Day In A Life 

By: Vanessa Doe, Staff Writer 

January 18th 2024

     To set the tone for a successful day at school, every morning it’s in Ms. Sroka’s routine to grab two coffees from Panera. The setup of a person's classroom is very important because it benefits both student and teacher. Ms Sroka sets up her room in a way that benefits both her and her students. The tables are set in a discussion organization, that way students don’t feel as if her class is lecture-based, and it helps everyone feel included in the conversation. Places that need to be visible to students on the wall like the calendar with due dates, and what’s upcoming events.

        Although Ms. Sroka teaches the same subject for three classes each is at a different pace, or is learning something different. Just like us, every period she has to switch gears. We began our day together in the first period, her DP SL Lang & Lit class. The students in that class are reading “Into The Wild” a book about a man who left his past life as a successful Emory alumni to go live in North America getting a raw transcendent life experience. Mrs. Sroka spent the period discussing sections of the book with her students, and she helped prepped them for their next assignment by having them grade examples of time writing so they’re more prepared for their own. Unlike her other classes, she has a co-teacher in her first period. 

     Her second-period class was reading a different book “The Bluest Eye” about a black little girl who dreams of having blue eyes because she believes she’s not beautiful with her features and wants the features the media promotes. Her 3rd-period class was also reading the same book as well, however, they were at different points. I was amazed by how she easily switched gears and was able to participate in discussions with all of her classes. While sitting in her class as an observer, I notice how much she encourages student voices and their participation. 

        Mrs. Sroka has lunch in the middle of the school day, and her typical lunch is usually a salad, rice, or bread from Panera. She takes this time to socialize with her fellow teachers, discussing how their day has been so far, and what the rest of their days looking like. Later in the day, she monitors an APP, and she uses that time period to do some grading, and lesson preparations. We ended the day with her prep period, in which sometimes she assists students with help, or does some more grading to meet her goal of the day. In order to keep her work life separate from her home life, I see that Ms. Sroka takes advantage of all her free time, to get work done, that way when she goes home she will only spend little to no time completing her weekly lesson plan, gradings, and everything else a teacher needs to do. 

    After spending the day with Ms. Sroka I gained a whole new perspective on the job of being a teacher. I realized it takes a lot of emotions, and patience out of a person to be a good teacher. Ms. Sroka truly connects with her students, and she cares about the learning journey of each student. 

Mini Interview~

What’s your most important task of the day~ 

      Get started on my lesson plan, grade five HL essays, and newspaper club after-school

How much time do you spend on lesson plans, and what factors do you consider when creating the plans~

     Lesson plans take about an hour to get done, and I typically create them every Friday that way it’s ready for the next weeks. It doesn’t take me that long because I’ve been teaching for a while. When creating my class agenda I consider factors such as the student interest, what’s interesting in the text, students' levels, and previous work. 

What do you look most forward to in your day~

   Really good discussions about the books we’re reading or funny moments with the kids, glimpses of greatness from kids and their work

What’s the downside of your job as a teacher~

Things happening outside of your classroom that you can’t protect students from, and can’t control.

Teaching can be emotionally draining, how do deal with your emotions ~

    Not to work outside of school, home at home. Keeping things compartmentalized, and whatever happened last period is in the past. Not take things personally, because it’s not normally about you because teaching is personal it can be hard. 

What’s your favorite thing about teaching~

    Everybody has different personalities, and you look back at how many kids you’ve impacted.