So I wrote a post and thought I hit "publish post" but I hit save- last night. The post was about how tired I was last night, and about subbing and blah blah blah... maybe it was a sign from the writing gods that the post was utter and complete shite that it didn't deserve to be read by the human eye. Or I could've been really really tired and hit the wrong button. Could go either way.
But now it's Friday and most of the crap doesn't make sense so to combine what would've been yesterdays post and some thoughts about today....
I subbed the last 2 days and I was in for English teachers!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! In my former life, I was known to impart knowledge to teens in a classroom setting about writers of the day and from 'back in the day' so this was a real treat. (And since I've subbed for science where I felt stupid, Calculus where I felt stupider and Spanish where I felt stupidest, I was purty darn thrilled to know sum'in' 'bout sump'in). I knew these ladies and made contact with them days in advance and we worked out lesson plans that would be fun for the kids, keep everyone on track and not lose an instructional day and was stuff that I enjoy teaching. I even wrote the activities and lesson plans for one class.
I had 7th grade speech for a day and 8th grade literature for a day. The speech was fun and I did activities with non verbal cues, focusing on non verbal communication. The kids were GREAT and thought it was fun. They were well behaved and seemed to "get" the point or the purpose of the lesson and the activities. Today with Poe we read and discussed "The Tell Tale Heart" aloud and did a story board project- again my idea. Since I wrote a paper on the madness of Poe and his narrators when I was working on my masters, this was right up my alley. I love some good Poe and I love spinning a bullshit web for the kids about Poe's crazy writings and his crazier life.
Both days were good and fun. I had little to no discipline problems- which to me is a sign of an excellent classroom teacher in the first place. Their regular teachers have high standards so they were a joy to have because someone else did all the work that goes into creating a good class atmosphere for me- kudos to Mrs D and B! These were just good teaching days. I felt like I was doing something more than babysitting and was actually giving them knowledge!
What I also learned was that I do not want to make a career out of this- and yes I'll probably eat my words at some point when the only job I can get is another teaching gig. But I was exhausted the last 2 days when I got home. I was thrilled at no homework but pitted the "real" teachers who had to grade the stuff. These were rare red letter days where it all clicked but they are rare. I don't have the energy to battle kids, dealing with them being rude, discipline, the No Child Left Behind (the worst education legislation in history) paperwork, the administrative paperwork, the grading, lesson plans, faculty meetings, staff meetings, team teacher meetings, mentoring meetings, any other meeting is bullshit meetings, pissed off parents, and the lot of it- all the bloody rubbish- that goes with education.
So I did have a good 2 days. But now what the hell am I going to do when I grow up?
Back to Neverneverland,
Maggie
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