So this past week I had some interesting sub gigs. After the alternative school day of sitting around doing nothing I had the opposite experience.
Teaching kindergarten.
I took this job with a bit of trepidation. But it was at an awesome school that I wanted to get in with, so I accepted the job. It was the longest day of my life--and entirely frustrating. The classes each had 32 students, and the room was enormous. The tables were spread waaaay out around the room, so I never quite figured out how to engage the entire class at one time, especially with their backs to me. Plus, this classroom had a full-time assistant and I felt like the kids looked to her as the authority figure and me as just some stupid visitor that they didn't need to listen to. It was really not an enjoyable day, but it was good experience and I survived.
This week I had 4 sub jobs. I started Monday at the same elementary school as a "roving sub." The teachers all went to a meeting throughout the day, and so I stayed an hour or so in 4 different rooms of all different ages. Luckily the kindergarten was not on my schedule this day! I had 1st, 2nd, 3rd and 5th grades. I was fine until I got to 5th grade and had to teach math for that hour. I was stunned to see what a typical public school math class was like--I had totally forgotten. My guys have been at charter schools forever where you go where you need to go for math regardless of your age. No stigma either up or down--just go where you are learning and feel successful and it is all good. I had forgotten the other side of life.
This classroom had 33 kids in it, and all 33 were taught the same lesson about the order of operations. I came in just after this lesson and was told to pass out a worksheet for them to do. I passed out the worksheet and then came the powerful reminder of why we switched to the charter school. One boy came up to me within 5 minutes and told me he was finished--and 45 minutes were remaining of "math". The teacher's instructions were for those who finished early to read. So this boy misses out every day on future math development because it is inconvenient to teach him as much as his brain can handle. Over the next 5 minutes there were a few more kids who finished, and they grudgingly pulled out a book. And then there was a large group who finished at about the same time, and then a handful of kids who had absolutely no hope of ever finishing the math sheet. They had no idea what was going on.
The public schools here believe it is detrimental to self-esteem to group kids by ability levels. I feel that these kids sitting in a class staring at their worksheet watching other kids all around them breeze through the same thing is more damaging than having each child sit with a teacher who can work with them to be successful at whatever math concept their brains are able to handle.
But what do I know?
The next day I had a dream job--high school English teacher. AT MY KID'S HIGH SCHOOL!
It was finals week--half days with 2 classes each day. This teacher I subbed for had one of those classes which was all seniors (who had graduated the previous week). So I actually did nothing for quite a while. Finally my other class came. I took attendance, and passed out their final exam. I made my way around the room, and then settled into the back of the room. After about 10 minutes I noticed that two kids had open notebooks on the floor! I walked around and casually picked up their books. Each boy had his notebook conveniently open to their Animal Farm vocabulary notes! I left them with their exams to finish, and after class told them that I would not give the books back. They were stunned. Pretty much the school has a strict "zero points if you are caught cheating" policy. Busted!
Yesterday I subbed for a class with no students. It was a "make-up day" for kids who had things to turn in or tests to take. I graded finals for the other teachers for a couple of hours, but other than that I did nothing all day. I ended up getting an offer to come teach Medical Terminology for two periods a day at this school next year. It would be fun, and I love the school, faculty and kids there, but I don't think it would be worth the commitment of being there every day. Then I couldn't take any other sub jobs, either.
Today I got a sweet gig, though. A teacher at Joel's middle school decided she didn't have energy to make it through Field Day this afternoon, so she called in a sub and went home. I got paid for following 6th graders around to their different stations for the afternoon.
Now school is over, and so are my sub jobs. It was a busy week, but I made some great connections at the two high schools and am on their preferred sub lists for the upcoming school year. I am so excited about that.
Let summer begin!
No comments:
Post a Comment