Lockdown

This week I was in a kindergarten classroom and we had a lock down to practice.  For those of that aren't familiar with this one would call a lock down at a school if an intruder entered the school and you needed to not run into them... or even if no one knew who it was and wanted to keep everyone safe.  I've never actually been to a school where we have actually had a lock down (and I'm quite thankful for that).

During a lock down the typical procedure is to lock the classroom door, turn out the lights, and close the blinds.  All the students sit against the wall that the door is on (typically).

So anyways, I knew about the lock down ahead of time and was instructed that I could tell the class about it because they were in kindergarten.  So we went over what we would do and that it was very important to sit quietly because if we were hiding and the person in the hallway could hear us there would be no point in hiding at all.  I told them the principal might come and check to make sure the door was locked and it would likely only last a few minutes.  They got a little worried about it but I just told them that we practice fire drills and none of us have been at a school where a fire has happened and so we have to practice this too... just to be safe.

Anyways, when all was said and done they did an alright job.  Some started to make noises and some started to hold back laughter (unsuccessfully) but over all it was okay.  Then one little boy comes up to me and says "Ms. Penner, do we practice lock downs in case a raccoon gets into the school?"  I thought about it for half a minute and decided that we might have a lock down if a raccoon was on the loose inside the school... although we likely wouldn't need to hide from it... just stay in the classroom and not let it in!  He then asked if we would do one if a bug got in... we decided probably not... because bugs get in all the time and don't pose as much as a threat.

The things kindergarten's come up with!

A Message From the Principal

About a month ago the sub clerk called me with a job.  It was for grade 6 and I happily accepted the job.  Then just as we are saying goodbye she goes "oh wait!  The principal wants the substitutes to know that if any of them have hockey equipment they should bring it for the students versus teachers hockey game"

Well, I own figure skates (I also own a hockey stick so I feel like I was partway there) but I highly doubted the teachers were looking for a figure skater (that doesn't actually figure skate) for their team so my response was "so... no".

When I got to school I found out that it was the grade 12 students versus the teachers so I'm assuming I would have gotten hurt out there.

And, because you are dying to know... turns out the teachers didn't need my non figure skating skills to win the game.  They won 6-2.  But more importantly, a fine time was had by all.

Have you ever had any exciting or odd requests from your sub clerk (or a principal)?

These Things Happen

I came across this BuzzFeed article about Embarrassing Things That Can Happen While Substitute Teaching

Based soley on that list... here are my list of offences...

1) I've been doing a lot more high school subbing over the past month and it is not uncommon to be mistaken for a student by other staff.  I do usually dress nicer so that this doesn't happen though.  Once, when I was just starting out as a substitute teacher I got mistaken for a student in middle school... that's just how young I look.

2)  I can't think of a specific time that a student mistook me for another student but I wouldn't doubt that it's happened before.

3)  I mispronounce names wrong.  It happens... I wouldn't say I horribly mispronounce names though.. there have been a handful of times when I've had to use the last name so they could figure out who I was talking about.

4)  I was confused about the sending a student to the office with the attendance.   This is common practice... is it not?

5)  I've likely let 5 kids go to the library at once.  BUT, if I have done this, it is because I know it will be okay... so it would have likely been at my old school where I know the students and the librarian.

6)  Once again I can't think of a specific time but I'm sure I've given the students the wrong assignment... or explained the assignment wrong.  Once it was an art project and I didn't really understand how to do it so I did it the way it made sense to me... turns out it was a little wrong.

7)  I've definitely tried to help a student before and really messed the whole thing up.

8)  Have I ever told you the time my students were writing love letters about me in the form of Awesome Stories?

9)  I'm sure I've made jokes that the kids don't get.  No big deal.

10)  I've come in late.  This is usually in the morning because I very rarely ever leave the school for lunch.  I've walked in with the kids waiting by the door, I've walked in with a resource teacher watching the class, I've walked in with a different substitute covering the class... I've come late (but not because I over slept... sometimes I just don't have enough time to get there on time!)

11)  Recently, I was so hungry after my 2nd period class that I just had to have some of the crackers that I knew I had in my bag.. there were somewhere between 5-10 minutes of break time in between classes so it wasn't like I would be munching on them while everyone else was working or even in the room.  The thing is... these high school kids are such eager beavers to learn that they don't take advantage of their break time and come right to class!  Whatever, I enjoyed the crackers anyways and I crunched them loud (I'm sure).

12)  I've never felt sick as a substitute teacher and had to leave to go to the bathroom but once when I was student teaching I felt super nauseous all of  a sudden and like I was going to faint.  I was standing at the front of the room reading my grade 3 class a book and I just couldn't get through it.  I passed the book off to the EA in the room and got out of there.

13)  BUT I never actually threw up in the school bathroom that time... I did however go home and rest.

14)  I leave things behind all the time in classrooms.  Picture books and water bottles are the big 2.  Luckily it isn't anything embarrassing.

And there you have it... my list of offences.  Do you have any?

April Fools

I saw this article a year ago and decided to save it for this year (hopefully the link still works!)

Canadian Government Announces Year-Round School!

I personally enjoyed the slideshow at the end... Finland seems to have the best deal for students who don't want to be in the classroom.  Shorter school days, 75 minutes of recess, and don't go to school until age 7.  However, from this humble teachers perspective I'm not sure on the starting at age 7.  There is so much learning that can happen before then and lets be honest, not every parent is cut out to be a teacher.  Also, if lunch time is included in the 75 minutes of recess then wouldn't most schools actually get more recess time?  I guess they weren't getting into specifics (for the record I think we have a good amount of recess time here).

I had no idea that in some countries kids went to school 6 days a week!

Kids in Chile get a looong summer break.  I'm wondering if they are expected to work during that time... 12 weeks is a big gap in my opinion.

Want to know my opinion on the April Fools joke?

I actually don't hate the idea.  EXCEPT... I'm guessing there wouldn't be a Christmas break (well there would... it would just be tied in with the 2 weeks off between terms) or Spring Break.  So would that mean students only get 8 weeks off throughout the year total?  

I guess 8 weeks still seems like a very generous amount anyways.  

If this actually did happen in my province I'm not sure I would complain too much... it would be nice to have more breaks that aren't quite so long (I would probably work through my breaks more so than what I already do though).

Here is another article I found to support year-round school.
It's an interesting read.

Did I get pranked today?

Stay tuned and I'll try to post later today with any prankings that happened.