Year 2 Day 43: All In A Day's Work

Most of my day was spent behind this very door educating the youth of Great Britain -- or at least the small portion of Tipton, UK. The school itself is quite new -- just built in 2008 and the facilities alone are spotless and impeccable...quite impressive, if I do say so myself. (This is the school where the children get massages after morning break...yeah, that one. Jealous.) You wouldn't honestly think you were walking into a place of learning when your feet pass the threshold of the auto-sliding-glass door and step into the colourful lobby/lounge.

The day was pretty typical...a numeracy, phonics and literacy lesson in the morning and an afternoon with two topic sessions -- one involved identifying what was necessary in creating a persuasive pamphlet and the other to do with the features of a shift-style dress from the 1960s. The best part was that the teacher who had left the work had it so organised that she has a 'supply teacher folder' on the PC with all the slides for the SmartBoard that go to each lesson. Fantastic idea!!

::subconsciously 'steals' said idea...just as any teacher would::

Hubby was also pretty busy today. He had a delivery for work all the way in Devon -- nearly 450 miles round-trip to the southern part of England and back. I might have had the opportunity to travel with him in the lorry, but when he accepted the assignment last night he thought my supply post was for Friday instead of today. I was gutted that I had to stay behind, but I'm not exactly going to cancel supply work when it hasn't been in huge demand lately.

Now we're both home and shattered beyond belief -- him from being on the road all day in a 7.5 tonne wagon and me from being on my feet and trying to stimulate young minds into intelligent debate over who is more educated...Jeremy Kyle or Dr. Phil.

Don't be fooled, it got quite heated.

We've since had our gourmet dinner of egg on toast (don't hate) and I'm about to turn in while my love feeds his Call of Duty addiction. Until tomorrow, folks!

Year 2 Day 19: "Miss...There's No More Soap."

This is not something you want to hear when you're doing any activity with 5-year-olds involving paint. Messy. Drippy. Paint. Yet, this was the phrase for the day as each time a child was sent to wash their hands, they would come back reporting that there wasn't any soap. At one point, I thought a teacher assistant had taken care of the problem, as they knew where the soap was located and I did not, but something tells me it wasn't because they continued to ask about it for the rest of the day.

I was in the other Reception class today -- the one next door to the one where I supplied on Thursday and Friday, so I had the chance to meet the teacher I filled in for last week. She was really nice and allowed me to cover numeracy for both classes while she did phonics with them in return. The numeracy lesson involved identifying shapes and the children had to trace around a block of the shape and then paint it in. Most of them did really well and I was quite impressed. They especially loved when I would mark a tick on their paper with a smiley and tell them "well done!"

Once I returned home from school, I began getting some potatoes ready for Matt and I to have 'Cheesy Potato Pie' for our tea. Matt wasn't home but maybe forty minutes by the time I had put them on for a boil and sat down to relax. He carried on having his ritual evening-play with Myst (a time also known as "Daddy's Home") and the next thing he knew, he could see me fading quickly on the sofa. I didn't realise how tired I was because I felt I've had a reasonable amount of energy all day, but all of a sudden it hit me like a tonne of bricks. I was literally so drained that instant that Matt had to help me up the stairs so I could lie down. I seriously felt like a noodle! I have to admit that I was pretty upset about it as well because I wanted to just carry on as I do any evening, but it seems 1st trimester fatigue is back with a vengeance.

I feel a bit better after having a nap and something to eat, but I will know better from here on out to not push my limit. Still, I appreciate getting the work I am FINALLY and will take what I can until it gets to the point where I can't any longer.

Day 99 of 365: Aaaand Done!

I had only 5 groups to mark in one Science lesson today, unfortunately it still left Matt waiting for me in the car longer when he came to pick me up. In today's Year 2 post, we talked about forces in motion and students had to draw a couple pictures and write sentences about the force the person in the picture was using. Many students illustrated things like 'He pushed the trolley' and 'She turned on the tap.' They all worked really hard so that when they finished they could play a board game, similar to Snakes & Ladders, but also dealing with the lesson vocabulary.

It was only a half-day post, and aside from being a little excitable because of the snow and colder weather (and missing their outdoor playtime -- poor things), the class was quite lovely. I was amazed at how well-behaved the school was overall during assembly in the afternoon. One little girl asked if I would be returning tomorrow and said that another teacher had commented that I was "lovely." How sweet!

After dismissal, I returned to the classroom to finish marking their books. When I reached the office to sign out, I was told my second day, originally scheduled for tomorrow, had been canceled due to an overbooking with the agency. Sure enough I called to check in and was assured it was nothing to do with me, but a simple oversight with the school booking more teachers than they needed. At least I wasn't finding this out after battling rush-hour traffic in the morning.

Now I'm just crossing my fingers that I hear some good news on more work this week or a potential long-term post at this school.

Day 98 of 365: Give-A-Frog-A-Name!

Meet my Ty Pillow Pal tree frog, Ribbit. He was given to me by a co-worker when I worked for Highlights for Children magazine. Word got around that I liked frogs and it seemed to be the ONLY gift I received from people for a good three years.

Note to Readers: Don't ever become known as "the girl who likes *insert animal name/object here*" because people tend to run with that. Unless it's money...hmm, "the girl who likes money..." That could be a good thing. But salt & pepper shakers didn't appeal to me any more, simply because they were in the molds of frogs on lily pads.

Anyway, tomorrow I will be in a Year 2 class for half a day and then back to the same school again on Thursday for part of the day in Year 2 for PPA (teacher-planning) cover and the other part in Year 1. It's part of a "trial" period for a potential long-term post. With Years 1/2 being similar to Kindergarten-1st grade (US), I need something to capture attention and maybe to use as incentive for the little darlings. So, I have decided to bring Ribbit with me. After all, he was a big hit in my own First Grade classroom last year. My students knew only the ones who were working diligently would have him on their desks -- it was a real privilege.

I'm not really a big fan of his given name, however. Ribbit doesn't suit him much with his bright colours, therefore I thought I would throw this opportunity out there to anyone reading. Normally, I would have the students name him, but since I don't know how many classes I will be in over the course of the two days, nor do I know for how long...so I figured it to be more efficient to introduce him myself.

If anyone has any suggestions, please post them as a comment on this blog post. I won't be heading to Birmingham until around 11am, so I should have some time in the morning to check on here to see what people have said. Then, the tree frog, formerly known as Ribbit, will hopefully make his debut and I shall report back on his progress.

**UPDATE: The frog did not make his appearance as originally planned due to time constraints, but I am still welcoming suggestions for a name.

Day 59 of 365: Smooth Sailing

I arrived this morning for my Year 2 post and was immediately informed I would be in Reception instead (this is like Kindergarten in the US). I wasn't sure what to expect, but for the most part I was pleasantly surprised. This was by far, the easiest and smoothest day I have had in supply teaching (spanning my massive 3-day career).

It was difficult to learn the children's names, mainly because there wasn't a "seating chart" of any sort since they didn't have seats. I worked with small groups in the morning on directional words (forwards, backwards, sideways, etc.) where we pretended to be robots outside. In the afternoon we sat in a circle and worked on listening skills with this cute little baby tiger called Lola. We talked about what it means to be good listeners and then passed Lola around the circle whispering an introduction to her and telling her what we liked to do at school. It was really precious to watch. Then Lola "played" some musical instruments for everyone to listen to carefully and the children had to guess the instrument she was playing.

It was a refreshing day compared to the last two. The kids were very well-behaved overall. So it was an absolutely lovely way to end the week.

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.

Day 56 of 365: Back in the Saddle Again

Well, sort of...only it's not MY saddle, but I still have to continue breaking in this person's horses while they're out sick. Talk about 24 WILD mustangs!! We were even missing two today. I'm scared to ask the damage the entire herd can cause.

My day began with Matt dropping me off at the school, despite my holding back feeling physically ill, but I knew I had to get day one over with. I signed in at 8:10am and picked up a schedule -- which turned out to be incorrect. Luckily, a teacher helper during the literacy hour managed to edit it enough so I could get the students where they needed to be on time.

Where to begin?! One student managed to keep from acting up an entire 20 minutes into the day. From that point forward, he was what the south (US) would call "wide open." Entertaining the room with his raps and little gangsta moves --although I hardly see Ben Ten to be bad ass enough to fit into young Master T's rhymes. At one point he was "throwing up his dubs" and strutting across the room mumbling something about how he was going to "take it to the streets." I kindly assured him by this hour, I was certain it would be past his bedtime.This kid clearly watches too much TV.

Amidst Master T's antics, we had dear, sweet, puppet-master, Miss S. As soon as another student guessed my accent to be American, Miss S. claimed she couldn't understand the language I was speaking. The little manipulator made a solid attempt...A for effort. I told her I spoke the same language as she did, and asked if she understood anything I was saying at all, to which she replied, "no." Immediately I retorted, "good, then you understand." She eventually got worse and even paired up with Master T, adding a thuggish ruggish charm to her own little theatrical/lyrical performance.

Even with these two, you would think, surely it gets better. Hmm...I'm not so sure. One little boy, we'll call him Webster (uncanny resemblance, actually)...he came in a bit late and was constantly saying he wanted to go back home. For some reason, he kept saying that the little girls at the end of his table were punching him. I didn't witness this and everyone else in the class insisted he was telling stories. In retaliation, I can only assume, one of the accused girls came up to me during numeracy to show me where cute little Webster has supposedly cut her trousers with scissors. As it turns out, she was fibbing on him and actually did it herself! I'm sure her mom is going to love the story she's probably feeding tonight about how the supply teacher let little Webster bully her daughter...at least that's the version I imagine she will be passing off as the truth.

I made it to dinner break and THANK GOODNESS I had an hour's worth of rest without children. The rest of the day wasn't much better. It was a blur of pinching, name-calling, broken headband, swearing, breaking rulers and using them as projectiles, table surfing, blu tack smuggling, Houdini acts out the door to "use the toilet," etc. The common phrase throughout the day was, "Can I use the toilet, Miss?" It was so unreal. The behaviour specialist had to even make a special visit to the room.

I was actually asked at the end of the day if I would return, and I said that I would, only if the regular classroom assistant would be in the following day. I don't think two day's worth of abuse is necessary. It's only just after 6 and I can feel the migraine coming to accompany the muscle aches.

We'll see if the phone rings, but one thing is for sure...Thursday cannot get much worse. Year 5 has NOTHING on this class!!

Day 55 of 365: My Trusty A to Z

In lieu of dropping breadcrumbs, I find this method more reliable.

I got two phone calls from Timeplan today. The first was to confirm some details about this coming Thursday and my post to cover Year 5. The second caught me off guard, having only just spoken to someone, and the conversation went a bit like this...

Me: Hello?
PG: Hello Megan, it's PG from Timeplan. Another call today, how are you?
Me: I'm doing alright. Thanks.
PG: That's good. We need a Year 2 cover for ***** Primary School tomorrow morning, are you available?
Me: Absolutely.
PG: Great! It's in Winson Green and the post code is *** ***. You will report to Mrs. M. Just remember to bring your time sheet.
Me: *furiously writes down info trying to decipher certain words in PG's New Zealand accent* Okay, great.
PG: Wonderful. I'll ring your mobile tomorrow afternoon to see how things went. You'll be fine.
Me: Thank you.
PG: Alright then, bye.

About this time is when my stomach starts to knot up. This will be my official FIRST DAY of supply teaching, EVER. I never did it in the states...just went right into teaching 3rd grade my first year. I shouldn't be as nervous as I am, and I know that, but my head is getting the best of me. I think my anxiety levels have gotten worse with age and I feel so silly for literally feeling this way. I know once I get day 1 out of the way, it will get better.

Here goes nothing!

*leaps off cliff into choppy waters below with 20-30 potentially hungry 6-7 year olds*