Busy

So, I went from being desperately searching for sub jobs online to having more than I can handle.  It makes my day to get an email that says someone has requested me to sub, or I get a phone call from the school secretary asking me to fill a job.  It makes me feel loved.

I love the variety of classes I have been in: Language arts, social studies, math, wood shop, technology, lifeskills, aquatics, English.  I had to turn down a HS science job this week which made me sad.  Because science rules.

This week I took (and got 90% on)  the test to be certified as a "highly-qualified" language arts teacher.  Next up is social studies.  I may take math and science as well, because I love taking tests.  When my license renews next year, I want to see a whole list of endorsements on the back of it.  Not that I want a full-time teaching job right now.  I just want to be "highly-qualified" in as many areas as my brain will let me be, so I am prepared to take a job if the right opportunity comes my way.

I love teaching teenagers.

It is fun because I am home when the kids get home, but there is a lot to do once I get home!  I need to take a few days off next week to catch up on things.

Enough of that.

The kids have been busy with school.  Aubrey and Jacob got a big dose of reality this week when they had a project due and didn't properly estimate the time required...nearly an all-nighter.  I was up helping  Aubrey make colorful popcorn to shape into a brain, and making cricut letters for Jacob's display.

Joel and Noah are running cross country for their middle school.  Joel was on the verge of winning his meet last week when he tripped about 10 yards from the finish line and ended up coming in 13th place. It was like in the movie "Shark Tale" when the race-sea-horse Lucky Day is about to win, and then he trips on nothing right before the finish line.  Poor Joel.  He had to have me for his mom.  When he tripped, all I could think about was how unfortunately he had inherited my ability to fall, trip, stumble, get hurt, and generally make a fool of myself at the worst times.  I also thought about the time when I was 11 and as a goalie in soccer I drop kicked the ball right over my head into my own goal and scored the winning point for the other team.

Savvy and Zack are doing gymnastics one day a week.  The only reason I consented to this (besides the fact that Savanna cannot stop doing cartwheels, backbends, walk-overs, etc.) is that it is 1/2 mile from our house, and is before dinner time.  My poor kids do not get to do sports, because I cannot take the time commitment of practices, games, driving, waiting, etc.  I want everybody home for dinner.  Our yard is big enough, and we have enough kids, that they just play soccer, football, or whatever out in the backyard.

Mark went to Winco while I was teaching today and bought about 400 tomoatoes and all the makings for salsa.  Guess we're canning tonight!

My life as a substitute teacher

I had a pretty exciting week!  Monday morning I taught a 1/2 day of beginning Spanish.  Tuesday I cleaned the house, caught up on things and ran errands.

Wednesday brought another round of tests to finalize my Oregon teaching license.  Last time was just math, reading and writing.  This time it was a 150-question test over everything I ever learned in college--biology, genetics, chemistry, physics, geology, geography, math, world history, US history, English, teaching methods.  You name it, it was on there.  It was like a giant game of Jeopardy!  I was very elated when I scored 96% on the test.

Thursday I got a sweet job as the wood shop teacher at the local high school.  I had not been in a wood shop since 1988 in high school.  And even then, I was much more busy flirting with the TA so he would do my projects than I was paying attention to anything the teacher said.  It turned out to be a pretty easy sub job--no tools or machines were allowed.  It was all a writing assignment for a project proposal.  I impressed the other wood shop teacher as we were switching classrooms and I had a football player come up to me and tell me that he could not do the writing assignment because he had to leave school a half hour early for the football game.  I handed him a paper and told him he had 20 minutes, so I hoped he was a fast writer.  The other teacher said, "Nice answer!"  Then he grabbed a piece of wood and a pencil off of a table and asked me what my sub # was.

Friday was a day I will never forget.  I subbed in a middle school"technology" classroom.  Basically the kids are either learning how to type or are working on some other computer assignment.  I am not the kind of sub who will just sit at a desk and let kids do whatever.  I roamed the room the entire time watching their screens to make sure they were all on the one and only program they were allowed to be on.  I thought the day was coming to a very nice close, when about 20 minutes before the final bell, I heard a scuffle behind my back.  A chair hit the floor and I turned around quickly and saw two boys punching each other.  It took me a second to realize they were actually fighting and not just being "guys."  I honestly have no idea what happened to start the fight--it was spontaneous combustion.  Even the girl sitting next to the boys had no idea what started it!

I stepped right in the middle, grabbed the back of their shirts and ushered them out into the hallway.  I showed them each a square on the floor and told them they could not move.  I flagged down an office assistant who promptly got the principal to come take over.  One boy was bleeding profusely from his nose, so I threw a tissue box at him and told him to make it stop.  I stayed totally calm on the outside, but my heart was pounding like crazy on the inside!

After a crowd of administrators and teachers had gathered in the hallway to take over, I stepped back into the classroom and kept the kids working on their assignments until the bell rang.  Then the teacher I had subbed for came into the classroom (he had been working on something else that day), and asked if I had been scared.  I told him, "No.  I have 7 kids, and 5 of them are boys."  He laughed at first and then he stopped and stared at me.  He asked how old I was, and I told him.  Then he freaked out.  It made my day.  He said that he thought I was a new college graduate.  I told him that I graduated from college 19 years ago.

Then the principal stopped me on my way out the door and told me that the teachers were talking about how calm I had stayed during the whole thing, and she wanted to thank me and make sure I was OK with everything.  I told her the same thing about the 7 kids, and she was also very surprised.  Then the secretary put me at the top of their school's priority sub list!

We'll see what happens.

And it all starts with a high school PE class tomorrow!

Nerdy momma

Today I had a priceless moment as a parent.

Jacob was asking me questions about ancient India as he was doing his AP World homework.  I answered most of them, and he was laughing and shaking his head and asking me how I knew such things.  I told him it was a bonus for having such a nerdy mom.

Then he asked, "Who was Siddhartha?"

I told him that he was the founder of Buddhism, a man who had left behind a life of privilege to become an ascetic and gain spiritual illumination.

Jacob laughed again and started writing.  I snuck off to my bedroom to find a little surprise for Jacob.

I returned to the kitchen with my copy of Herman Hesse's book "Siddhartha."  I handed it to Jacob and told him that if he wanted to learn a little more I would loan him my book.  He took the book and saw the title and laughed very hard.  He is always stunned that I have a book for every occasion, but in this case, he could NOT believe that I actually owned and had read the book Siddhartha.  It was just too random for him.

He loves me, though.

Dream job

I had such a fun day substitute teaching.  I taught at my kids's high school!

I left Jacob clicking on the sub website last night while he finished up his homework and I went to bed. I told him that whatever job came up to click on it and accept it.

When I came out of my bedroom this morning I had a paper taped to my door with the job details printed and a handwritten note that said, "Dear Mother,  You are my biology teacher today."  Woo-hoo!

I taught four AP Biology classes, babysat a study hall and taught a marine biology class about sea turtles.   The AP biology kids were learning about carbohydrates, and we used those cool molecule-making balls and sticks to create various monosacharides.  It was pretty dang exciting!

I can't wait to see what comes up next week!  As long as it isn't kindergarten I'll take it.

Fabulous Forty!

I have officially taken 40 trips around the sun.

Aubrey and Savanna made this awesome video for me as a birthday present.
Happy birthday, Mom from Jill Dorrough on Vimeo.

I loved that they recognized my awesome cloud skills, aversion to seafood, and that I'm no good at sports or watching TV.

It was the best present ever!  Thanks, girls.  I love you forever!

Here are the lyrics to their sweet song:
My, my mom is such a nerd.
She likes to use big words.
And you're not asking, but those are stratocumulus clouds.
She eats food, but only land mammals, dude,
And sometimes chicken when she's in the mood,
Otherwise it's granola yogurt.

And I, I really like it when she makes Joel clip his toenails
And I love it when she helps me with my sca-a-a-a-ales.

If you wanna know here it goes gonna tell you that
My mom has pretty toes and you can bet that she knows
Pretty much everything
Just ask and she can tell ya.

Oh, she tries to do her best,
I'm impressed by her cooking and her sewing and her washing and drying and lunch packing.
She's good at everything, except sports and watching TV.
You think she's 30
She's turning 40
Call it awesome,
Happy Birthday, Mom.