September 4, 2025
A Day in the Life of a Tech Teacher
I love summer. I sit at home, reading, researching, chatting with friends. I make my own schedule, own my own time, start and finish a project without interruptions.
That is a massive high to me.
Why? I’m a tech teacher. That is like a teacher+. I teach–yes–but I’m also the first line of defense (sometimes offense) for colleagues as they struggle to use the digital devices populating their classrooms. From the moment I step foot on her home campus, life spins out of my control. Here’s a typical day I have–does it sound familiar:
6:45 arrive
6:47 a student arrives to use lab
6:48 I greet student with a friendly hi and begin work on a lesson plan
6:49 Student asks for help
7:00 Student finishes and leaves; I return to my lesson plan
7:02 Frantic teacher calls–her computer won’t boot up. She came in early to do some work and now what’s she supposed to do can I come right away
7:03 I arrive in teacher classroom to help
7:05 Her computer works (forgot to plug it in)
7:07 Return to my lab, find a frantic student waiting. His printer ran out of ink at home can he use mine?
7:08 His parent how arrived with him wants to chat
7:18 Parent and child leave happy
7:19 I return to work on my lesson plan
7:30 I report for yard duty–managing the students arriving for classes until their teachers are ready to receive them.
8:00 I return to my classroom and frantically prepare for my 8:15 class
8:02 A teacher calls. Her students can’t get on the internet. Can I help
8:12 I get back from solving the problem (student was logged in wrong) and throw together my materials. Luckily, I have most of it prepared from last night.
8:15 My class arrives. I can’t help but smile as I see their excitement. Everyone loves their computer lab time.
8:45 A teacher arrives, face stressed, shoulders tight, knuckles tight. She has a tech problem. I smile and tell her I have a break at 9. I’ll come right over.
9:00 Students out, I go to help. She can’t find her slideshow. We try a few search options (ordering columns by name, using the ‘search’ function) and find her slideshow. She’s smiling as I leave
9:15 My next class arrives. I’m booked until lunch time
12:15 Students arrive to use computers during lunch. Luckily, I have a small frig in my room so I don’t have to leave. They work while I eat (hiding behind my monitor–I hate having people see me eat).
12:45 Second group of students arrive for their lunch hour. I work on a school tech vision document while they work. They’re older so pretty much ignore me, which suits me fine.
1:15 Two back-to-back classes, one a lower school and one middle school. I sometimes struggle to juggle preparation for the different requirements. Sometimes, it’s easy because they’re working on continuing project.
2:45 Lunch. I eat while responding to parent emails
3:00 Parent arrive to pick up students and chat about classes, quizzes, projects. Students arrive for extra help or simply to use the computers. I finish with pa
rents and work on school tech issues until 4
4:00 I leave–or work late. It depends upon what needs to be done.
What haven’t I done yet? Here’s a list:
- graded projects
- prepared lesson plans
- fixed teacher tech problems (hardware)
- helped teachers with their class tech projects
- planned and organized in-house PD on tech
- worked on my class website and blog
- mentor new teachers on tech
- communicate with my PLN
I know–this sounds crazy. But there is never a boring moment. My brain always chugs along on high. I never think rote is right. What’s not to love about that?
What’s your day like? Do you get a break every two hours–or every eight hours?
