A round of applause rings as the curtains close, lights fade and a smile breaks across English and Drama teacher Ms. Michele Zovak-Gaffney’s face as the last drama play of the year, “Tartuffe,” comes to an end. In the spirit of Teacher Appreciation week, Rampage had a chance to get a glimpse of what a school day is like from Ms. Gaffney’s eyes.
Ms. Gaffney teaches Freshman English during first, second and fourth period, and starts her day on campus at 7:30 a.m. She spends 40 minutes before first period begins grading papers, working on her lesson plan and conferencing with students or teachers as needed.
“Before class I also work on my weekly to-do list,” Ms. Gaffney said. “It incorporates personal responsibilities, teaching responsibilities and play production responsibilities.”
Ms. Gaffney spends her conference period continuing work on her to-do list, and also offers RAMs and lunch to help students.
Occasionally, Ms. Gaffney will also spend her lunch period in meetings for Comedy Sportz or play production. After lunch has ended, Ms. Gaffney transitions into 601, where Advanced Drama and Beginning Drama take place during sixth and seventh period respectively.
After school has ended, Ms. Gaffney usually stays until around 4 p.m., finishing up any work that needs to be done and planning for the next school day. However, the weeks before a play her day are much more hectic. Ms. Gaffney often starts her day at 7 a.m. in order to make trips to pick up bake sale goods, costumes or set-building equipment and bringing them all with her to school.
Ms. Gaffney leaves school for a quick break until 4 p.m. on production weeks and runs technical rehearsals that usually last until 9 p.m. All in all, the production process is extremely tiring, but Ms. Gaffney feels more than satisfied when all the hard work pays off.
“There are usually two weeks of chaos before a production begins,“ Ms. Gaffney said. “Production weeks are the hardest weeks and I feel the exhaustion the second I come home. But it’s worth seeing the joy and pride on the faces of my actors and technical crew after a wonderful performance.
TCHS School Newspaper