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)?
Sunday, April 10, 2016
Sunday, April 03, 2016
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?
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?
Friday, April 01, 2016
April Fools
I saw this article a year ago and decided to save it for this year (hopefully the link still works!)
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).
Did I get pranked today?
Stay tuned and I'll try to post later today with any prankings that happened.
Sunday, March 27, 2016
A Lesson in Map Reading
I would never say I'm an elite map reader. If I had to read a map under some kind of tremendous pressure I would likely take us (assuming you my dear reader are coming with me) in the wrong direction. Sometimes I think South is North and North is South.... but I usually eventually figure it out... this may be because I usually have somewhat of an idea of landmarks because I'm fairly familiar with the city I live in.
But I digress...
This is a story about the first time I subbed in the big bad high school (which wasn't actually bad at all... but big it definitely was).
Anyways, when I got there they gave me a map of the school because I didn't know where anything was.. but a map should make things a little more clear (they said and I thought).
Well... the thing is it didn't. The secretary pointed out where we were (at the office) and where I was going for my first class (which I found no problem - perhaps because I didn't use the map). I even found where my other class was located on the map. It was all working out just lovely.
Until I needed to find the staff bathroom. I went the way I thought the map told me to... but I did not see a cafeteria or a staffroom along my journey... so I turned a corner and there on my left was a door that just happened to be labelled staff washroom. So I used it. Something about it just didn't seem right though but that didn't stop me... I used it and found my way back to class no problem (and because I was a little concerned about that not being a bathroom I should be using I managed to sneak in and out undetected... I think).
So I'm back safe and sound in an area of the school I'm familiar with... the classroom I've already spent a few hours in. Here I am consulting the map to see where I went wrong in my journey to the staffroom washroom and I couldn't figure it out but now I needed to head back downstairs to go to my last class of the day (just to leave a note on the door). So I walk downstairs and go past the office where I'm assuming turning left will not take me outside (even though I'm quite certain it will)... when it does. At this point I decide my time would be better spent consulting with someone at the office about where to find this other room where she pulls out a bigger (just as confusing) map of the school. Luckily, she uses some hand gestures and left and right directions and I find my way there no problem.
Before I left at the end of the day I consulted the map again... I needed to find my way back through the school to where I had left my car. The map still didn't make any sense so I just figured there was some kind of misprint and the map was backwards... looking at the map as if it were backwards made more sense to me... and I meandered my way through the school to the doors I had not entered through. Ah well... at least I was on the correct side of the school my car was parked (I can only imagine how long walking around the perimeter of the school would take).
Or, to make a long story short. Sometimes maps don't make sense and I survived a day at the big bad high school!
FYI: Since writing this post I've returned a couple times to the high school. The map suddenly made much more sense the second time. By my third visit I was fortunate enough to not need the map at all (of course, if one day I teach a course in a different area of the school I'll be needing that map again!)
But I digress...
This is a story about the first time I subbed in the big bad high school (which wasn't actually bad at all... but big it definitely was).
Anyways, when I got there they gave me a map of the school because I didn't know where anything was.. but a map should make things a little more clear (they said and I thought).
Well... the thing is it didn't. The secretary pointed out where we were (at the office) and where I was going for my first class (which I found no problem - perhaps because I didn't use the map). I even found where my other class was located on the map. It was all working out just lovely.
Until I needed to find the staff bathroom. I went the way I thought the map told me to... but I did not see a cafeteria or a staffroom along my journey... so I turned a corner and there on my left was a door that just happened to be labelled staff washroom. So I used it. Something about it just didn't seem right though but that didn't stop me... I used it and found my way back to class no problem (and because I was a little concerned about that not being a bathroom I should be using I managed to sneak in and out undetected... I think).
So I'm back safe and sound in an area of the school I'm familiar with... the classroom I've already spent a few hours in. Here I am consulting the map to see where I went wrong in my journey to the staffroom washroom and I couldn't figure it out but now I needed to head back downstairs to go to my last class of the day (just to leave a note on the door). So I walk downstairs and go past the office where I'm assuming turning left will not take me outside (even though I'm quite certain it will)... when it does. At this point I decide my time would be better spent consulting with someone at the office about where to find this other room where she pulls out a bigger (just as confusing) map of the school. Luckily, she uses some hand gestures and left and right directions and I find my way there no problem.
Before I left at the end of the day I consulted the map again... I needed to find my way back through the school to where I had left my car. The map still didn't make any sense so I just figured there was some kind of misprint and the map was backwards... looking at the map as if it were backwards made more sense to me... and I meandered my way through the school to the doors I had not entered through. Ah well... at least I was on the correct side of the school my car was parked (I can only imagine how long walking around the perimeter of the school would take).
Or, to make a long story short. Sometimes maps don't make sense and I survived a day at the big bad high school!
FYI: Since writing this post I've returned a couple times to the high school. The map suddenly made much more sense the second time. By my third visit I was fortunate enough to not need the map at all (of course, if one day I teach a course in a different area of the school I'll be needing that map again!)
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