Fare Thee Well, '10-'11

Well, unlike last year, the end of the 2010-2011 school year was busy busy busy. Not only did I make good on my promise to work the last day of school (AM assignment with Life Skills at OHS!), I actually worked every school day in June.

This summer, I am working events for a small local business, vending at fairs and whatnot, volunteering, teaching a 2-week arts-focused day camp, and being a good little housewife as my fiancee and I move into the house we just bought - I'll be in charge of unpacking and organizing our stuff, decorating, and spending his hard earned money on furniture and other feminine frippery.

What will the next school year bring? Well, hopefully a *real* teaching job. But with budget cuts all around and deep cuts in the arts, it's not looking good. If I am back and subbing next year, I have a couple of potential family leaves to cover for. Also, my main district is moving to a new substitute phone system that will put more emphasis on license area and teacher requests and less on seniority. I have also been invited by our union group to join the substitute bargaining committee, duking it out with the big boys at the district office. Whatever happens next, it's sure to be exciting!

Almost there!

My school district is out next Tuesday. Mentally, I had prepared to be "done" earlier this month, thinking "oh, jobs will be really slim in June, who hires a sub the last week of school?"

Answer: everyone, apparently. I have worked every single school day in June, and I'm booked tomorrow, Monday, and hopefully the last day of school (had a teacher ask me but it's not in the online system yet.)

Over here on the west coast it has been unseasonably cold and cloudy, which makes it feel like the school year will go on forever. But the signs of the end of school are there: packed up boxes in classrooms, test study guides, libraries and textbook rooms in disarray, hyper kids. On days like yesterday, when I had 7th graders all day at AK-8, this is a Good Thing. "Nearly done!" I think to myself, with relief. But days like today, with some of my favorite freshmen at OHS, I get a little wistful and the rays of sun are a Sad Thing. It is especially hard as a sub because while I care about them very much, the kids don't really know me and won't miss me too much. Also, since I am applying like mad to any available jobs, I may not work for the district next year and therefore probably won't see them again.

Sigh.

Dancing

Normally when I get a call for OK-8 I flat-out turn it down. I did a day or two there as a rookie and with the volume of my business now, have the privilege of never going back. It's one of those urban schools where the kids are loud and unruly and bring so many issues to the classroom that it makes for a nightmarish day. However, as the school year winds down I'm hearing out any job offer because I know I'll regret passing up money. So I listened to the job offer - afternoon only? dance class? Hell yeah!! Sleep in and then go to dance class? Sure, why not?
I figured that we'd probably watch a movie but just in case, I grabbed my dance bag (my hobby is bellydancing, the bag had loose yoga pants, CDs, and some "extras" like my veil and finger cymbals.)
When I arrived, it turned out we WERE dancing and using the auditorium as a classroom so I spent my prep time figuring out the sound system (the best I could do was put my CDs in the DVD player and play them through the TV. The first group arrived, a mix of 1st and 2nd graders. The procedure was to make them run in a giant circle for 5 minutes to warm up, then lay on the floor for 3-4 minutes to calm down and focus, then play "freeze dance." The running went well. The laying down? Not so much. I made them listen to a calm song twice and maybe got 10 seconds of consecutive quiet. Then we played freeze dance and I pulled out my practice veil and let kids take turns spinning with it, which they enjoyed. Unfortunately I had the discipline problem of one kid biting four others ... oh well. This is why I refuse to try and teach them math.
The lesson plan repeated for the 3rd and 4th grade group. They got pooped a little faster then the little ones, but still didn't want to leave when I had to send them back. At the end of the afternoon I stunk of sweat- mine and theirs - and I should probably apologize to my veil. But I think it was a success.

June's Goal

You may remember how surprised I was to get a call on the FIRST DAY of school. Since then I have been working regularly, even turning down jobs (I've had four requests for this Friday, alas, I can only take one). My new goal - to work the LAST day of school, June 14th! I'm already booked for June 13th, can I make that last juicy day?

We Wish You Were Our Teacher All the Time!

This statement is a double edged sword. Just as you get all happy and proud that a student said that to their substitute teacher, you get the follow-up:

"... because you let us talk all period."

"... because we never get to watch movies with our regular teacher."

"... because you're pretty."

Today, though, I got a great comment:

"I wish you were our art teacher all the time because instead of just telling us our paintings are bad, you show us ways to improve them and tell us when we do it well."

Aw. Thanks kid. I try.

Happy St. Pat's

I celebrated by wearing the only two ceramics-room-appropriate (ie, school appropriate and they can get messy) green things I own: a jade green sweater vest and socks with little green dinosaurs all over them (plus jeans and an art apron). The teacher next door had a great idea - she was handing out green yarn to any kid who forgot it was St Patrick's Day for the price of a pinch!

Huh

You would think that a day that involved me guilt-tripping a parent for taking her daughter out to lunch (seriously, the kid has missed a week in my class) and this ultimatum to computer-game-playing kids: "If you don't stop playing that game, by Friday either I'm going to be in the looney bin or one of you will be in the hospital" would be filed under "bad day."

But no, it was one of my best days at GHS yet, with ACTUAL TEACHING occurring (I got to introduce 2 new topics), aesthetic feedback on projects, and finally getting down most of the names!

We'll see about the computer game issue.

Comedy

Scene: AHS, special ed room. Students are supposed to work on homework or in-class work with my help. One student won't do anything, and won't do the default activity of reading a book.

Me: Will, I'm going to ask again if there is ANYTHING you can do right now to be productive?

Will: Nope. Just wanna sleep, or go home.

Girl Across The Room: Will, you are so lazy that when you die they need to bury you on your stomach to give your ass a break!



I just about died trying not to laugh.

Busy week

When I went to bed on MLK Day I had a free and clear week ahead of me.

5:34 the next day I get a call ... and they just snowball from there until I was working every day this week and turning jobs down too!

Don't see this every day ...

Usually my "normal" friends get to discuss their day at work like this:

"Today someone brought cookies!"

Or,

"Today our servers went down, luckily I had some filing to do!"

I get to say:

"Today two 8th grade boys performed for the class, one rapping and the other providing the beat with a dingeridoo!"

My day ruled!

(Confused? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Didgeridoo )

New Year's Resolutions - Subbing Edition

Ah, New Year's Resolutions. I try to make (and keep) them annually and some good things have come of them. This year I have personal resolutions, but I also have professional ones. (The good thing about teaching resolutions is that you only have to keep them until June :D)

1. Get a real teaching job.
2. Don't be content with "well, the room didn't burn down" as much.
3. Use my breaks more productively - read, stretch, network, draw.
4. Try new classroom management techniques.
5. Look for opportunities to really teach instead of babysit and go for them!

Any for you?

Union!

Had my first teacher's union substitute committee meeting today! How lefty of me! Issues discussed:

-The sub management system keeps hanging up on people instead of assigning them sub jobs.
-Schools are very inconsistent about what info they give you and how (ex: are the roll sheets given to you when you walk in, or left in the classroom?) and it needs to be more uniform and helpful.
-A rising trend in lunches and prep periods not being scheduled.

Also, I somehow wound up as a write-in candidate for substitute representative. Oops!

Mileage Reimbursement?

So, I had a half-day gig this morning at school a few miles away ... stayed to lunch with some nice teachers then headed back home. Nearly there, I pulled in for some gas and my phone rings - it's the school and they need me back for an afternoon gig!!! So, I turn around, re-trace my commute, and got another half-day's pay in the bank.

Good Things.

So, those of you who know me know that I had one particularly awful day on Tuesday and that the fallout is still ... falling. I will post about it once all the chips are down. Anyways, the rest of the week was spent at different assignments at OHS and boy was I glad!! It's like going home. And the kids are so awesome. A few examples from today:

I wore my "Queen Bee" costume and got lots of laughs and compliments. I even got one "Your Highness." And a drawing!

Not bad for a 17 year old, right?

One of the girls dressed up as Tank Girl. So rad.

One of my former students offered to organize some sort of march on the school district office to get me my job back.

A special ed kid told me that there is an eagle in his head that is controlled by the GPS and other machinery in his glasses. Only not really! Ha ha!

AND one of my former co-workers bought me a beer after work. TGIF!

Up, Up and Awaaaaay!

Just had 2 very nice days at AK8 Part Deux - a different K-8 school that the AK-8 teacher moved to which is also called .... AK-8. Anyways, I saw all grade levels, drew elephants and value scales and volcanoes, discussed "Washington Crosses the Delaware" at length, and somehow survived the technology classes too.

Tomorrow I believe I am taking off work and taking off in a plane! I'm hoping not to work but you never know if your favorite teacher will have an emergency. Then I'm headed to the East Coast without my laptop for a few days.

Ta ta!

Back at NHS

Hooray! After 2 call-free days, I got a day doing art at NHS! The best part was seeing students from last year's subbing and remembering their names - and that they remembered me and were excited to see me! I had a good time circulating and seeing work-in-progress, and taking some time to do my own sketching and drawing, especially during the mellow classes.

Weekend - sushi, brunch, and BBQ all planned!

SHS Continued ...

So, I have been at SHS since the first day of school and it looks like that trend will continue for another day or two. I'm filling in for the very tardy design teacher's substitute, if you can wrap your head around that. It's been really nice, having a steady job with great kids and a fun curriculum. I actually stay after class to lesson plan! Weird! These are some of the InDesign compositions that turned out quite nicely (2-3 days work on average).

First Day!!!

I spent Labor Day mentally preparing for not working on the first day of school. It's one of those days that is a little tough for me; a stark reminder that I don't have my own classroom. And really, who calls a sub on the first day of school? So, I purposefully did not pack a lunch, I did not pack my bag, I did not set an early alarm. When my alarm did go off at 8:15, I mused that high schools were welcoming freshman for a 2-hour orientation before the upperclassmen showed up, rolled over, and went back to sleep.

Well, about 30 minutes later, my phone rings and it's a secretary from SHS, where I did my student teaching a few years ago. Apparently, they need someone to teach art for some vague reason. When I arrived I got the story from my former mentor teacher in the art department: the school started a digital media class, hired some graphic designer from California, and then found out late last week (as the district office was closing down for Labor Day weekend) that he couldn't make it in time for the school year to start - in fact, not for maybe 2 or 3 weeks. The school called up the retired teacher (Mr. U) who had built the computer lab from the ground up to come in and sub, the problem was that he hasn't been teaching for 2 1/2 years so his paperwork wasn't in order to be a teacher again. So, they called me. Luckily Mr. U is a devoted educator and came in for 1st period on his own time to help me set up, start up the server, go over the proposed lesson plans. I did the rest of the morning (it is a half day gig) and found out that they will need me for the rest of the week until all of Mr. U's paperwork (and re-fingerprinting and all that jazz) can go through. So, in the first month these kids will have 3 teachers!

Happy Fourth!

Hope everyone has a relaxing day. I'm headed out to the country to sip beverages on a friend's porch and eat potluck BBQ.

Science!!

Half day today, filling in for a science teacher at OHS. I can't remember if I wrote about her classes before, but I did sub for one day about a month ago. It was block day, and I got her 3rd period freshman science followed by her 5th period, which was the same curriculum but sheltered for English language learners. Long story short, it was a "simple machines" lab where students experimented with pulleys, see-saws, etc and recorded results. 3rd period was terrible. Uninterested, uncreative, unresponsive. 5th period was amazing - students from 5 different countries working together to build an elaborate pulley system to raise a jug of water that 3rd period couldn't budge.

Anyways, today they were working on their final project, which was to use simple machines to build a wacky Rube Goldberg type device. It seemed really fun and reminded me of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w

Which I let some students watch online for inspiration.