Thinking about it, I can't really say an average working weekday
in Dubai is much different from Australia, especially in terms of being a
teacher. I picked a Wednesday, as we all know Wednesdays are average and
boring, and this week, things are hard going at work. School is starting to
consume me, and staff morale is low….
5.30am
Alarm goes off. Cat whines because
he doesn’t like the air con running overnight. Stretch out tired, sore and
tight leg muscles. Try to get blood flowing to brain. Switch on coffee machine
and prep lunches. Dubai is one of the rare places it is probably cheaper to buy
your lunch, but the nutrition factor is often questionable. Get dressed, throw
some cereal in a bowl, check Facebook and Twitter, then blog surf my way
through a cappuccino.
6.50am (precise leaving time
each day)
Andrew, man of the house and
chauffer, drives me to school. Ten minutes late of a morning and parking lot
chaos will ensue. Weekday mornings are not for lazy coffees or extended makeup
application sessions. Catch up with colleagues in the halls and over a cup of
tea. Check timetable and that I’ve actually got stuff ready for the lessons of
the day (usually done a week or two in advance).
7.50am
Free period for first lesson.
Meeting with Head of Department to overhaul curriculum for Years 7-9 English
(I’m the coordinator). Curriculum is looking good but still a work in progress.
Kids will love it….teachers will need some convincing; old dogs, new tricks
n’all. Need a fresh cup of tea.
8.40am
Year 7 class (11-12 years old) and
some time to chillax reading Paul Jennings short stories and talking about how
awesome young adult Australian writers are. Some mention of literary techniques
in there. Had classful of kids either jump out of seats, laugh or squeal at
least three times. Thank you Tim Howarth for your lessons in animated reading.
9.30am
Another free period. Need a carb
fix, but didn't pack anything. Race to canteen for a cheese manakish,
my usual go-to for mid-morning desperation. More tea, skull a bottle of water,
check facebook, email and favourite a few twitter blog posts to read later
before realizing I’ve burned away 25 mins of my free period. Check 18 school
emails received this morning in an effort to actually do some productive
work. Race past a colleague's classroom and practice my Arabic greetings in
transit. Two students from my homeroom class didn't check in for registration
but had been seen by staff and students getting in a taxi after being dropped
off. Stupid girls. Take photos of student work from my new display board during
morning tea break. Contemplate productive marking. Avoid it and photocopy
samples of student work to show for next year's cohort.
10.35am
Fresh cup of tea; try to avoid
spilling on the way to class. Year 8 class is rehearsing scenes from a modern
play for a performance assessment next week. A beautifully crafted
‘peer assessment’ (read: I’m not marking) practically gives me the week off
while they prepare, and a couple of days off to enjoy the performances.
Teacher-bliss. Spend the lesson actually marking assessment from around
eight weeks ago while they wander around in groups and memorise lines.
11.25am
Another free. Run through to-do
list, ponder the next units of work for my kids, try to come up with a tangible
assessment piece for the end of the year, and connect it to the skills we've
already taught. Add to new curriculum plan for next year, hoping it doesn’t get
slaughtered by more experienced teachers.
12.15pm
Second Year 8 class. Do the same
thing as the last. I love the fact that I teach two sets of each year
level. Half the preparation of standard classes, and I’ve got more time to mark
during their rehearsals. The sucky part of double up classes is that when
assessment comes in, you have 50 to mark, instead of 25. It can get mighty
boring if it’s something laborious like today’s marking – poetry analysis
essays. YAWN.
1.05pm
Lunch break. Email attack. More
tea. Eat in front of the computer in my office *naughty*. Dang, I make a good
salad; roasted veg are rocking my world at the moment. A student comes to do a
catch up exam as he was in Ireland playing football for the UAE team when the
rest of the class sat it. No stress for me; it’s not like I’ve marked any of
them anyway. Run off paperwork for after-school meeting and maul an
apple in the process.
1.45pm
Second Year 7 class. These guys
have an extra class to burn after a cover teacher screwed up the other class’ substitution
while I was sick last week. They were organised enough to work out what to do
on their own, and came together to finish the work without any additional
direction *angels*. So, today they're reading a short story of their own choice
and rewriting the opening based on their new creative skill set. It's so
quiet I could hear a mouse fart.
2.40pm
English Department meeting where
we try to motivate everyone to mock up revision packs for the upcoming end of
year exam block. Someone suggests eating chocolate and it’s quickly taken up.
Everyone’s been worked too hard of late, with inspections etc. so no one really
wants to face more on their to-do lists. Things are not looking good for
timetables and workload next year. Half our department has resigned. After
a few weeks of being completely unmotivated, I’m actually picking up my
step again as I take action for next year. Someone's gotta do it.
3.30pm
Check papers and files etc are in
order for tomorrow’s classes (barely). My brain is fried. I used to
work constructively until 5.30pm almost every day earlier in the year. I have
no idea how I did it.
3.45pm
Andrew picks me up from school, so
we can get home in time for his personal trainer to arrive. Load up on some
carbs and caffeine for an afternoon energy boost and spend some down time
surfing the net and tracking through those Twitter posts I saved. The cat comes
to stand between me and the screen, rub his head on stuff and generally make
his presence known. He’s happy.
5.30pm
Kit up and head out for my half
marathon training. Supposed to be a speed session; I HATE speed
work. Compromise with a 40-minute blitz along the Marina. It’s gotten mighty
hot outside in the last week and I’m feeling the pain of taking a week off
for my not-so-friendly Indian parasite. Week before that I ran 37 kilometres.
There's always a knock back. That said, half marathon training feels SO much
more manageable than that of the full marathon. Mosey back to apartment, switch
on the water heater so I can have a shower. It’ll take 30 minutes to have a hot
water supply. Andrew teaches me some new funky Swiss ball thing he’s been doing
while I sweat my guts out post-run on the yoga mat. Decent stretch out time so
I don’t hurt so much tomorrow.
6.50pm
Assemble the makings of a spinach,
leek and pepperoni frittata while continuing Andrew’s Bachelor Training. The
man needs to know how to fend for himself while I’m gone for the Summer. Last
year I left him in a canned soup and cereal routine. Probably wasn’t my best
effort. This year, I’m aiming to leave him knowing how to cook a bit more than
that. The grocery part might be more of a challenge for him. I should probably
consider mocking up some kind of cookbook with pseudo-shopping list. That said,
I don’t think anyone has died from eating too much soup. He’s done remarkably
well on this frittata; I reckon he’ll do the whole thing on his own successfully
next time! Win!
7.40pm
Munch my way through frittata over
an episode of Mythbusters. Consider continuing with marking, this time of Year
7 autobiographies that I have sitting here at home, but just feel like I need
the night off. I’ve got a big day of heavy paperwork along with my teaching
tomorrow, so it’s time to get some rest. I’ll flick my way through Facebook and
Twitter one last time, then hit the sack by 9.30pm with a half-decent book.
Then, I’ll get up to do it all over again tomorrow…
