back to the grindstone
I'm subbing again. Turns out I can work thismuch a week before it affects my EI.
Imagine my elation at going back for my first day of substitute teaching this year. It's high school (I prefer H.S. actually), and I show up at the school wearing my shiny new clothes all eager to start again. I don't know if the secretary hadn't noticed that I hadn't been around for the last 8 months. She never let on. I think she was really really excited inside but was too shy to say anything.
The teacher I was subbing for was sick and had emailed her the lesson plan. Nobody was quite sure what room I was to go to. His room was being renovated and he was sharing other classrooms. Eventually I get a key-ring with half a dozen keys on it and a room number.
Once in the room I settled down to read the lesson plan. The first thing it said:
Please go to room 82...
That is not the room I was in. I packed up, turned off the lights and tried my multitude of keys in the door of the new room. None of them worked. I fetched a second set of keys and managed to break into that classroom.
The next thing on the lesson:
Attendance is pretty bad in this class, and those who do come generally come late. Take note of those who are late so I can give them some additional time to work on the assignment.
Okay, seems like a good idea. Guess how many kids came? One.
Then guess who came. The teacher whose room I was occupying. He was wondering what I was doing in his room. I insisted that I was supposed to be in there - I even showed him the lesson plan. My one student stood up for me and said that Mr. H. had instructed them to come here for this class. The teacher said it was okay, because he was planning on being across the hall in the computer lab for the duration of the morning anyway.
I finally paged the office and told them that there was some confusion regarding the classroom. They then sent any lost students to the room I was in via the intercom.
Guess how many more showed up? One.
I was now up to two students! I was pretty excited by now. I handed my second student his copy of the assignment. A few minutes later, student #2 asked #1 if he had finished the assignment from the day before. #1 said he hadn't. #2 was excited that he had beat #1, he then looked at me and said (with the utmost seriousness) "He's like, my only competition in this class." I kid you not. I actually laughed out loud. The real laugh, not the lol you use to make your friends think you think they're clever on the internet (sorry guys, I really DO think you're clever!).
I was just writing that down to share with you when the vice principal walked in herding 3 more classmates he had found wandering around the school (or hiding, but I'm sure high school students would not hide just because a sub was in). I was now at 5. That's the most I ended up getting.
The worst part of it all? I think people sort of thought I was making up the whole thing. The VP asked to see the email that said I was supposed to be in that room. The teacher whose room I took? He was actually right across the hall in the computer lab, and when another teacher went in there to chat with him, I heard her ask what I was doing in his room. Then they whispered and peered over at me from time to time. I heard a little bit of "she said" in there. Didn't much like it.
The best part of it all? I was looking for a sheet of scrap paper to write some blog ideas on. I found a stack of old assignments that were blank on the back and I was just going to go sit down with it when I flipped it over to see what was on the other side and it was a huge, full-sheet diagram of a vagina. What are the odds?
Imagine my elation at going back for my first day of substitute teaching this year. It's high school (I prefer H.S. actually), and I show up at the school wearing my shiny new clothes all eager to start again. I don't know if the secretary hadn't noticed that I hadn't been around for the last 8 months. She never let on. I think she was really really excited inside but was too shy to say anything.
The teacher I was subbing for was sick and had emailed her the lesson plan. Nobody was quite sure what room I was to go to. His room was being renovated and he was sharing other classrooms. Eventually I get a key-ring with half a dozen keys on it and a room number.
Once in the room I settled down to read the lesson plan. The first thing it said:
Please go to room 82...
That is not the room I was in. I packed up, turned off the lights and tried my multitude of keys in the door of the new room. None of them worked. I fetched a second set of keys and managed to break into that classroom.
The next thing on the lesson:
Attendance is pretty bad in this class, and those who do come generally come late. Take note of those who are late so I can give them some additional time to work on the assignment.
Okay, seems like a good idea. Guess how many kids came? One.
Then guess who came. The teacher whose room I was occupying. He was wondering what I was doing in his room. I insisted that I was supposed to be in there - I even showed him the lesson plan. My one student stood up for me and said that Mr. H. had instructed them to come here for this class. The teacher said it was okay, because he was planning on being across the hall in the computer lab for the duration of the morning anyway.
I finally paged the office and told them that there was some confusion regarding the classroom. They then sent any lost students to the room I was in via the intercom.
Guess how many more showed up? One.
I was now up to two students! I was pretty excited by now. I handed my second student his copy of the assignment. A few minutes later, student #2 asked #1 if he had finished the assignment from the day before. #1 said he hadn't. #2 was excited that he had beat #1, he then looked at me and said (with the utmost seriousness) "He's like, my only competition in this class." I kid you not. I actually laughed out loud. The real laugh, not the lol you use to make your friends think you think they're clever on the internet (sorry guys, I really DO think you're clever!).
I was just writing that down to share with you when the vice principal walked in herding 3 more classmates he had found wandering around the school (or hiding, but I'm sure high school students would not hide just because a sub was in). I was now at 5. That's the most I ended up getting.
The worst part of it all? I think people sort of thought I was making up the whole thing. The VP asked to see the email that said I was supposed to be in that room. The teacher whose room I took? He was actually right across the hall in the computer lab, and when another teacher went in there to chat with him, I heard her ask what I was doing in his room. Then they whispered and peered over at me from time to time. I heard a little bit of "she said" in there. Didn't much like it.
The best part of it all? I was looking for a sheet of scrap paper to write some blog ideas on. I found a stack of old assignments that were blank on the back and I was just going to go sit down with it when I flipped it over to see what was on the other side and it was a huge, full-sheet diagram of a vagina. What are the odds?
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