How was my day? long lol One child cried because I moved him for not working and another threw a massive tantrum in the hallway on her way to being moved to another room, for not doing the right thing. Did have a lovely afternoon though, we read a book about finding things that weren't right in the pictures (took forever to read lol) and drew some pictures about what sharing looks like. Tomorrow is the last day of the school week at least
First referral of the year was to a kid whose pants were so long I could see the top of them below his shirt. But the referral was for the attitude he got when I asked him to pull up his pants.
I had an unexpected day off yesterday. Today, I'm by myself in the clinic. I saw 3 kids already & have 2 left...unless they cancel. It's an easy day. They all are pretty much!
Interesting day at work today...first I forgot to send them to PE (was meant to have a 30min break from them lol) and the PE teacher only decided to remind me 5mins before the bell went. Then I tried to do someone else's duty, I wasn't meant to have any today but read the chart wrong. This Sunday is Fathers Day here so all middle session we made ties that said 'DAD' on the front & a msg on the back, we put glitter on them...also fun to use with little ones lol Then last session we had practice for their musical that's coming up next week. Ahh weekend Busy one though
OMG what a day Moved a girl yesterday to the yr2 classroom after she threw a tantrum (screaming, ripping book pages, refusing to do anything positive), had the mother came in yesterday and I explained to her what happend and she seemed ok and left. Well today I get called to the Principals office, becuase she had the mother come in and complain about me moving her child. I got read the rightact that I am not to move students because it is underminding the schools behaviour system...what a load of crap. The yr2 teacher offered to take her, he has no problem with it and I have discussed it everytime I've had an issue with the other yr one teacher who does the same thing(move children to the year2 room)...and they are permenant teachers, I haven't worked at this school in 2 years and was not told the behaviour system so have discussed it with the other teachers and was told to do this. But because one mother goes behind my back and complains I get in trouble. Principal said I had to make a meeting with parent to discuss it, so went to talk to her this afternoon but the dad showed up...so I spoke with him and he admitted the girl is a handful and causes problems at home (parents divorced) but the mother won't acknowledge it. He was wonderful to talk to and very understanding, but am dreading seeing the mother again. And after all that the girl was actually on her best behaviour today.
Miss Snix, I hope better days are ahead! As for me, I work w/ a lot of 2-yr olds these days (Sept - Nov). That's NOT my preferred age to work w/, but it's a good experience. I like kids that I can actually converse w/ & they can reply back.
I got in contact with the union after yesterday...it really upset me and they were very supportive and outlined what I need to do and and agreed the Principal was out of line speaking to me the way they did. Today was a great day though. We spent all morning at another school doing sports carnival, came back had something to eat, kids then went to music, big lunch, musical practice and then home. I got through a whole day with no 'real teaching' lol Was nice...But very tired now... Ms. I I've worked with special needs children of that age (and non-special needs too)...interesting age level, but I agree after being with conversing children for so long it is an adjustment.
So, I work M-Th at a tiny private speech clinic temporarily & sub on Fridays. I expected to work w/ 4 kids today, but it ended up being just 1 kid. I drove about an hr & a 1/2 roundtrip just to work w/ 1 kid (for an hr). Sigh! :mellow: Miss Snix, glad it was better.
I had a GREAT DAY today!!!! Yesterday both classes were talkative and unfocused and I reverted back to my ST days of stopping my lesson until they gave me their attention. Today I went back to reinforcing the WBT techniques and the class became more involved and focused again. That let me get back to being the kind of fun and crazy teacher I like to be, while still focusing intently on the material we needed to cover. What makes it even better is that - every single day - the kids write things like "Mr. Cerek is AWESOME" or "Mr. Cerek is the coolest teacher" on my whiteboard. And the greatest thing is that I don't even have to PAY them to do it...I just hand out lots of candy! (joking, of course) :lol:
I love reading everyone's day! I haven't subbed yet. I found out today my "license" didn't get put through yet because I needed to fill out another paper! However, I did get a postcard from the local district I was put on the sub list. I can't wait for my first day of subbing! I figure if I can handle a full patient load in the hospital, while being yelled at by 3 different doctors, I can handle a classroom. . . Right?
I had a great day today! I subbed for 5th grade and I absolutely loved it! I can see myself teaching this age group very easily. I had an awful group of 6th graders yesterday. I wanted to pull my hair out! I went and filled in for an 8th grade class for one period and they were just as bad, if not worse. I am not sure if I'll go back to that school, behavior seemed to be very rude and disrespectful across the board hmy:
I had the longest day ever at my new job working w/ 7 kids (ea for an hr)! I have the next 2 Thursdays free! I'm planning to go to the county fair next Thurs.
I had a good day with the class. First session we did literacy, which I had to make up on the spot because the photocopier wouldn't work for what I had planned but it all worked out okay. Then they were meant to go to PE, I took them out and no PE teacher (apparently not there today but no note in the staff daily book or mention of it) so I had them run around the oval and do a bit of an obstacle course, which they enjoyed. Middle session was their 'rewards' time (school has 'reward' time at the end of each term for student who don't get behaviour slips), we joined with the gr one class next door and spent the time playing board games. Then last session they had musical practice (their concert is next week). And best of all I had no duties today, so had both breaks to myself to rest (have a sore throat and feeling exhausted - so was well needed). Weekend now And only one more week until holidays...
Ohh and my favourite (sarcasm) part of the day was getting a phone call from the education department saying they got my paperwork saying I'm working but the school didn't fill out any of their information, not even their name. So the department had to call me to ask who I'm working for so they can send my paperwork back and get them to fill it in and send again. Which means I've missed my pay and have to wait at least 2 weeks (if they do the paperwork right this time and get it in on time) before I get it all paid to me.
I lost $75 today. A teacher who I worked for regularly last year called me on Wednesday afternoon to handle her class today ( Friday). She told me she would put me in the system, as she has before. Unfortunately, I arrived at the school this morning only to learn that the district put in another sub. The office clerk said she could not reach me yesterday because she did not know where I was at. Yesterday was my first day subbing in another class for this district, so when it was determined the teacher who requested me also needed yesterday off, they gave my replacement a two day assignment because I was not officially booked for the job. I had to go home today with only a 40% payday. Apparently, the teacher who requested me had a minor accident, and was unable to put me in the system, hence they went with Thursday's sub. It is unfortunate that subs, unlike all other school employees, don't have a system in place, such as sick days or personal days, so we do not have to lose out financially when these unusual things happen. I lost $140 last year to care for a violated animal. These losses should not happen. I should have been paid for a non- existent used sick day. We have no unified force, such as a union, so we are easily crapped upon.
I had my first job today! It was excellent I subbed for a web design class at a nearby high school (mixed grades). Except for the constant hovering over students to get them to stop looking at espn, it was an easy day. I do have some questions that I thought I would ask you guys: 1) What do you do during the planning period? Another teacher teaches in the classroom during the planning period so I just went to the teacher's lounge and read. 2) How do you get students back on task? What exactly do you say? I would go up to a student and just simply ask how their article or portfolio was coming, so they would start working again. But I struggled finding the right words. Oh, probably the most irksome thing that happened (but in all wasn't really that bad) was when I was helping a student in the front row to find a website for a project, two girls from the back got up and went to the bathroom together. I know they try to get away with stuff since I'm just a stupid sub, but seriously? When they came back it, the bell had rung, so I just gave them the look and wrote a note to the teacher.
I work w/ a ton of kids ea wk, I better not start getting sick! These 2 yr olds (& a lot of older ones too) don't know about covering your mouth & turning your head! Oh rats, oldstudent! KateA, glad it was great!
I knew I had Thurs off, but just found out I hv Wed off too! Yay! That's fine w/ me because I always hv college HW to do. I'm definitely going to the fair on Wed.
Today was a good day The whole school went to the town hall to practice for their musical. I and a few other teachers got to stay back to look after the children not involved. I hade 10 kids p-1, we watched a movie and played some board games. Then the last hour of the day the school came back so I had my class write about what they did...then it was home time. More days should be like this I think hahaha
First, I look over the plans for the rest of the classes to make sure I have everything ready and in order. After that, I might work a Soduku puzzle or browse the internet. Each of our schools has a generic login students can use, so I would use that. A lot of sites were restricted (obviously) but I could browse A to Z and a couple of other forums I visit. I didn't log in to post anything, though. Just read over posts I had missed. A couple of times, I was actually asked to cover a different class during the my "planning period", which was fine with me. Sounds like you did just fine. Basically, just letting them know YOU know what they are really doing is all you need to do. That is not just irksome, that is disrespectful and against the rules (in most schools). Students are NOT supposed to leave the room without the teacher's permission, even if that teacher is a sub. I've had some teachers leave a not specifically naming certain students that should NOT be allowed to go to the bathroom. I'm guessing that is a common ruse for those students. Also, I rarely let two students leave the room at the same time, because it's just too easy to lose track of them and I NEVER let two guys or two girls go to the bathroom at the same time. I always tell them they can wait until the first student returns.
Today is the 11th day of school, and here I sit, home again with a record of 2-9. If this keeps up, I will apply for unemployment insurance. Of course, I will get turned down, but this will give me more ammo to the editorial I write about how "the system" disrespects subs.
I have the next 2, probably 3 Weds & next 3 Thurs off from my 2nd job, but I probably won't sub on those days. I have college HW & studying to do. Yay! Mon is payday for my 2nd (interim) job! Till the rest of the yr, I'll have 3 paydays a month!
Cerek, thanks for the advice I have thought about the situation since then and I know it was my own inexperience as well. I should have been more aware of the surroundings, the class was smallish, but I got so involved in working with the other student. I just have to get more practice with the constant surveillance.
I have a super easy day today! I'm subbing for a 7th grade math teacher. He's out unexpectedly, so he said to follow the emergency sub plans. It's just two worksheets for the kids to complete. He will go over the assignment with the class tomorrow.
This is crazy! My friend told me that in a district she subs in, there are 11 open jobs for the rest of this week!
I'm scheduled all week, which is unusual. One of my district has all the teachers in half day meetings, so two teachers share a sub. The other one is allowing teachers a half day to pull kids out for some kind of testing...again, two classes in one day. I'm not complaining, though. It's early enough in the year that I'm not exhausted yet, and I really need the money.
You're doing fine and you'll get even better with practice. Two things I use constantly for classroom control: (1) LEARN THEIR NAMES! - Once you call them by name, they are no longer anonymous. Now they know the sub can tell Regular Teacher it was Johnny Q. that was misbehaving instead of "the kid with short black hair that sits towards the end of the first row". It's amazing what effect it has on the kids when a sub (who shouldn't know them at all) can call on them by name. I ALWAYS look for a seating chart and use that. If I don't have one, I pass a paper around and ask the kids to sign their name so I can let the Regular Teacher know who was present. In two years, I've never had a kid give me a fake or joke name, although others have complained about that. And once they write their name, I can go down the list and figure out who is sitting where. (2) ROAM THE ROOM CONSTANTLY! - It's a lot easier for the kids in the back to act up when the sub stays at the desk or at the board with their back turned. It's a WHOLE lot harder when the sub roams around the room and keeps walking right by them every couple of minutes. I've subbed at our "alternative" school several times. My first year, one of the girls in the computer lab finally said "I wish you would go SIT DOWN for awhile". I asked "Does it make you nervous when I walk around like this." She said "Yeah, it does". I just smiled and said "THAT'S why I do it." Side Note - There WAS one girl who didn't complain about me walking behind her, but I could tell it REALLY made her uncomfortable. She wasn't trying to hide anything she was doing, but she would constantly shift in her seat to keep me in her line of sight. Knowing some of these kids come from home lives I can't even imagine, I slowly approached her from the side and said "It really makes you uncomfortable for me to walk behind you, doesn't it?" She told me that it did. I said "I'm sorry. I didn't mean to do that. I won't walk behind you any more." The difference between the two was that the first girl obviously just didn't want me keeping an eye on what she was doing (which meant I should be watching her even MORE) while the other didn't care about me walking around, but did not want me being behind her and out of her line of sight.
It looks like I'll be working M-W at my temp SLPA job. I already sub on Fridays, so now I can sub on Thursdays too! Glad to see there's work around for many of you! :thumb:
Today is the 11th day of school and teachers have been off all summer- they are back at work and WORKING. They are not yet out for workshops or personal days or sick (give it time- children will sneeze on them). Seems that you have an ax to grind with the 'system'. In our district, subs are highly valued. Good subs are in great demand. Quite a few subs are requested by name. Subbing is, at best, temporary work- sporadic in nature and unpredictable. As a sub, you work 'at will' and 'as needed'. You have the freedom to work when called or to not work when you don't want to. I'm not sure how you feel 'disrespected' (on a tangent: how did that become a word?), but it seems to be based on the fact that you can't collect unemployment. Seems to me that this is something you should have known when you signed up as a sub. Teachers can't collect unemployment during the summer...how do you see this as different?
Drats! Yesterday I worked all day, but developed a severe sore throat & by last night, probably had a slight fever. I still hv a slight fever, chills & body aches. Thank God I had today & will hv tomorrow off. I wish I had Fri off!
Ohh no Ms. I Rest up and get well soon. I'm on holidays for another week, then I hopefully return to day-to-day subbing again.
The last couple of days have been a lot of fun. We worked on Order of Operations last week and the students REALLY struggled with it. I was very disappointed, but I couldn't stay on that section any longer. We started intro to algebra on Tuesday and everything seemed to just "click" with the students. I gave a decent amount of HW and all of the students were either finished or nearly finished by the end of class. Yesterday, we covered function boxes (which is just another way of looking at algebra equations) and it was really confusing for the students again, but that's ok. We'll spend today going over it in class as well. I also had my first tutoring session for student yesterday afternoon and that went very well. I used the Order of Operations game from the Slider Math website. Within 15 minutes, the kids were not only improving greatly on working the problems in the right order, they were also sharpening their mental math skills. I was a bit leery of the game when I first tried it, but it definitely worked well with the kids yesterday.
Thanks Miss Snix! I ended up going to the dr today & got a prescription. I also decided to not sub tomorrow. I hope I'm fine by Mon.
I had a fairly interesting day, all things considered. It was my first experience with block scheduling, and now I understand why my teacher friends aren't the biggest fans. When you've got a rowdy class, those periods last FOREVER! I had 5th graders, and got to teach health all day. The teaching/lesson part of it all wasn't too bad, but the first and second block kids refused to settle down for longer than a few minutes at a time - several of the first block-ers didn't want to do their work at all, and tried to convince me that leaving for Art class was completely optional. The second block was split up by lunch, and we had just started to settle into the lesson when the principal came over the PA system and announced that the whole school was now on lockdown. The kids freaked out, then calmed down and helped me with procedures, then finally figured out that this wasn't a drill when they noticed a whole line of police cars outdoors. This set off the freaking out part again - longest 45 minutes of my week! Fortunately, it all turned out to be a false alarm, and I sent that group off to their next class. Third block was the easiest, as this was the advanced group and they were actually willing to talk only when they were supposed to. I decided to reward them by letting them finish up their lessons and then spend the last 15 minutes playing "Would You Rather ..." Not the easiest job I've ever had, but at least it wasn't dull!
Hi guys - New to the forum and very new to subbing. I attempted to find a teaching job all summer to no avail and am about to start subbing as a back up. I'm terrified! I put down that I was not willing to do high school (yet. I plan to get up the courage to at least try it once I get my nerves settled) so that leaves elem and MS. My MIL works in district and attempted to get me a job for tomorrow but I told her I wasn't ready. I really want to take the weekend to get a kit together and read up on any tips I can find. Anyway, I think it's likely I'll be here often. It's nice to have people to talk to who are going through some of the same stuff. Any tips or advice would be appreciated; otherwise, I look forward to chatting with all of you!
aer - I have found that it really depends on the school as to what grades I'll sub in. One school district has really good kids that rarely give me much trouble so I sub in their high school and middle school a lot. In another district, I won't sub past the 4th grade. I am subbing for the second day in a 7th grade social studies classroom. Everything is going well, except for the HEAT! There is no air conditioning and we set a record high - 92 degrees - yesterday. It will be in the low 90 degrees today too. Aaah! At least we start early and get out at 2:10 pm.
aer011- Don't be afraid to take a chance on a grade level you are afraid of. My first week of subbing I subbed in both grade levels that I was most afraid of, kindergarten and high school. I ended up loving high school! I have subbed quite often in one high school and I really like the kids. They say hi to me in the halls and I love hearing about if the football team won or who they want to ask to the homecoming dance. Now kindergarten, never again, too young for me
Well, I didn't take an assignment today, so I'm hoping that something will show up for Monday. Thanks for all the advice regarding grade level. I think my biggest issue with HS is that I'm 24 and look 17 I feel like respect may be an issue for me. But, with that said, I do plan on trying it at some point. Hope you're all having a great day and enjoy your weekend!
aer011, welcome & good luck w/ subbing. I've been a sub for a long time. My dist only goes up to 8th gr, but I've nev been interested in working w/ high school aged kids, heck, I barely work w/ middle school level. I ONLY work w/ them in lang, speech, & hearing class in which I work w/ 3 or 4 kids at the most for 30 min.
