The bookThe yearThe timetableThe peopleThe workThe peopleThe moneyThe roomThe endThe screen

The bookThe Bell Book2027–2801 / 25

Harrow's Hill Middle School · 2027–28

The Bell Booka year that is not yours

Seven periods, five days, one week that starts on a bell. August to July, because a teacher does not get a fresh January.

Built for the teacher whose year starts in August.

A4 · US Letter
iPad landscape
and a screen edition that saves

The bookThe Bell Bookread this once02 / 25

Read once, then never again

Six rules for a book about a job with a bell in it

This book is not a diary and it is not a lesson plan. It is the paper that runs a year somebody else has already divided: thirty-eight weeks, three terms, seven periods a day, and a rotation that means the same class sits in a different period on Tuesday than it did on Monday.

Rule 1

Fill pages 7 and 8 first, in August, and in pencil.

The bell schedule is the only page that can make the other twenty-three wrong. You will be given it in a meeting, on paper, with a correction announced in week two.

Rule 2

One period, one cell, one class.

If two classes share a cell you have invented a problem the timetable did not give you.

Rule 3

Write the roster in week one and expect to write it again in week three.

Page 12 exists because class lists move. Every list in here has room for one line added and one line struck.

Rule 4

The queue on page 15 is the only thing that must be looked at daily.

The marking log records. The queue demands. If a page has to be open on the desk, it is that one.

Rule 5

Photocopy page 16 in August, before you need it.

A substitute plan written at 6 a.m. on the morning you are ill is a bad plan, and it is the plan most teachers have.

Rule 6

Page 22 is private and stays in the room.

It is marked on the band, on the page and in the head. Nothing on it goes in the substitute folder, and nothing on it is a diagnosis.

The order to fill it in, if you only have an hour

7 the bell schedule → 10 and 11 the class lists → 13 the assessment plan → 16 the substitute plan → 21 the seating plan. Everything else can wait for a wet Wednesday. Those five pages are the difference between a book and a nice object.

Your own rules — the ones this book does not have

The bookThe Bell Book24 modules03 / 25

Contents

Twenty-four pages, and the question each one answers

A page that does not answer a question is a page you will not open twice. The list below is the book's own argument for itself.

01The Bell Book — what is this, and whose year is it

02How to run this book — how do I use it without losing a week to setting it up

04The year, August to July — where am I in a year I did not design

05This week, week 11 — what does this week actually look like

06The term at a glance — what is inside this term, and when does it hurt

07The bell schedule — what am I teaching, in which period, on which day

08The six-day rotation — which day is today, and what does that make period 4

09Seven periods, seven plans — what happens in each period, and what always runs over

10The class lists · Periods 1, 2, 4 — who is in this class, and which names have a note somewhere else

11The class lists · Periods 5, 6, 7, advisory — who is in the smaller classes and in advisory

12Week three: when the lists move — who arrived, who left, and which list they came off

13The assessment plan — what is coming, and what does it weigh

14The marking log — what came in, what is marked, what went back

15The red pen queue — what has to be marked and handed back, worst first

16The substitute plan — how does a stranger run my day

17The door card — what six lines save the morning

18Parent contact — who did I call, what did I promise, and did I do it

19Duty and meetings — what do I owe the building this week, and what did the meetings ask of me

20The classroom budget — what have I spent of my own money, and on what

21Seating plans — who sits where, and what changed

22Accommodation notes — PRIVATE — what must not leave this room

23Term end: the reflection — what actually happened, honestly

24What moves to next August — what do I carry forward, and what do I stop carrying

25Today — what is happening right now

The one page nobody sells

Page 16 is the substitute plan. It is the morning you cannot come in, written in advance, in the voice of somebody who is not panicking: what to do in each period, what to say to three students, and what to do when the projector will not start.

Pages you will add for your own school

The yearThe Bell Book2027–28 · all of it04 / 25

The year · 2027–28

August to June, and a July you will sleep through

Three terms, 180 student days, and eleven weeks a year that are decided somewhere you are not in the room: testing windows, conference nights, a report card deadline that lands the week after a break.

Aug

Term 1 opens

Baseline writing sample

Sep

Reading checkpoint 1

Oct

Narrative essay

Close reading · Honors

Reader response 4

Nov

Term 1 ends · 5 Nov

Term 2 opens

Thanksgiving break · 24 Nov

Term 1 exams

Parent conferences

Term 1 exam

Dec

Winter break · 20 Dec

Argument essay

Jan

Report cards due

Poetry portfolio

Feb

Term 2 ends · 25 Feb

Term 2 exam

Mar

Term 3 opens

Spring break · 27 Mar

Apr

State testing window

Research paper

May

Presentation

Jun

Term 3 ends · 8 Jun

Jul

—

The dates you do not control

What	From	To	You get told
Thanksgiving break	24 Nov	26 Nov	Sep
Winter break	20 Dec	3 Jan	Sep
Spring break	27 Mar	2 Apr	Sep
State testing window	17 Apr	28 Apr	Jun
Term 1 exams	4 Nov	5 Nov	Jun
Parent conferences	9 Nov	10 Nov	Jun
Report cards due	29 Jan	29 Jan	Jun

A break is not a holiday from the year. It is a hole in it, and the assessment that was due on the Friday after it still is.

The year in four numbers

Student days180of 261 weekdays — 81 you will not teach

Teaching minutes a day336min5 h 36 in an 8 h day — 42% is not teaching

Sections5109 students, one room, 6 rotation days

Weeks to the first exam11Term 1 exam tomorrow

Why this page is first

Because the year is not yours, and a planner that pretends otherwise starts lying in September. Mark the holes in it now, in August, while you still believe you will remember them.

Dates that only matter this year — write them in while you have the calendar open

The yearThe Bell BookThursday 4 November · Day 305 / 25

Week 11 · Thursday 4 NovemberDay 3 of the six-day rotation · Term 1

Four numbers that decide whether this week is survivable

Marking owed45pieces▲ -17 since week 10 — 7 contacts, no marking

Attendance94.2%▼ 0.4 against week 10

Periods taught25of 35▼ 2 — two lost to the assembly

Contacts7made▲ 3 this week — 2 promises open

Budget left$212▲ $61.15 spent in October

Marking owed, by week

Attendance, by week

94.2%

The week, as periods

25 / 35

Mon

Tue

Wed

Thu

Fri

teachingprepduty

Today, in order

Period	Time	What	Before it starts
P1	8:10–8:58	8C · Rm 214	cart 2 booked 8:05
P2	9:02–9:50	Hon · Rm 214
P3	9:54–10:42	8A · Rm 214
P4	11:30–12:18	8B · Rm 214
P6	13:14–14:02	Jrn · Rm 118	walk to 118
P7	14:06–14:54	Gate duty · front

The one thing

The exam is tomorrow and 45 pieces are still on the desk. Mark the Honors stack first: 19 scripts, and it is the class that will notice.

Written on Sunday, read on Thursday. That is what this page is for.

This week, in your own words

The yearThe Bell BookTerm 1 · weeks 1–1106 / 25

Term 1 · 25 Aug to 5 Nov

Eleven weeks, and the four that carry the grade

A term is not eleven equal weeks. Two of them you will lose to assemblies and a testing window, and the marks that matter all land in the last three.

Term 1, week by week

w1Baseline

w4Reading

w7Narrative

w9Close

w10ReaderPitch

w11Term

an assessment landstwo in one weekyou are here

The term in dates

Week	Date	What is due	Weight	Whose clock
1	27 Aug	Baseline writing sample · 8A 8B 8C	8	yours
4	17 Sep	Reading checkpoint 1 · 8A 8B 8C	10	yours
7	8 Oct	Narrative essay · 8A 8B 8C	12	yours
9	22 Oct	Close reading · Honors · HON	5	yours
10	29 Oct	Reader response 4 · 8A 8B 8C	8	yours
10	2 Nov	Pitch round 2 · JRN	—	elective
11	5 Nov	Term 1 exam · 8A 8B 8C HON	12	yours
11	4 Nov	Term 1 exams	—	the building’s
11	9 Nov	Parent conferences	—	the building’s

What the term weighs

Baseline8%

Reading10%

Narrative12%

Close5%

Reader8%

Term12%

The three coursework pieces and the exam are 47% of the year. Everything else can slip a day without anyone noticing, and these cannot.

The week you will lose

Week 9, the testing window. Two periods a day for four days, no English room, no cart. Plan the reading unit there and nothing else.

What this term is really for — the one thing you want them to leave with

The timetableThe Bell BookWeek 1 · Days 1–507 / 25

The bell schedule · the device7 periods · 48 minutes each · 336 teaching minutes

Periods down, days across

A school day is not a ruler with hours on it. It is seven periods of forty-eight minutes, an advisory that is not a class, and a lunch that is a duty if you are unlucky. This is the page the rest of the book hangs on.

Period
bell

MOND1 · room 214

TUED2 · room 214

WEDD3 · room 214

THUD4 · room 214

FRID5 · room 214

ADV7:45–8:05

Advisory14

P18:10–8:58

8ARm 214covered

8BRm 214covered

8CRm 214covered

HonRm 214covered

8ARm 214covered

P29:02–9:50

8BRm 214covered

8ARm 214covered

HonRm 214covered

8CRm 214covered

JrnRm 118covered

P39:54–10:42

Prepown timecovered

HonRm 214covered

8ARm 214covered

8BRm 214covered

8CRm 214covered

LUN10:46–11:26

Lunch40 min

P411:30–12:18

HonRm 214covered

Prepown timecovered

8BRm 214covered

8ARm 214covered

HonRm 214covered

P512:22–13:10

DutyStudy hall · librarycovered

8CRm 214covered

Prepown timecovered

JrnRm 118covered

8BRm 214covered

P613:14–14:02

8CRm 214covered

DutyHall duty · 2nd floorcovered

JrnRm 118covered

Prepown timecovered

P714:06–14:54

JrnRm 118covered

DutyGate duty · frontcovered

DutyBus duty · yardcovered

DutyHall duty · 2nd floorcovered

a class you stand in front ofyour own time, not spare timean obligation you owe the buildingcovered by somebody else

Week 1 is Days 1 to 5. Day 6 is next Monday.

The second bell — exams, assemblies, early release, and the periods they move

The timetableThe Bell BookDays 1–608 / 25

The six-day rotationDay 3 today · Thursday

The same week, six ways

Six days, five weekdays. That is the whole complication: your Monday is not always Day 1, so the class in period 4 on Monday is not the class in period 4 on Tuesday, and next Monday is a different day again.

Period

Day 1

Day 2

Day 3

Day 4

Day 5

Day 6

P18:10

8ARm 214

8BRm 214

8CRm 214

HonRm 214

8ARm 214

JrnRm 118

P29:02

8BRm 214

8ARm 214

HonRm 214

8CRm 214

JrnRm 118

8ARm 214

P39:54

Prepprep

HonRm 214

8ARm 214

8BRm 214

8CRm 214

HonRm 214

P411:30

HonRm 214

Prepprep

8BRm 214

8ARm 214

HonRm 214

Prepprep

P512:22

DutyStudy hall · library

8CRm 214

Prepprep

JrnRm 118

8BRm 214

8CRm 214

P613:14

8CRm 214

DutyHall duty · 2nd floor

JrnRm 118

Prepprep

8BRm 214

P714:06

JrnRm 118

DutyGate duty · front

DutyBus duty · yard

DutyHall duty · 2nd floor

DutyLibrary duty

Where the sixth day lands

Week	Mon	Tue	Wed	Thu	Fri
w9	3	4	5	6	1
w10	2	3	4	5	6
w11	1	2	3	4	5
w12	6	1	2	3	4

A week off, a holiday, a snow day — the rotation does not reset. It carries, which is why the number goes on the board every morning.

What the rotation does to a class

8C meets six times in six days, but never twice at the same hour. The class that is loud at 8:10 is a different class at 2:06, and the rotation hands you both in one week.

The three things that break

· A test scheduled by period, not by day.
· A student pulled for support in “period 4” — whose period 4?
· The duty you agreed to on a day that turns out to be Day 6.

Write the rotation number on the board next to the date. It is the cheapest habit in this book and it prevents all three.

The days the rotation broke

The timetableThe Bell BookDay 309 / 25

Period by period · Day 3

Seven periods, seven plans

The timetable says where you are. This page says what happens when you get there, and which part of it you will lose.

P18:10–8:58

8C · 23 students · Rm 214Get them writing before the bell finishes.

Draft folders, blue traythe register takes 6 of the 48

P29:02–9:50

Hon · 19 students · Rm 214Annotation first, discussion second.

Poem on the lectern, 5 questionsthe discussion — always

P39:54–10:42

8A · 26 students · Rm 214Same task as P1, less talk from me.

Cart 2, sign-out sheetthe walk from the office with the cart

P411:30–12:18

8B · 24 students · Rm 214Seat them by the plan on the wall.

Cart 2, chargersthe changeover, ten minutes, the whole afternoon

P512:22–13:10

Prep — no classPrep. Mark the top three in the queue.

—everything. This is the period that gets eaten

P613:14–14:02

Jrn · 17 students · Rm 118They run the meeting, I take the register.

Pitch sheets on the door of 118the walk to 118

P714:06–14:54

Gate duty · frontGate duty. Nothing else fits here.

Latch is grey, opens inwardthe last bus — it leaves at 15:10

The maths of the day

8 hours in the building · 5 h 36 teaching · 48 minutes of prep · 40 minutes of lunch, which is not yours · 25 minutes of duty. The rest is the corridor.

What the prep is actually for

Marking, not planning. If you plan in your prep you will mark at home, and page 15 will be full by November.

What runs over, period by period

The peopleThe Bell BookDay 1 placement10 / 25

The class listsDay 1 placement · the rotation moves the period, not the list

Fifty names, and two letters that are not information

c means a guardian contact exists on page 18. p means there is a private note on page 22. Neither letter says what the note is — that is the point, and it is why this page can be left on the desk.

8AEnglish 8A26 enrolled · Rm 214

	Student	c	p
1	Oskar Zamora	c
2	Elena Kaur	c
3	Blaise Mwangi	c
4	Kai Oyelaran	c
5	Jonah Erdem	c
6	Juno Xu	c
7	Quinn Achebe	c
8	Viktor Tavares
9	Dane Rosales		p
10	Viktor Erdem
11	Wes Lindqvist
12	Tessa Ustinov
13	Femi Iqbal	c
14	Tariq Iqbal	c
15	Mira Lindqvist	c
16	Dane Rasmussen	c
17	Lena Moreau	c
18	Omar Gill	c	p
19	Vera Cortez	c
20	Ugo Lombardi	c
21	Kofi Duarte	c
22	Rhea Quintero
23	Jonah Jovanovic
24	Cass Fontaine
25	Saoirse Bello
26	Wes Achebe

8BEnglish 8B24 enrolled · Rm 214

	Student	c	p
1	Yusuf Erdem	c
2	Hollis Xu	c
3	Blaise Castellano
4	Imani Petrov
5	Wes Tavares
6	Nia Iqbal
7	Idris Mwangi		p
8	Noor Sokolov
9	Xiulan Oyelaran
10	Rhea Ibarra	c
11	Hana Xu	c
12	Lucia Kowalski	c
13	Blaise Achebe	c
14	Jonah Iqbal	c
15	Kofi Rosales	c
16	Mira Bello	c	p
17	Amara Xu	c
18	Carmen Gill
19	Sami Lombardi
20	Paloma Ekwueme
21	Carmen Sandoval
22	Uma Vance
23	Esme Oyelaran
24	Juno Mwangi	c

8A is 26 of a 30-seat room. Four seats are empty and one of them is by the door: keep it empty. It is the seat that solves a bad afternoon without a referral.

The seats that matter, and why

The peopleThe Bell BookDay 1 placement11 / 25

The class lists · the rest73 more names across three sections and an advisory

The classes nobody plans for

Journalism is 17 and runs itself. Advisory is 14 and nobody has ever written a plan for it, which is exactly why it is the twenty minutes that decides a Thursday.

8CEnglish 8C23 enrolled · Rm 214

	Student	c	p
1	Femi Wojcik
2	Tessa Duarte
3	Gita Ustinov
4	Gita Zamora		p
5	Uma Delacroix	c
6	Cass Rasmussen	c
7	Imani Thorne	c
8	Omar Osei	c
9	Gita Duarte	c
10	Xiulan Kaur	c
11	Yara Sandoval	c
12	Omar Kaur
13	Paloma Ueda		p
14	Carmen Petrov
15	Lena Vance
16	Dane Ustinov
17	Hollis Whitfield
18	Yara Erdem
19	Quinn Varga
20	Nia Mwangi	c
21	Ugo Haddad	c
22	Tariq Sokolov	c	p
23	Nia Iqbal	c

HONHonors English 819 enrolled · Rm 214

	Student	c	p
1	Yara Vance
2	Omar Lombardi		p
3	Imani Tavares	c
4	Zeke Kowalski	c
5	Dane Achebe	c
6	Yara Rasmussen	c
7	Jonah Whitfield	c
8	Yusuf Oyelaran	c
9	Imani Ekwueme	c
10	Amara Iqbal	c
11	Hana Erdem	c	p
12	Lena Thorne
13	Mira Nakamura
14	Gita Ueda
15	Tessa Ustinov
16	Idris Rosales
17	Bo Lombardi	c
18	Xiulan Wojcik	c
19	Hana Jansen	c

JRNJournalism17 enrolled · Rm 118

	Student	c	p
1	Omar Whitfield	c
2	Wren Gill	c
3	Lucia Moreau	c
4	Imani Zamora	c
5	Kofi Achebe
6	Tariq Vance
7	Saoirse Ngata
8	Mateo Moreau
9	Saoirse Delacroix		p
10	Mira Achebe
11	Cass Haddad
12	Amara Duarte
13	Quinn Moreau
14	Paloma Brannigan	c
15	Omar Castellano	c
16	Mira Osei	c
17	Ugo Oyelaran	c

ADVAdvisory14 enrolled · Rm 214

	Student	c	p
1	Hana Duarte	c
2	Dmitri Lindqvist	c
3	Yusuf Tavares	c
4	Ugo Tavares	c
5	Juno Mwangi	c
6	Carmen Quintero	c
7	Oskar Nakamura		p
8	Farid Farrow
9	Nia Haddad
10	Amara Jovanovic	c
11	Ugo Osei	c
12	Omar Oyelaran	c
13	Ada Rasmussen	c
14	Vera Tavares	c

The rule for every list in this book: when a name moves, strike it, do not erase it, and write the move on page 12 with the date. A list that has been tidied is a list you cannot defend in a meeting.

Advisory — the twenty minutes nobody plans

The peopleThe Bell BookTerm 1 · weeks 3–412 / 25

The add / drop log6 moves in the first four weeks

The lists change in week three. The book has to change with them.

Every class list in every planner is printed as if it were final. In a real school the list moves in week three, again after the first report card, and once more when a family moves house in February. This is the page that survives it.

Date	Student	From	To	Why
Sep 7	Tessa Quintero	8B	8A	level change — reading support ended
Sep 8	Omar Jansen	—	8C	arrived from Fairview Middle, week 3
Sep 9	Kai Petrov	8C	8B	timetable clash with band
Sep 10	Nia Kowalski	8A	HON	moved up after the baseline sample
Sep 14	Wes Ngata	8B	—	transferred out, records sent Sep 15
Sep 16	Paloma Varga	JRN	JRN	added after the elective change window

When a name arrives

When a name leaves

Three things to do in the same hour

1. Move the name on the roster and write the line here — the same day, not the same week.
2. Tell the private page. An accommodation travels with the student, and the page has to know before the next period, not before the next meeting.
3. Correct the seating plan, because the seat is the only thing a new student has on their first morning.

What never goes on this page

Why a student left. The reason a family moved is their business; the box says 'transferred out' and the date, and that is the whole entry.

Late arrivals and quiet departures

The workThe Bell BookThe whole year13 / 25

The assessment plan11 graded pieces · 100% of the year · 10% unweighted

What it weighs, and when it lands

A weight is a promise about how much a bad afternoon matters. These add to a hundred and the exams are 22 of them, which is the only number a student will ask about in the corridor.

Due	Assessment	Type	Sections	Weight	Marked with
27 Aug	Baseline writing sample	Coursework	8A 8B 8C	8%	rubric 1
17 Sep	Reading checkpoint 1	Coursework	8A 8B 8C	10%	rubric 2
8 Oct	Narrative essay	Coursework	8A 8B 8C	12%	rubric 3
22 Oct	Close reading · Honors	Coursework	HON	5%	rubric 1
29 Oct	Reader response 4	Coursework	8A 8B 8C	8%	rubric 2
5 Nov	Term 1 exam · ahead	Exam	8A 8B 8C HON	12%	shared scheme
10 Dec	Argument essay · ahead	Coursework	8A 8B 8C	12%	rubric 1
21 Jan	Poetry portfolio · ahead	Portfolio	8A 8B 8C HON	8%	rubric 2
18 Feb	Term 2 exam · ahead	Exam	8A 8B 8C HON	10%	shared scheme
14 Apr	Research paper · ahead	Coursework	8A 8B 8C HON	10%	rubric 1
19 May	Presentation · ahead	Performance	8A 8B 8C HON JRN	5%	rubric 2
	Total, English 8			100%

Three that hurt

Assessment	Weight	Why it is the one that hurts
Narrative essay	12%	the first real grade they believe
Term 1 exam	12%	the week after conferences, and it is marked in four days
Research paper	10%	April, in the testing window, and it needs the library

Protect these three weeks in August. Everything else can move.

The shape of the year

27 Aug8

17 Sep10

8 Oct12

22 Oct5

29 Oct8

5 Nov12

10 Dec12

21 Jan8

18 Feb10

14 Apr10

19 May5

Advance warning — what the calendar will do to this plan

The workThe Bell BookTerm 1 to date14 / 25

The marking log319 pieces in · 281 marked · 274 back

The ledger nobody asks to see until they do

Attendance has a system. Marking has you, a pen, and whatever is on the desk. This is the page that answers the question in a conference: when did they get it back?

Due	Assessment	Sections	In	Marked	Back	Owed	Handed back
27 Aug	Baseline writing sample	8A 8B 8C	71/73	71	71	0	31 Aug
17 Sep	Reading checkpoint 1	8A 8B 8C	72/73	72	72	0	22 Sep
8 Oct	Narrative essay	8A 8B 8C	70/73	70	65	5	15 Oct
22 Oct	Close reading · Honors	HON	18/19	18	16	2
29 Oct	Reader response 4	8A 8B 8C	71/73	50	50	21
2 Nov	Pitch round 2	JRN	17/17	0	0	17
	Term 1 to date		319	281	274	45

The rules this page keeps

In, marked, back. Three columns, because “marked” and “back” are different facts and only one of them is visible to a student.
A blank is a zero you have to justify. The submission column is the one you will need in June.
Nothing is marked twice. If it comes back, it goes in at the bottom with the date, not in the middle.

Owed, right now

pieces on the desk

of 319 that came in

86% is back. The queue on the next page is where it actually gets done.

Late, lost and re-marked — the entries the three columns cannot hold

The workThe Bell BookThis morning15 / 25

The red pen queuesorted by what hurts most, not by what is oldest

Marking that has to come back

The log records. This page demands. A stack is ranked by how many pieces are in it times how long they have been out — because nineteen scripts a week old is a worse problem than two that are six weeks old.

5Narrative essay · 8Aback of the desk, clippeddue
8 Oct27 days
out

12Reader response 4 · 8Ablue traydue
29 Oct6 days
out

9Reader response 4 · 8Bblue traydue
29 Oct6 days
out

17Pitch round 2 · Jrnwith the editor's notesdue
2 Nov2 days
out

2Close reading · Honors · Honin the folder, unmarkeddue
22 Oct13 days
out

What to do in the forty-eight minutes of prep

#	Move	Why
1	Mark the Honors stack (2).	Smallest, and the class that reads the comments.
2	Mark twelve of the reader responses.	Half a stack is a decision, not a failure.
3	Hand back anything already marked.	The queue is for what is owed, not for what is finished.
4	Put the rest in the order you will do them.	Written down, it stops being a feeling.

The queue total

5 stacks still out

The rule of the queue

Nothing new goes on the desk until a stack leaves it. A queue that only grows is a log with better handwriting.

Tomorrow’s stacks, named tonight

The workThe Bell BookThursday 4 November16 / 25

If I am not here · Thursday 4 November · Day 3

The substitute plan

This page is the whole day. Five periods to cover, one free, one duty, five classes who already know what they are doing. Start at the strip, then read the period you are in.

Whyillness — one day, back Friday

OfficeOffice ext. 2100

Next doorMs. Oyelaran, Room 211

FreeP5 — your own time; the staff room is at the end of the corridor

DutyP7 — front gate, 14:06. The gate opens from the inside; the latch is grey.

KeysReturn to the office, not the drawer

NotesClip your notes to the front of the sub folder on the desk

P18C8:10

P2Hon9:02

P38A9:54

P48B11:30

P5free12:22

P6Jrn13:14

P7duty14:06

The five periods, in order

P1
8:10–8:588C · 214 · 23 students — The draft is already in the blue tray, one sheet each. They type for 40 minutes. The cart is booked to us from 8:05.Laptop cart 2. Sign-out sheet on the desk, front left.Leave: Nothing. They keep the draft.

P2
9:02–9:50Hon · 214 · 19 students — Close reading of the poem on the board. They annotate in the margin. No discussion needed, but it will happen.Annotated copy of the poem with the five questions, on the lectern.Leave: Collect the annotated poems, clip them, leave them on the desk.

P3
9:54–10:428A · 214 · 26 students — Same task as P1, same tray. Note the two names on the door card: they start without a prompt.Laptop cart 2, returned by the office at 9:45.Leave: Nothing.

P4
11:30–12:188B · 214 · 24 students — Same task. This is the group that will test the room. The seating plan on the wall is the one to use.Laptop cart 2. The charger box is under the window.Leave: Nothing.

P6
13:14–14:02Jrn · 118 · 17 students — Editorial meeting. They run it. You take the attendance and sit at the back.The pitch sheet is on the door of 118.Leave: Collect the pitch sheets and leave them on my desk in 214.

The one thingEvery class is drafting today. If they write three sentences and nothing else goes wrong, the day worked.

Three students, and no diagnoses

First names only. What you may do, not what is wrong.

Rubenmay leave the room for ten minutes without asking. Let him go. Do not time him.

Priyaseat her front row, second seat from the left. It is already arranged that way.

Danedo not seat him next to Kade. Say nothing about why; the plan on the wall does it.

If it goes wrong, in this order

1The projector will not start. Plug the HDMI into the grey port, not the black one; if it still will not, the lesson is on paper in the blue tray.
2A class arrives late from assembly. Skip the starter, run the task, take the last ten minutes instead.
3A fight, or something said that worries you. Send a runner to the office, do not handle it alone, and write the time down while it is fresh.
4Nothing is working. Read aloud for twenty minutes. It counts, and they will settle.

Do not

Do not promise a mark, a grade or an extension. Write the request down and leave it for me.
Do not let the laptops leave Room 214 — not for the library, not for the hall.
Do not leave either room empty at the P4 changeover. Wait for the next class at the door.
Do not open the locked drawer, and do not take page 22 out of this folder.

Cut here · page 17 is the card for the desk · page 22 is private and does not leave the room

The workThe Bell BookThursday 4 November17 / 25

The door cardthe page you copy, not the page you write

Two cards, one for the desk and one for the drawer

Page 16 is a page in a folder. This is the version that survives contact with a morning: six lines taped inside the desk lid, and eight for the day nothing works.

Tape inside the desk lid

THE MORNING

DayDay 3 · Thursday 4 November

P18:10 · 8C · Rm 214 · 23 — drafts in the blue tray

P29:02 · Honors · Rm 214 · 19 — poem on the lectern

P39:54 · 8A · Rm 214 · 26 — same as P1

P411:30 · 8B · Rm 214 · 24 — use the plan on the wall

P512:22 · free — staff room, end of the corridor

P613:14 · Journalism · Rm 118 · 17 — they run it

P714:06 · gate duty — latch is grey, opens inward

Photocopy in August

IF SOMETHING GOES WRONG

Officeext. 2100 · send a runner, do not leave the room

Next doorMs. Oyelaran, Rm 211 — she has a key

Keysback to the office at 15:00, not in the drawer

Notesclip them to the front of the sub folder

Neverpromise a mark, a grade, or an extension

Neverlet the laptops leave Room 214

Neveropen the locked drawer, or page 22

If stuckread aloud for twenty minutes. It counts.

Why it is a second page and not a copy of the first

The plan is read once, on a bad morning, by somebody with a coffee and no context: it explains. The card is read in a corridor, mid-changeover, with 24 students arriving: it reminds. One is a document, the other is a sticker, and making one do both makes it bad at both.

What the card may not say

No diagnosis, no reason anybody gets what they get, no surname of a student, and nothing about page 22. If a line would embarrass a family reading it over a shoulder, it goes on the private page and the card says “the plan on the wall” instead.

Your own six lines — the ones only your room needs

The peopleThe Bell BookTerm 118 / 25

Parent contact7 contacts · 2 promises still open

A promise with no date is not a record

Every entry has a date, a reason, what was said, and what you said you would do. The last column is the one that matters in a meeting, and it is the one nobody keeps.

Date	Student	Who	Why	How	Promised
Sep 12	Kai Petrov	Mother	timetable clash with band	phone	confirm by Sep 15
Sep 26	Imani Osei	Guardian	missing two responses	email	send the reading log home
Oct 3	Dane Sokolov	Father	incident in P6 changeover	phone	move him by Oct 6
Oct 11	Nia Kowalski	Mother	honors placement	phone	email the list Friday
Oct 18	Ruben Ibarra	Grandmother	weekly check-in	phone	a Friday note, every week
Oct 27	Priya Kaur	Mother	seating and the front row	email	done from Monday
Nov 2	Bo Erdem	Father	essay extension	email	note it in the log

Blank lines, because there are always more

Date	Student	Who	Why	Promised	Done

Still open

Ruben Ibarra · Grandmother

promised: a Friday note, every week

Bo Erdem · Father

promised: note it in the log

The 24-hour rule

A call about a bad afternoon goes out the same day, before the story has grown. A call about a good one can wait for Friday, and is worth three of the other kind.

The calls you are putting off, and the date you will make them

The peopleThe Bell BookTerm 119 / 25

Duty and meetings

The two things that eat the period you were going to mark in

Duty is the half hour you agreed to in September. Meetings are the hour that arrives on Thursday with an agenda someone else wrote. Together they are 10 hours this term, and every one of them came out of a prep.

The duty roster

When	What	Where	Min	Covers
Mon 7:20	Front gate	Main entrance	25	arrivals
Tue 12:22	Lunch duty	Cafeteria	40	P5 rotation
Wed 14:06	Bus duty	Yard, bay 3	30	P7 rotation
Thu 14:06	Front gate	Main entrance	25	P7 rotation
Fri 10:46	Cafeteria line	Cafeteria	20	lunch
	Five duties a week		140

The meetings

Date	What	Min	What it asked of me
Aug 24	Staff day · department	90	reading list due
Sep 8	Grade-level team	45	shared the baseline data
Sep 29	IEP review · R. Ibarra	60	signed, filed
Oct 13	Department · writing	60	adopt the same rubric
Oct 27	Parent conference night	150	9 meetings, 2 follow-ups
Nov 3	Exam moderation	45	mark scheme agreed
	6 meetings	450

Hours a week

Duty alone, in hours. The meetings sit on top — 6 this term, 8 hours, and none of them in the timetable.

The rule for saying yes

One committee, one club, one duty beyond the roster. Not two. The second one is the one that takes the marking evenings, and it always arrives phrased as a small favour.

Where the hour went

The moneyThe Bell BookAug to date20 / 25

The classroom budget$238.15 of $450.00 · 53% spent

Your money, in a book that is not about money

Nobody reimburses a whiteboard marker. The allowance is real, it is small, and it runs out in February if you buy novels in September without counting. This is the page that makes the argument to the office, with dates.

Date	What	Category	Cost
Aug 26	Printing credit, term 1	Print	$64.00
Sep 4	Whiteboard markers, 24	Consumables	$28.40
Sep 19	Class set of novels	Books	$74.00
Oct 2	Bins and magazine files	Room	$31.00
Oct 16	Tissues, wipes, gloves	Consumables	$18.75
Oct 30	Poster stock and tape	Room	$22.00
	Six purchases, term 1		$238.15

By category

Books$74

Print$64

Room$53

Consumables$47

$211.85 left. At this rate the allowance is gone by the second week of March, which is the week the research paper needs printing.

What you will not buy again

The roomThe Bell BookAugust and week six21 / 25

Seating plansthe same 26 students, twice

The plan you start with, and the one that works

August’s plan is alphabetical because you do not know them yet. By week six the room has told you what it needs, and the second plan is that answer. The marks on the second one are the four seats that moved and why.

AAugust · alphabeticalthe plan that needs no explanation

AmaraAbara

BoBello

CassCastellano

DaneDuarte

ElenaEkwueme

FemiFarrow

GitaGill

HollisHaddad

ImaniIbarra

JonahJansen

KaiKowalski

LenaLindqvist

MateoMwangi

NiaNakamura

OmarOyelaran

PriyaPetrov

QuinnQuintero

RafaelRasmussen

SaoirseSokolov

TariqTavares

UmaUeda

ViktorVarga

WrenWhitfield

XiulanXu

YusufYildiz

ZaraZamora

BWeek six · by what the room needsthe plan that works

PriyaPetrov

NiaNakamura

OmarOyelaran

KaiKowalski

HollisHaddad

RafaelRasmussen

BoBello

DaneDuarte

ElenaEkwueme

FemiFarrow

GitaGill

ImaniIbarra

CassCastellano

JonahJansen

LenaLindqvist

MateoMwangi

SaoirseSokolov

TariqTavares

UmaUeda

ViktorVarga

WrenWhitfield

XiulanXu

YusufYildiz

ZaraZamora

AmaraAbara

QuinnQuintero

The four moves, named

· Priya to the front-left — the seat she can hear from.
· Dane away from Kade — the only move that stopped the P4 changeover.
· Ruben by the door — his exit without a conversation.
· Omar next to Nia — the new student, paired with the one who will explain it.

What a seating plan is for

Not order. It is the cheapest accommodation in the building: a seat costs nothing, needs no form, and can be changed on a Tuesday. Every one of the four moves above is doing work that would otherwise be a referral.

The next three moves — and the seat that is only there for one student

The roomThe Bell BookDo not copy22 / 25

PRIVATE · THIS PAGE DOES NOT LEAVE THE ROOM · NOT IN THE SUBSTITUTE FOLDER

Accommodation notes5 students · first names only · no diagnoses in the left column

The page that must not be photocopied

This is the only page in the book with a warning on it, and the warning is the design. Everything here is written so that the middle column is the thing that never travels: the instruction can be given to anybody, the reason cannot.

Student	What it is (stays here)	What works	A substitute may be told
Ruben I.	IEP · exits for regulation	leaves without asking, ten minutes, returns on his own	let him go quietly; do not time him
Priya K.	504 · hearing, front-left seating	seat, not instruction	front row, second seat from the left
Dane S.	behaviour plan · seat away from Kade	never seated together, no explanation given	keep them apart, say nothing about why
Imani O.	young carer · homework plan	extra day on any written task, asked for, not offered	she may ask for the extra day; say yes
Bo E.	medical · goes to the nurse	a pass in the front of his folder, no escort	the pass is in his folder

The rules of this page

It is not photocopied, not laminated, not left in the sub folder, and not photographed for a folder on a computer.
The substitute gets the right-hand column only — and on page 16, three lines, first names, no reasons.
If this page is missing, tell the office the same day. It is a record, not a note.
At the end of the year it is shredded, not kept “to remember”.

What goes on the private page

An IEP or 504 provision, a medical plan, a behaviour plan, a young-carer arrangement, a safeguarding note with a name on it. What a student told you in confidence does not go here — it goes to the person whose job it is.

And what never does

A guess. A label somebody used in the staff room. A diagnosis you inferred from a behaviour. If it is not written down by a person qualified to write it down, it does not belong in a book that could be left on a desk.

What changed here this term, and what leaves the room in June

The endThe Bell BookTerm 1 · week 1123 / 25

Term 1 · the reflection

Six questions, and no room for the flattering answer

Written in the last week of a term, read in the first week of the next one. That gap is the whole value: by January you will not remember which period was the problem, and you will make the same timetable again.

1Which period was the one I planned for, and which was the one I actually taught? — the gap, not the lesson

2What did I mark that did not need marking? — the thing to stop doing in January

3Who did I not hear from this term? — a name, not a category

4Which page of this book did I stop using, and why? — the system that failed, honestly

5What did I say yes to that I should have said no to? — the duty, the committee, the favour

6What is the one thing I will keep in August? — you already know what it is

One more thing — the sentence you would say to yourself in August

The endThe Bell BookJune, into August24 / 25

The hinge

The year ends in June and the next one starts in August

This is the last page because it is the first page of next year. Three columns: what you keep, what you throw, and what you tell the person who has your room in September.

Keep

The six-day rotation sheet — Day 6 is the one everyone forgets
The blue-tray routine for drafts
The Friday note to Ruben's grandmother

A system that survived November is a system. Keep the shape, not the paper.

Throw

The reading log that never came back
The seating chart from week one
Last year's exam, adapted twice

Throwing out a system that failed is not giving up. It is the only way to make room.

Tell the next one

8B needs the door met, not the room
P4 to P5 changeover is the ten minutes that decides the afternoon
The gate latch sticks in the rain

Write it down. The corridor conversation in September is worth nothing.

180

student days. You will not remember most of them, which is why the pages exist. Page 4 is where the next one starts, and page 16 is the one you hope nobody needs.

Close the book on the last day. Open it in August, before the meetings.

The letter you would write to the teacher who gets this room

The screenThe Bell BookLive25 / 25

Today · Thursday 4 NovemberDay 3 · this page exists only on the screen edition

What is happening now

Now · 11:30–12:18P4English 8B24 students · Room 214 · 22 present

Next bell12:22 · P5

The rest of the day

3 bells

P512:22–13:10Prep
P613:14–14:02Jrn · Rm 118
P714:06–14:54Gate duty · front

Out today

Imani Osei · 8B · explained
Kai Petrov · 8C · unexcused
Zara Zamora · Honors · late

Two of the three are on the contact log. The third is the one to watch.

The one thingThe exam is tomorrow. Say it out loud at the start of P4, and again at the end.