle of Regents Exams. The high school students only come to school if they are testing. I spend the time grading the research projects and making sure I have graded and entered all work from this marking period.
Because of the exam schedule, I'm done early for a Monday and leave at 3:15pm. Home to walk puppy and then get on the computer. Yay, I was accepted as a volunteer for the Dance NYC Symposium in February! I'm excited to be helping out. I cook dinner, and we eat at the more reasonable hour of 7pm. I'm back to grading and in bed at 10pm. Only have three more classes to grade and then this term is done.
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Teaching dance in public school is one of the most challenging things I've ever done. I love that every day is different, and that no matter what I plan it could all get derailed by a giant cockroach running across the classroom floor, or snow falling outside the window. Like in dance, I have to be good at improvisation. I have to be able to read the bodies and emotional state of every child and adjust for the day. I am constantly learning every day about myself, about my students, and about dance and how others see it.
The rewards are ephemeral, just like a dance. I am rewarded when my entire class is silent, watching a group perform a short dance study they made. I am rewarded when that super awkward kid performs on stage for the first time and walks off with a huge smile. I am rewarded when a student responds with excitement and interest to seeing a dance work by a major artist. I am most thrilled when I can facilitate my students making their own dances and see them engaging deeply in that creative process. Those moments make tolerable the less pleasant parts of public education which include data trends, test scores, politics, teacher evaluation systems, etc.
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