Just like students, teachers’ lives are busy, constantly moving, and follow a pretty consistent schedule during the week. However, the specifics of each teacher’s routine vary greatly from teacher to teacher.
Franklin Pridgen
For varsity football coach and social sciences teacher Franklin Pridgen, the day starts at 5:30 a.m. on Tuesdays, Wednesdays, and Fridays. However, on Mondays and Thursdays, Pridgen wakes up 30 minutes earlier at 5 a.m. for morning workouts and football practices that take place on those days. Pridgen said he wakes up so early because “I can’t be stumbling out of bed and into work. As the head coach people look to me to be in charge and set the tone for the morning, so I need a few minutes to get up.” Pridgen, however does not describe himself as a morning person, so after pulling himself out of bed, Pridgen showers and then gets dressed in a style he describes as “a work in progress.” After getting dressed it’s time for breakfast. On a usual morning, Pridgen said he eats some kind of fruit, usually an apple or pineapple, and a few egg bites from Costco. After eating breakfast, Pridgen begins the five-minute drive to school, but as long as there is some yacht rock or 80s music playing the drive is more bearable. When Pridgen finally arrives at school it is usually between 6 a.m. and 7 a.m. depending on the day of the week. Monday morning workouts begin at 6:30 a.m. and Thursday morning practices start around 6:00 a.m., but the rest of the week, Pridgen arrives at school closer to 7 a.m.
During the school day, Pridgen teaches three classes of AP Economics to seniors during periods 7, 1, and 2. Pridgen said that having this schedule is “really nice for me because it gives me time in my day to do the things I need to do to get ready for practice and to teach some high achieving students.” When he is not teaching, Pridgen can be found reviewing film for football, grading tests or quizzes, talking to fellow coaches or students, or at Orange Theory Fitness getting in a mid-day workout. Pridgen said that what he gets done during his free time is “very much a full-time job.” In between teaching classes and his free time, there is lunch. Pridgen rarely gets the food from the hot lunch line and normally chooses to go for some kind of salad and a bowl of soup instead. It is unsurprising that Pridgen prefers to spend his lunch time in the company of other teachers and students, and he said, “I really like lunch time because it gives me the chance to go sit with players and students, and to continue to build those relationships that are so important to me.” Pridgen loves to be sociable, it is what keeps him going during the day. He describes himself as a very extroverted individual and enjoys getting to be around so many people as a teacher. “If I had to work somewhere alone all day, I think that would be unproductive for me and I would feel depressed and very lonely,” Pridgen said and “I’m at my best when I can have a positive impact on a group of people and I can be part of something, and that’s what I feel like I am here.”
When the school bell rings at the end of the day it is time for Pridgen to head over to Hoover Gym and change out of his button-up shirt and pants and into athleisure for football practice. Practice begins at 3:40 p.m. for players, but for Pridgen, practice begins as soon as he is dressed. Pridgen spends 45 minutes between the final school bell and the start of practice talking to his fellow football coaches and the sports medicine team. Together, the coaches go over plans for practice and logistics, and the sports medicine coaches discuss any injuries players have and practice necessities. Finally, it’s 3:40 p.m. and practice has begun. These practices follow a consistent schedule each day. Pridgen said, “we have some fun times of course, but the players know the routine and how to stay on task.” While practice ends at 6:15 p.m. for the athletes, Pridgen does not leave campus until 6:45 p.m. or even 7 p.m. most days because he talks with the coaches about practice and other important information afterwards.
Then, it is another five-minute drive back home with some more music to make the time fly by faster. Pridgen has dinner right when he gets home. Pridgen said that either he or his wife will cook; “it just depends on which one of us gets home first.” Because they are now “empty nesters,” dinner for Pridgen and his wife is usually something easy to make or leftovers from earlier in the week. When dinner is over, the couple will spend time lounging on the couch watching TV and “if we’re lucky we’ll get a call from one of our children,” said Pridgen. It is not long before the time reaches 10 p.m. and Pridgen goes to sleep seeking rest before doing it all again the next day.
Kevin Kadzis
Similar to Pridgen, freshmen grade chair and social sciences teacher Kevin Kadzis starts the day bright and early at 5 to 5:15 a.m. However, that is where their morning similarities end. For Kadzis, waking up early is a necessity because he has to eat breakfast, which is usually something small like cereal, and gets dressed before waking up his three children: sophomore Anna Claire Kadzis, 7 grader Bradley Kadzis, and his youngest daughter Callie Kadzis. Kadzis’ busy mornings are packed with making breakfast for his daughter Callie, making sure she takes her medicine, getting her dressed and ready for the day, and making sure his older children are awake and getting ready for school. By the time 7 a.m. hits, Anna Claire is driving Kadzis and Bradley to school. Thankfully, the morning commute to school only takes ten to fifteen minutes, and during this time the family will “listen to whatever is on the radio.” Said Kadzis. However, Kadzis’ personal favorite genres are indie rock, americana, and alternative country. By 7:20 a.m., the three of them arrive on campus.
Kadzis is an AP U.S. History teacher for three classes of sophomores and is the grade chair for the 9 grade boys. Because of this Kadzis, spends his free time catching up on emails, lesson planning, and tweaking things for class, and if swim is in season, “I’m doing swim and dive team logistics, meet planning, or I’m reviewing results,” said Kadzis. His grade chair duties require him to talk to many students throughout the school day about grades and other school-related issues. Between his responsibilities and workload during the school day, there is lunch. For lunch, Kadzis gets something from the hot lunch line or a sandwich depending on what is offered that day. After grabbing lunch, it’s back to his office for Kadzis who said, “There are important things that need to be done to do my job to the best of my ability, and that is some intrinsic motivation for me…I’m just motivated to do my best in my jobs.”
In the winter, Kadzis’ afternoons look a lot different than in the fall. When swim is in season, Kadzis goes to Davidson Natatorium right after school to change and get ready for practice, which starts at 3:45 p.m. before Christmas break and 3:15 p.m. after Christmas break. These practices start with team meetings and stretching before the athletes get into the pool for instruction, stroke techniques, and lots of swimming. Kadzis said that he tries to motivate the team to “embrace being uncomfortable and accept that progress is made when you’re uncomfortable.” Swim practice lasts for about an hour and a half to two hours, so during swim season, Kadzis waits for his kids to be done with their practices hopping in the car and getting home around 6 to 6:15 p.m. On days when Kadzis does not have swim and dive practice, he continues to work in his office before driving himself home.
Walking into his house after a long day, Kadzis is met with hellos and conversation with his wife and three kids. In between getting home and dinner time, Kadzis’ day continues by helping his wife, Erin, make dinner, helping with Callie, or doing any other chores that need to be completed. Dinner is eaten each night as a family and can consist of a wide variety of meals like burgers, nachos, or tacos. Occasionally, the family will indulge in dessert after dinner, but most nights, Kadzis said he “tries not to fall asleep on the couch” after dinner. Finally, Kadzis completes his nightly routine of helping Callie get ready for bed, packing her lunch for school the next day, checking on Anna Claire and Bradley and seeing how their days were, asking about their homework, and seeing what tests and quizzes are coming up for them that week. By the time this routine is done, it is 10 p.m. and time for Kadzis to head to bed.
Pridgen and Kadzis may start and end their days at the same time, but each teacher’s day is full of different jobs, responsibilities, and routines.
