A day in the life of a Silverliner....

                       

           

First hours of my day

Well, I as an educator generally know my schedule six months in advance but there are always unexpected surprises. Every school is a miniature civilization on its own and so is Silverline Prestige School and what is stored in a day for me is truly unpredictable. Every new day marks the advent of a new journey for us-a peregrination with endless learning experiences, a voyage of innumerable ups and downs, victories & defeats, smiles and tears, a pursuit of ingenuity, a tryst with challenges and joyful brainstorming sessions of rummaging ways of combating the impediments.We do get exhausted at times during the day , but the determination to reach the pinnacle motivates us and never let us succumb to the hard times.Though we understand as an educator we have a big responsibility on our shoulder to develop future leaders but we never allow ourselves to be tempted by short-cuts anytime during the day for we are of the view that path leading to success is never a bed of roses.

The day begins at 5:00am with an alarm, initial few minutes, I play the spiritual songs maybe Shabad/Gurubani/Bhente , then spend some time with my soil mates, my plants, I quickly water them, add bird feed, charge up my phone and chromebook, next 40 minutes are used in preparing breakfast and lunch as per the choice of family members, arrange all the material for the day like my devices, lunch box and spectacles . Within the next 40 minutes I need to leave for the bus stop. Whenever I don’t have to cook, I use that time for some physical exercise or washing the clothes or just dozing off for some extra time😌. Before leaving, seeking blessings from God is a ritual. 

After boarding the bus, I do check upon the students present and maintain their attendance. During the bus ride , a quick check upon the mails and messages is done and To-do list updated if needed.

                                                                               

Morning

Punch time at school is 7:00 am, and I try to reach at 6:45 am. This 15 min gap is used to organize all the tasks for the day like

• arranging handouts, printouts etc.
• checking messages which are at priority
• going through important mails if any
• reviewing of the plans

The day starts with the first period with full planning done prior in advance, also with some challenges which need to be resolved in a jiffy like control of class bunkers(may or may not be there), immediate conversations with the parents if required, some urgent tasks by the management people etc.

Each class requires lot of stuff to be taken care of like 

• collecting and depositing the keys of podium 
• extreme look for the correct usage of display panels for the educational purpose only(though children are also guided for being digitally good) 
• taking extra care of keyboards, stylus and mouse which are needed in each class by the teacher. 

These all activities when performed by a teacher give a good impact on the students which makes them  more sensible and responsible.

                                                                                

Lunch time

Once a week, we are on duty during lunchtime. I do have my lunch before or after the recess as the schedule permits. Being on duty, we need to be with the students during lunch break, this is to monitor -

• behavior of the students’ with their peers
• proper use of the school cafeteria (as grade 6-12 have same time for lunch break)
• cleanliness of the cafeteria

The teacher on duty has to ensure that if a student’s behavior is at odds with the norms, there should be an immediate logical consequence.

At times the student wishes to stay in the class  during recess to complete his/her work or due to some medical condition, so we need to make sure that proper permission of the teacher is taken or in case of medical condition, a medical certificate is provided well in advance.

When I’m off duty during lunch time, it’s time to relax and chit chat with co-teachers while enjoying the pot lunch and tea.

Early afternoon

It’s the end of the day,  you’re exhausted and just ready to go home, you’re tempted to just leave it all and head for the door telling yourself, “I’ll deal with it in the morning.”  But….But…But our school gets over at 1:30 and after the dispersal of the students we need to stayback for 1hr and 30 min and so we leave at 3:00 pm. After doing the bus dispersal duties, it's time for us to sit with our department members and

• discuss the challenges faced during the day(if any) else these hours end up with planning for the next day or grading the assignments submitted by students . This planning may include discussion of hands-on learning activities and arranging lab materials (if any) or materials required for the next day like crayons,  markers, loose papers, worksheets etc.
• look forward to my personal professional development like learning of any new collaborative tool which could be effectively used for the enhanced learning of the students. (From my experience I would like to say that I have learnt nearly 60% of the tools known to me from my students and then I have personally tried them in staybacks. It gives immense pleasure when your students become your facilitators.) 
• organize sessions for the new appointees to handhold them

In effort to keep your morning-self happy with your afternoon-self, we also need to take care that our working day ends in a perfect professional manner. So we check the following things

• roll out/check and respond to email
• make needed phone calls

and finally clean  off my desk (put papers away, pencils and pens back in the drawer or pen holder, file away any papers…etc)

There are days which we always thrive for in our school. We call them "The golden calming  days with friends." Every happiness and sorrow is shared as a family. There are celebrations, grieving stories and even congratulatory moments during these days in stayback. 

                                                                                

End of the day

The day ends with taking care of my kids finally. I make them sit with me at least an hour (usually 6-7 pm) just to have routine talks, exchanging ideas. This one hour also comprises their homework, their next day planning like any stationery item if required. A quick and urgent grocery shopping also takes place during this time. Then after having dinner at 8:30 pm we used to have a 1 hour TV watch which may include some theatrical drama(as my kids are fond of). 

Then finally in the last 10 min i along with my kids have  a close watch over the uniforms, shoes, timetable etc so that the morning may not be hassled.

Fortunately my kids used to take care of my bag, laptop charging etc which actually made me ease out at a few things. Love them for this….!

Later at night

It’s the time to wind up and wake up the next day with fresh energy, but there’s a lot to do before that, a quick check of mails and messages, check plan and back up plan and preparation of classes.  Preparations for early morning chores help me to plan my next day efficiently. No day is successful without thanks to the almighty and a soulful connection with self. A small prayer with meditation helps me to rejuvenate myself and have a kick start the next day.  Finally, it is time to grab a book and lay down to sleep.