A Change in Plans

Subbing last year was quite an education.  I enjoyed it most days.  There are advantages and disadvantages though to subbing.

Advantages:

• You can take some days off whenever you choose
• You see a variety of ages and a variety of teachers' classrooms
• You don't have to plan or take work home 

Disadvantages: 

• Unless you are able to pre-arrange your days with a teacher, you won't know where you are going to be until early morning
• There may or may not be adequate lesson plans 
• The pay is not so great

In all I believe it was a good experience for me, but I will not be returning to sub again next year.

Why, you ask? 

I accepted a position teaching middle school students at a private school this year.  

I am excited and somewhat overwhelmed. 

What are you doing this year?  

Library Time !

Earlier this year I had the great opportunity to sub as an elementary librarian-- now titled as a Media Specialist.

Media Specialists do not just read books and talk about books, but they must do everything media related.   On my day as a Media Specialist, I taught several classes in the computer lab.
I always feel like a kid in a candy store when I visit a school library.  There are so many good books!  You sometimes even see a bookworm !

Building Roller Coasters

I spent time subbing in a middle school science class this week and they were working on a STEM [Science, Technology, Engineering, Math] project.  The concept had to do with energy.  The last time I had been in this particular class they learning about potential and kinetic energy.  Now they were putting everything they had learned into practice.

In teams of 3-4 people, they were given a task to design a roller coaster that was safe, worked, and was fun.  They teams were given a budget of virtual money and they had to purchase or rent the supplies needed to build the roller coaster.  For instance, tubing cost $1.25; marbles were 25 cents; and a measuring tape set them back by 50 cents.  If the team decided to use a prop of some kind, like a wall or a box, they were charged a dollar.  However, as the team made refinements to their plan they wrote it down and modifications earned them 50 cents for each one.

Most groups worked extremely well together.  They had already done their beginning planning and were going to build the day I was subbing.  I was amazed at the creativity.  There were loops, and double loops, hills, and jumps on these roller coasters.  Students were engaged as they tried their roller coaster out with the marble and then made any adjustments needed to make it better.

   

   

What a fun day watching our future at work !  

Lesson of the Day

After several days of frigid weather where I have not left home, today I had a sub job scheduled for a half day.  This was a repeat job where I was requested.  It is at a good school and it is a fun class and I was looking forward to subbing  as it would be my first sub job of the new year.

The only anxiety I felt was the forecast of light snow and freezing drizzle--making for slippery roads.  I got up a little early and planned to add minutes to the short commute in case of bad roads.

I gathered my things, went to the garage and got in my car to leave at 7:20 am. I had to be there by 7:50 am and it was maybe 10 minutes away on a good day.

BUT my car would not start.   The battery was dead.  I had left no light on.  The doors were not left open.  It is a newer car.  But the battery had failed me.  What was I to do???  I had to be at the school in less than 30 minutes and I can't get the car to start.

If I were working as a teacher --I would call up a friend or co-worker and ask for a ride.  But there is no co-worker here.  I have no one's number to call for a ride.  My neighbors are nowhere to be seen.  I could call other friends, but they either have to get to their jobs and helping me jump my car would make them late or they live far enough away from me that it would take 15-20 minutes for them to even get to my home.

I called the school and told the principal about my car failure. I apologized for the trouble this would cause.  I then called the sub office and asked them to find a replacement sub for me and gave them the reason so they wouldn't think I was just blowing the job off.

Eventually when I was able to get someone to help, it took 3 jumps to get my car to get going!  I think the combination of the below zero temperatures and the fact that I had not driven it in about a week caused the battery to freeze up or to lose its charge.  I made sure that it got charged up today so I won't find myself in this position again.

Later I emailed both the teacher and the principal to apologize for any inconvenience ( I am sure my replacement sub had to get there after the starting time).  I heard back from both of them. I want to be sure that my relationship with them continues to build in a positive way.

Today's Lesson Learned:  Always start your car every day regardless of your plans to go out or not.

Do you have a Plan B to get to work? 
   

Subbing: A New Adventure

I stepped out of the classroom awhile back for various reasons and now I have decided to step back into the education playing field--jumping in with substitute teaching.  To make the decision I considered the pros & cons:

Pros:  

• Get to know many age levels, many buildings, many colleagues 
• hours are basically school hours - no planning or grading outside of school 
• Schedule is more your own - you can take a day if you'd like it off

Cons: 

• Most days you don't know where or if you are working until that day or night before 
• pay is mediocre and no benefits 
• some children consider sub days a license to misbehave; they do not respect the authority of a sub
• every building has a different climate and silent culture that must be learned 

The bottom line is teaching, education, school, is what I know and what I do.  Being out of the classroom made it all too clear that it is my calling and I miss it.   So, the adventure begins.