Year 2 Day 57: Last Day of Work

I finally got a call from my primary supply agency for a day's work today -- SCORE (my first one from them since July)! The best part was that it was for a school where I have done supply work before and also located conveniently along the train line, which meant Matt could drop me off in the morning and still have the car to take to work. I didn't mind that there were 3 legs in the hour-long journey as this simply meant I wasn't squished behind the steering wheel of a car whilst on my way into gridlock Birmingham traffic.

When I reached the school's reception, the secretary recognised me right away from when I was there back in March -- well, she sort of recognised me. She asked when I was due, and when I told her a fortnight, she assured me I was in good hands as the TA in the classroom next door to mine was a licensed midwife. Still, reassured or not, I was hoping to not need to put her to work.

The Year 5 class I was assigned to was typical of what I expected from any school in or near Birmingham. The children tend to be a little more lively and it's no surprise that there will be a few in the class that make it their personal goal to just be oppositional. No worries from me though, because I have been there, done that, and bought the XXL t-shirt.

By the end of the day, after consulting the classroom teacher (who popped back into school to do some planning) I decided to wind the kids down and allow them participate in some friendly "Girls vs Boys" competition. I loaded a PowerPoint presentation that had questions where they had to name '5 of something' in only 10 seconds. By the fifth question, the girls were ahead 3 to 1 and the boys didn't like it one bit. Unfortunately, the boys had a major weakness of arguing with one another which was the main reason they couldn't score a point above the girls -- whereas the girls just got on with it and worked together.

I offered for this final question (pictured above) to be worth 2 points to make the result a draw if they boys could pull through. If you look down at the bottom of the picture you see the answers they submitted. They only gave 3 names: The Queen, The King, and The Pope. This is both sad and funny to me -- sad to me that as an American, I had to prompt these BRITISH children when they started to whinge about how hard the question was that ONE of the most important people was ON THEIR FREAKING MONEY!!! (To be fair, I'm sure it's like asking 9 & 10 year old Americans to name 5 U.S. Presidents.)


Then funny of course, because although 'The Pope' is NOT a member of the Royal Family, I was teaching at a CATHOLIC primary school.

::sigh::

Kids.

My travels finally concluded after a train delay at Gravelly Hill, a cancellation at Birmingham New Street, and finally one set of 4 cars from Smethwick Galton Bridge too rammed with people to accept any more passengers. I eventually made it back to Stourbridge Junction before 6pm where Matt was patiently waiting to take me home. It was then that I decided that today would be my final day of work before bunny's arrival.

::points thumbs towards self::

This turkey is cooked! (Happy Thanksgiving!!)

Year 2 Day 35: Flattery...

...will get you...everywhere. This was the impression I made within 10 minutes of today's art lesson with a Year 5 class when I told them if they were finished with their self-portraits they had started previously, they were welcome to sit where they pleased and work on a free art activity of their choice. The funny thing is, the kids think it was purely because they begged for it. To be honest, however, there wasn't anything to do otherwise in the lesson plan and since most children were finished with their work, I thought this would give them an opportunity to show their self-control. But as you see, I, 'Mrs. Bennit' according to this young man, am 'the best' after all. I'd like to think he's just accurate at reading a person's character. I mean, do alright I guess.

I was called just before 8am to supply again at a school I had been to previously in Droitwich. This meant navigating the M5 once again -- and boy does the journey go much faster when you know which lane NOT to drive in! The traffic getting to the motorway was awful...somewhere near 45 minutes just to get through gridlock in Stourbridge alone. Once I was near Bromsgrove it was smooth sailing the rest of the way -- my kind of trip!

I can't say enough how much I enjoy that school, and it's only my second time working there. The kids are amazingly well-behaved and the staff are very friendly. It really makes for an easy-going day to the point where I don't mind doing the marking for the teacher and leaving a note about how smoothly lessons flowed. Even as I sit here typing my blog, where I would typically feel quite winded after a day in a school in Birmingham, I still feel moderately full of energy. I attribute a large part of this to how stress-free the day went.

It was starting to get a bit dark by the time I left, and still up in the air if they would need cover for tomorrow as well -- so I'm keeping my fingers crossed for a call tonight, if possible. I also managed to get back in time to pick Matt up from where a friend at work had dropped him off to walk the rest of the way home...so he didn't have to go far.

OH! And speaking of my lovey...the car was better. It didn't overheat and the fan kicked in right when it was supposed to. Go lovey for your auto-mechanic geniusness!! He got a high-five on the way home for that.

So American!!

Year 2 Day 21: Welcome to Middle School

Today's supply teaching adventure led me on my longest solo-trip yet...to Droitwich in Worcestershire. I was assigned an absolutely awesome and well-behaved Year 5 class and did some PPA cover for a Year 7 group as well. The school was so nice and the staff was friendly -- it was completely refreshing, to be honest. A welcome change from what I am typically assigned and used to.

Having a bit of experience now with Year 5 (from when I took over a class last summer term) I really hit the ground running. One thing I made sure to do was use my nationality (which I knew would come up as soon as I spoke) as some classroom motivation. Since each lesson had a different mixture of students, I had to introduce myself each class period. I made it very clear right away that yes, I was American and although that may increase their desire to ask me lots of questions about 'where I've been' and 'who I know'...or even, 'what's the best part,' we still had work that needed to be complete and I would be more than happy to discuss those questions once students got on with their work and showed me respect and sensible behaviour.

Believe it or not...this method actually WORKED! The majority of them got busy straightaway and I held my end of the bargain by floating around to help and answer questions here and there.

"Yes, I have been to New York...what number have you gotten to on your numeracy?"

"Florida is quite nice and yes, I have been there on holiday...so, tell me more about what you've managed to research so far on the Roman Empire?"

"Yes, we watch The Simpsons and Family Guy in America...have you made sure your writing is discussing both sides of the argument of why or why not mobile phones should be allowed in school?"

The classroom I was in for most of the day was aesthetically pleasing as well. Everything was well organised and the students really took pride in tidying up at the end of the day and asking if I needed help with anything. I definitely made sure to leave a list of names and I hope they get some praise from their teacher when she returns.

Luckily I recognised most of the route the SatNav took me as I had traveled with Matt a couple of times when he'd made deliveries in Evesham. I even managed to successfully navigate the M5 on the way there. Go me!

The return trip was another story...talk about an M5 FAIL. I was traveling in the lane marked for the M5 when it tricked me and landed me on the M42! And do you know what is worse than to be headed the wrong direction down the M42? Try, learning that the SatNav wants to make you exit at the next junction (4 miles away) and re-route you to double back the way you just came (4 more miles back) and right in direct sunlight. Not. Fun. At. All.

No offense Britain, but give me an American Freeway any day. At least for the most part there is an exit or turn-off every couple of miles.

Still, I managed to make it home in one piece and just in time to be welcomed by a tall mug of tasty coffee, made with love by hubby. Perfect end to my day!

Day 108 of 365: Safety First, Boys and Girls

Tonight Matt pointed out the change in wording on these speed camera signs. We were on our way back from my supply post today in Perry Barr and this sign was spotted just before we got to Tipton. Normally, they actually say SPEED CAMERA, however, now it looks as though they are trying to be clever and trick motorists. I think they should just call it what it really is, a cash machine for the Po-po. These things are everywhere!

My post was pretty interesting today. I spent an hour this morning in Year 4 doing Maths. Like many posts I often get asked if I am Canadian, since there are many Canadian Supply Teachers and our accents sound a bit similar to the British. I clarified that I was American and one little girl spoke up to tell me the following:

Girl: Miss, do you know what my dad says about Americans?
Me: No, I don't. What does he say? *cringing and expecting a remark about politics or something about Americans being dumb or loud, etc.*
Girl: My dad says that Americans don't have curly hair.

Since I wore my hair curly today, and I am, in fact, definitely American, I clarified for the little girl that some Americans, like myself, DO have curly hair. Still, I wonder where THAT assumption came from?

I spent the rest of the morning with the little darlings in Foundation. I was also with them all day yesterday and some of the little ones remembered me, since I bribed them a bit with stickers. One little girl kept calling me Mrs. Ben-ick, but at least she was calling me by my name and not just 'Miss' as most of them do.

For the remainder of the afternoon I was in Year 5 for Science and P.E. That is one thing about teachers in the UK, they run their own P.E. classes rather than it being an extra resource class run by another teacher. As soon as the students in this class found out I was American, a boy asked me, "Do you know a man called Paul? He's my uncle and he lives in America."

Yep kid, I know EXACTLY who that is. It is a bit sweet though. I had to explain how America is a very big place and I don't know everyone who lives there. I don't think it helped much as I got asked 10 minutes later if I knew 50 Cent. You can tell my old age is a'creepin because I thought they were asking me if I had 50 cents (which I did).

Now that I am finally back home, I feel as though I am about to just pass out I'm so exhausted. It makes me so happy to know I have a weekend to look forward to. Then it's back to school again Monday. I'm a teaching machine!

Day 58 of 365: Definitely an Improvement

A new school today...and this time a Year 5 class. It went better than this past Tuesday overall. The morning was a bit rough since I was asked to work the playground duty, which left me no time to review the work that was assigned. But I definitely give the original classroom teacher big kudos for giving me work to complete with the kids. Already a bonus over the previous placement.

The students were much more well-mannered than the group on Tuesday as well, although that didn't completely eliminate all possibilities of conflict. Still, no one ended up with broken limbs or property by the end of the day.



I took this second pic while waiting for Matt to pick me up. He ended up stuck in traffic for 2.5 hours on the way there and then it was another 1.5 to get back home. These are the uniforms the students wore. Much more attractive than what I was forced to wear at their age -- in my opinion at least.

Timeplan called me before I left the school to offer me another Year 2 position at a school tomorrow. Let's see if the third time is a charm.