Have you ever wondered what your teachers’ lives are like outside of school? I know I have, so I asked them about it!

This week’s focus is on school-famous Mr. McKinely, who teaches Algebra II and Pre-Calculus at Tilghman.

Mr. McKinely starts his good mornings (middle of the nights?) around 3 or 4 a.m. to all of his lights and TV still on. Even though he wakes up insanely early, he is usually well-rested and ready for the day.

After getting out of bed, he turns on his recorded shows that he misses while he’s at school. The View and Jeopardy are his favorites. He catches up on some grading and wakes all his students and their parents up at 5 a.m. putting in multiple grades on Infinite Campus. (I have stopped setting my alarm and have started relying on pre-calc updated grade notifications from Infinite Campus).

Around 6 a.m., Mr. McKinely begins getting ready and takes time to read his Bible and prepare for church the coming weekend. He makes last-minute decisions for what “easy” bell-ringers to assign his classes for the day. Then, he makes his breakfast, which is the exact same every day: pancakes from the freezer section, fried ham and eggs with either orange juice or 2% milk.

On the way to school, he listens to his recently discovered “jams” by Megan Thee Stallion (he knows his Megan) and Saweetie, while practicing saying his favorite phrase, “Math is the easiest class you’ll take all day.”

When he finally arrives at school, he’s somehow late even though he woke up in the middle of the night. If you ever see someone flying into the parking lot on two wheels at 7:05 a.m., just assume it’s Mr. McKinely.

During lunch, he enjoys a plain turkey sandwich, no cheese or condiments, on wheat bread with a side of Ritz crackers and a fruit cup. He then quickly chugs an entire bottle of water because of how dry his lunch was. He wraps up his workday around 2:30 p.m., then heads straight to the gym for about two hours. Once he gets home, he packs his (dry) lunch and gym clothes for the next day before watching his shows and going to sleep with all the lights on at 9 p.m.