After we got our approval as substitute teachers we carried calling cards around to various schools introducing ourselves, etc. The very next day, we got a call for Wayne to go to Waynesville Middle school. His day went well. He had small classes and the subject was in his field of study so he was happy. No calls for the next day so we worked on the house. Then Wayne got 2 calls one for Thursday and one for Friday of last week. The Thursday call was for Pisgah Hi and he would be teaching the Spanish class. Fortunately, the teacher left great lesson plans so he had no trouble getting through the day. He did have a couple of obnoxious students to deal with but he managed. Around 9:30 I received a call requesting that I teach at Canton Middle Schnool for the afternoon. I worked from 11:30 til 3. My classes were with 8th grade science students. Other than having to quiet them down more than I would have liked my day went okay. It was neat. I missed a call request, by being at work, for teaching at Waynesville Middle on Friday. I had a lab appointment to get my blood checked for thinning components at 11 am so it was just as well. I made my next appointment after school hours so that won't happen again.
On Friday Wayne left for Bethel Middle School and when he got home he said, now I know why I was glad to get out of middle school teaching....and he laughed. The kids were kinda smarty, he had all three middle school age students so he had his hands full. Hopefully, we will get called tomorrow for some days this week. It was an interesting week and we are very glad to be making some money.
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6 comments:
I am so happy for the two of you. I know this new adventure takes a load of some of your worries. I hope you can get some work next week, too bad it means that the work on the house gets put off. But eventually it will be finished and worry free.
Here's a tip to help you keep your sanity. From a teacher's point of view, you really aren't expected to teach. So don't get too caught up in making sure the kids "get" the lesson plan. Just concentrate on keeping the students busy. You might also want to have something fun on hand in case the sub plans are not enough, like a puzzle or a game.
This ploy might help with some of the attitude:
Tell the kids "Your teacher has asked me to send anyone who is not polite to the Dean's office. I don't want to do that, but that's your teacher's orders." Then, the first moment a kid so much as gives an iota of attitude, write them up. You probably won't have to write anyone else up because they will get eh message. Unfortunately, it sometimes takes an example to set the tone for everyone else.
A video can be a sub's best friend. You might want to have a video as a backup plan if needed. Simon Birch works well. I can even send you a little viewing guide/quiz. Mary probably has a copy of the movie you could borrow.
At the training we were provided with a bunch of fun educational games to have with you if the kid get through before class is over. Most of them are paper work lke word searches, etc. but they are all fun to do. I did not have time to round up my games and take them with me but I intend to get them ready to go so that I can grab them and run if called at the last minute. Thanks for all of the tips. I know not to be expected to teach and keeping them busy is a must. Hadn't thought to use the office sending quite that way. Pretty good... I did threaten to send some to the office if they couldn't shape up. I did write up 2 students in one class and left the notes for the teacher.
How on Earth did Tag know I have a cpoy of Simon Birch? Am I that predictable? Well, he's right I do have it. It is an excellent movie if you haven't seen it you should.
I just used Simon Birch for literary analysis (it was a rough week with kids sick and I felt a little under the weather myself, so...movie time).
I remembered you liking that movie a lot.
Total tearjerker...but good. The students love it. I brought it home to show it to Sofia and Alex (it's the school's copy).
I am in awe of my parents. I am in awe of anyone who works with large groups of kids--especially middle school age public school kids. For that matter I am in awe of people who work with sick people day in and day out. I am in awe of people who do construction, people who are in charge of orders for a whole company, people who work shifts especially when they have a family, people who manage other people, people who start their own jewelry business----
Geez, what an amazing family I have!
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