7:03am I wake up to the obnoxiousness of my phone alarm clock, I usually struggle to reach it on the end table in my 99% asleep state and near blindness with no glasses in the dark. I think to myself, "I've got plenty of time to get ready, 5 more minutes and then I'll get up; besides I want to know how my dream ends." What feels like seconds later the obnoxious alarm rings again, this time right next to my head because thats where I left it; still don't know how the dream ends. I quickly "dismiss" it and roll out of bed. I drag to the bathroom to shower and do all the other necessary bathroomy things. "I don't know what to wear...um well I wore this to my last sub job but I'm at a new school they won't know I wore this yesterday." I look at the clock and see that I obviously took too long of a shower and I still need to eat breakfast, make my lunch and brush my teeth in 15 minutes!
"Lord, please help me through this day! I can't make it without your help, give me the patience with the kids and the wisdom to figure everything out throughout the day."
I finally make it out the door, "is my name badge in my car or did I leave it in the apartment? It better be in my car because I don't have time to run back up to get it." (It was in my car) "Wait...what school am I at today? Do I even know where that is? Is that even a school?" I call Eric (the ex-school bus driver who knows where every school is and the quickest route there). I follow his instructions and get there with two minutes to spare at 7:58. My next task is to find the main door, because that is the only one that is ever unlocked. Ok, found that now where is the main office so I can sign in? "Hi, I'm subbing for Mrs. Somebody I'm not sure where her classroom is." In the smaller schools the instructions are usually easy to follow but in the larger schools I usually make a few wrong turns before finding the classroom. I now must conquer the wonderful sub notes and follow the Post-It note scavenger hunt left by the teacher. Another challenge is finding all the materials I need to use for the lessons I will be teaching. Sometimes I never do find something, so I just leave a note saying I couldn't find it and find something else to fill in the extra time.
Once the bell rings I either have to go pick up the kids at the door or they start flooding in the classroom. As soon as most of then are settled I attempt to go through the list of names for attendance saying several of them wrong because they are rather...interesting names. I send the list with a student to the office and then introduce myself and go through my rules and the reward system I have. Shortly after that we do the Pledge of Allegance and then I dive into the lessons and do my best to keep the class under control and doing what they are supposed to be doing the rest of the day. Since I am a sub there are some students who seem to think that since I am there they don't have to follow any of the regular rules and that I am some alien who doesn't know anything about classroom rules. Sheesh, they learn rather quickly. At the end of the day, depending on how good the class was and how much time we have we usually play a class game of Heads up 7-up, Silent Ball, Around the World, or Four Corners.
The bell rings and the room is suddenly silent and peaceful...leaving me alone once again. I make sure the room is tidy, the whiteboards are erased and the desk is clean. Most days I am racing off to one of my after school jobs...phew...another day finished.
1 comment:
It's fun to read about your day Heather...I bet you're a fun teacher.
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