If you give a Teacher a minute...

*adaptation from the famous series: "If you give a mouse a cookie" by Laura Numeroff*

If you give a teacher a minute...

they're going to ask for bulletin board supplies.

When you give them the bulletin board supplies,

they'll probably ask you for a stepladder.

When they're finished, they'll ask for coloured pens.

Then they'll find their organizers to make sure there is no outstanding work to be marked.

When they look into their organizers, they'll notice that a handful of students haven't finished their reading assessments,

so they'll probably ask for those students to stay back from Music during their prep.

When they're finished the reading assessments during their prep,

they'll want to add that to the student portfolios as a learning sample.

They'll start adding to student portfolios.

They might get carried away and develop an entire Literacy unit for the Primary department.

They may even dash down the hall to their emotional-support colleague to get some input.

When they're done, they'll probably want to take a nap.

You'll have to tell them gently that their class is back from Music, hand them a cup of coffee and tell them to "Fake it 'til you make it".

They'll hurry back to class and start a movement break before settling in for Daily Five.

They'll probably ask you to fetch the iPads.

So you'll fetch the iPads and they'll ask if they're fully charged.

When they check the iPads' battery life, they'll get so excited that they're all working that they'll extend the "Listen to Reading" center. They'll ask for a high-five.

They try out some of their new Literacy unit at the Teacher Table.

When Daily Five is finished, they'll want to transition smoothly to lunch time, with five minutes to spare.

They'll want to be ready for the Hot Lunch helpers, which means they'll need to rush away the iPads back to the Tech room.

They'll get the students settled with their lunches, and line up the students getting hot lunches. One helper is missing, so the teacher will jump in and help clean up.

Once the hot lunch is finished and everyone has their snowsuits on, ready for outside, the teacher will stand back to look at the kids grabbing their sleds and running for the hill.

Looking out at the joyful children will remind them that they're hungry AF and that lunch is nearly over and there's still a meeting to get to, so they grab their cold leftovers from last night and hurry to the meeting.

And chances are that after the meeting, they're going to need another minute..

In love and literature,

Nadine Rake