signing off

The baby is due to arrive any day now (any time in the next month really), and as such, my teaching days are (temporarily) over. Thus, this blog has come to its end (for now at least). Thanks for reading, and I hope you got a few smiles out of it. Kids really are the most amazing little people and I am so lucky to have a job where I get paid to spend time with them! I will certainly not be able to stay away for too long, but for the foreseeable future, there is one little person I will need to be devoting my attention to...

speaking of names

The latest addition to the list of names that I've been called is "Mrs. Shermanwood". A good one.

But the most common naming ordeal these days is with the baby. Classes that are comfortable with me will often ask me first, is it a boy or a girl, and then offer name suggestions. The most recent and memorable were, if it's a boy, Hotrod, and if it's a girl, Spirit. Those came from grade twos. There have been others, but I can't remember them all...Pregnancy brain and teaching don't go together very well...

The Day I Gave Up

I did spend the day in kindergarten today, so I could put together a few hilarious stories for you ("how come I can't hear the baby?"), but instead I'm going to vent. Anyone else in teaching right now will identify I'm sure.

Over the past months I have been hopeful about getting enough hours together to qualify for mat leave. I need 600 hours. That equals an average of 3 days per week. Sounds reasonable right? Not too much to ask. If I get 600 hours before the baby is born, I get 55% of my income for a year. If I get 599 hours, I get 0% of my income.

At the beginning of this year I was only taking calls from Niagara, making it a priority to make connections here and be available whenever a school here called. Then I began to realize that that really wasn't getting me enough work. So I recently started taking calls from KW as well, driving there either the night before or the morning of. It made for a lot of driving of course, but the mentality was that I needed to take whatever I could get!

The weeks have been unpredictable, going from 5 days one week, to 1 day the next. Very frustrating. I decided this week to take matters into my own hands. I was rarely getting random calls from Niagara, and often getting them from KW. So I decided I would go with Nathan to KW (he commutes 2 days a week for work) and call the "fail to fill" phone line at the board if I didn't get a call. You call this number and if they have a job that did not get filled through the usual automated system, they will call you to fill it. There have been a lot of fail to fills this year in the WRDSB. And you are basically guaranteed at least a half day of work if you call.

Here's how the Monday went:
6am: wake up and call the fail-to-fill line. Leave a message. Fingers crossed. Get ready to go.
7:15am: get in the car to go to Waterloo. Believe that you will get a call.
7:20am: get a call from the WRDSB. The school starts at 8:20am. Although Nathan is a fast driver, it would be impossible to get there in time. Turn down the offer of a full day of work. Get a promise from the woman that she will call you if she has something that starts later. Curse yourself for not knowing that schools started that earlier, for not getting up earlier and not leaving earlier.
8am: get a call from the DSBN. Roll eyes repeatedly. Turn down the offer of a full day of work. Curse yourself for not staying in Niagara.
8:05am: cry yourself to sleep in the car as you realize that world is against you and there is nothing you can do about it.
8:30am: arrive in Kitchener and spend the rest of the day bumming around feeling like the biggest waste of time in history.

Through this ridiculous experience I have realized that I am genuinely stressed out about this. I think constantly about it: am I going to work tomorrow, did I miss a call for some strange reason that is completely out of my control, is my cell phone on, should I stop in and say hi to the schools I know to remind them that I exist...and on and on and on. I am completely consumed.

As a pregnant person I read again and again that I am to avoid stress. It's not good for me (or anyone for that matter), and of course, not ideal for the baby. So, upon my husband's advice I am giving up. I am giving up on going crazy to get mat leave. I realize that having the ability to give up is a luxury - I really don't want to think about how much money I will not be getting. But I must conclude that it is not worth spending the last three months of this pregnancy as a stress ball. Sigh.

So my goal now is to enjoy the next few months (less than three to go!), and work as much as I can, but without turning into a crazy person.

Wish me luck.

baa baa black sheep

One of the wonderful things about kindergarten is that you get to teach them things that you've known for your whole life, and you know they will too. I got to teach them the nursery rhyme, Baa Baa Black Sheep. Many of them already knew it, but of course the words were mashed together for many of them, and I had to clarify what a "dame" is and other little details like that. The most adorable misconception though, was one little red-head who sang,

Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.
One for the master,
One for the dame,
One for the little boy who lives down the drain.
Baa baa black sheep, have you any wool?
Yes sir, yes sir, three bags full.

:)

And speaking of sheep, as frequently happens, one little kindie came up to me with a joke:

"What does a talking sheep do?"
"What?"
(with sports-announcer enthusiasm:) "Play tennis!"

?!

Lovely.

add one to the list

A kid in grade four almost called me Mrs. Sherlock the other day "Sherlock Holmes on the mind I guess" she said. I was surprised I'd never heard that one before!

Good old grade one

I had the pleasure of teaching grade one for three days last week. I loved it. I just love grade one! They are so cute and funny and everything that I love about kids. They have no shame, they look at you strange if you question their childish behaviour, but at the same time they trust you implicitly. It's amazing.

When talking about my grade six experiences, I mentioned that "in any grade one or two class, after two days, the kids would love me, I would love them, and they'd be crying to see me go!" Well, below are three pieces of art that I received from the grade ones on my last day with them. They were sad, and to be honest, so was I. I would have loved to just move in! (ps. the names have been erased for privacy).

This first one, I was told, is of the sky, with a sun and clouds, and also a platypus. Don't ask me why a platypus was chosen as the main character for this little story, but that's just what makes it so wonderful.



Next up we have a lovely illustration including the sun, clouds (always an important part of a good drawing), someone trapped in a hot air balloon, as well as someone eating some delicious popcorn. Wonderful.
And lastly, a simple dream getaway for me. (I can't figure out how to rotate this one - no matter what I do, it won't come out right). Don't you just love grade one?

this might be fun afterall

Welcome to the world of Justin Bieber ("oh he's so....I just can't even look at him! He's just too.....siiiiigh"), Alvin and the Chipmunks ("they are sooooo cute!"), and boyhood ("It must suck to be a girl"). Grade six is full of ridiculousness. More than I expected.

One of the things I learned was that it takes time to get them on your side. After about two days I was complaining to Nathan that I don't get them, and we don't really connect, and I'm just not meant to be a junior teacher. He said "but it's only been two days!" I agreed that this was true, but, in any grade one or two class, after two days, the kids would love me, I would love them, and they'd be crying to see me go! So the sixes are a little more complex in their relationships. And I did learn (again) that if you give it time, teaching older kids really has its advantages as well. Once you do connect, you can have a lot of fun. A different kind of fun than you have with the little ones.

For example, at one point the kids were asking me (again) when Mr. Irons was going to be back. Someone said "are you going to be here forever?". I said "Yes! I'm going to be here for the rest of your life!!! Ha ha ha ha!" In unison, as if on cue, they all screamed "Nooooooooooo!!!". We all broke down laughing. It was hilarious. Someone then came up with the theory that I had poisoned Mr. Irons so that I could have this job..."I would never!" I replied mischievously. The whole thing was quite fun. I began to realize that we were getting to a more comfortable state where I could make mistakes and joke around without wondering if they think I'm an idiot. It was great.

Three week run down

Well, after a week of daily occasional teaching, I feel like I'm on vacation! I got so much done this past week, and I taught for three days! How great is that! After teaching full time for the first time ever, I am loving the supply teaching gig. Not that I'd turn down an LTO or contract of course...

Anyways, let me fill you in on what's been up. This is going to be long, so I do apologize. It's partly just for my own records (if you know me you know I have a bad memory) that I'm writing this all down.

On the Monday after Christmas holidays I got a call from the school where I'd spent the Christmas season volunteering. The principal asked if I was free to teach for the rest of the week since the grade 6 teacher had pneumonia. He had come in on Monday but that was a mistake and he was not doing well. I immediately agreed to take the job. Looking back it is really a miracle that I got that phone call and was able to take that assignment - I was just in the right place at the right time.

At the end of the week, Mr. Irons, the teacher, called in to ask if I'd be alright to make up lessons for Monday, since he had an appointment on that day. I said sure. It's not too tough to improvise for one day. I went back on Monday and at the end of the day tried to leave everything neat and organized and presentable for Mr. Irons. I was glad, in some ways, to be done, as it had been a tough week dealing with behaviour and homework and all that jazz (which you would expect as a supply in a grade six class).

Tuesday morning, 8:15am I get a call from the principal. Turns out Jim (Mr. Irons), came in to school that morning planning to teach. He was looking so bad that the principal promptly sent him back home. So she called to see if I was available. Again, I said, of course (again, another right place, right time thing). I got there as soon as I could and picked up where I had left off. I ended up being there for the rest of that week as well. It was a really tough week since it was so day-by-day. I was never sure when Jim would be back, so I couldn't plan properly, or get a good system set up for managing behaviour issues. The principal was very helpful and took a lot of responsibility for managing the kids too, which was good.

Friday afternoon as I cleaned up again, and set things out for Jim, I was informed that he'd be off for yet another week. Alright! So, I had to switch gears and really get into planning. I spoke with him that afternoon to get a few things cleared up about what was going on, and then spent the weekend planning.

The third week was by far the best. I started off on Monday morning with a note to the students saying that I was looking forward to spending another week getting to know them, but I was not looking forward to another week of warnings, lectures and trips to the office. I think they really took me seriously. We also set up a system of consequences for behaviour which really helped. By the end of the week we were getting along and making some real progress.

Of course just as we're starting to connect, Mr. Irons is ready to come back. So last Monday he returned (the kids were thrilled) and I was back to daily supply teaching. I was happy to be done (teaching full time is A LOT of work) and of course so thrilled to have had that opportunity.

One of the many benefits of that placement was that I have now been promoted to the number one supply at the school. I get called first (I'm pretty sure) whenever there is anyone off at the school. It's wonderful. Another benefit is that since the job lasted for longer than 10 days, it counts as an LTO (long term occasional). This means a few things. One, that I got paid at my actual pay scale rather than the daily rate, and two, that I now have an LTO in the DSBN to put on my resume. Oh, and I asked the principal if I could put her down as a reference and she immediately, without hesitation, said “absolutely”. So this is a really big step.

Anyways, there's the rundown of what I've been up to lately. Sorry for the boring narrative, but at least it gives you an idea.

I promise I'll post more fun stuff soon.

what?! full time!!

Remember that "four day stint" I mentioned? It has now turned into a 3 week (at least) LTO. I am thrilled to say that this is my third week of teaching full time (for the first time ever), and it's going great. I am, however, super busy, so I'm afraid I don't actually have time to post on here. But the stories are piling up (I'm trying to at least jot them down so I can remember them). I know I've always said kindies are the best, but somehow these grade sixes have been really amusing as well. Stay tuned for more posts once this is all over. I'm not sure when the teacher will be back, but I'm predicting next week...we'll see...

post Christmas happiness

So, the last time we spoke I believe my script for the school play was just going out to teachers. Much has happened since then! The teachers flipped because the songs I had assigned to them (classic Christmas songs with the words re-written) were way too hard. Apparently. I was frustrated, but arranged to put up a sign-up sheet for the teachers so that they could have me into their classes to teach their class the songs. Though time consuming, this worked to my advantage as almost every teacher got to see me "in action", as they say, teaching in their class. And best of all (yes, I'm letting this all go to my head), they were all so thankful that I came in and claimed that they certainly couldn't have done this without me... Although not entirely true, these comments did make me feel good :)

In the meantime, the choir was working on their songs, and things were going well with that. A few kids were dropping out, but I was still left with about 30 kids in the choir.

So the last rehearsal day came - the day before the concert. We had rehearsed many times before without a hitch. The only difference this time was that the school would be watching (rather than pulling classes from their rooms for their performances). The choir sang their first song well, and then everything exploded. Their second song was a disaster! Needless to say I was so embarrassed in front of the teachers, and called for an emergency choir practice the next morning before our afternoon performance. I was terrified! What would I possibly do if they messed up the song?!? In front of all those people!

After a good lecture during our impromptu practice the two performances went perfectly. I nearly broke down into tears after the second song, I was so relieved that they hadn't botched it. I was also happy when the principal thanked me for everything I had done, and I even got flowers! It was a fantastic experience.

I certainly learned a lot through this experience. Working with kids comes pretty naturally, but working with other teachers isn't always easy. When I assume something is going to be simple and it turns out to be impossible from another persons' perspective, I've really got to put my flexibility into action...

Anyways, after all that was done, I was anticipating a slow few weeks to start off the new year. Then, yesterday, I got a call from the very school where I had devoted my pre-Christmas months, asking if I wanted to come in for the rest of the week!! I was beyond thrilled.

So today I started a 4 day stint in their grade 6 class. I started the morning with a note on the board explaining that I was going to be here for the week, since Mr. Irons had pneumonia. One trouble making student didn't believe me.

"Mr. Irons doesn't have pneumonia!"

"Yes, he does"

"No he doesn't! He's not going to be away for the week! He's coming back tomorrow. He's just at something for his daughter - he told me yesterday".

"No, he has pneumonia"

"You're lying!"

"Why would I lie about this?"

"Because, maybe you're one of those joker teachers, who likes to play jokes on us. Mean ones"

"No, I am not one of those joker teachers. This is not a mean joke. It's true".

Again I ask, where do kids come up with this stuff? Ridiculous.

It's so good to be back!