Do you ever hear people complaining that their kids know more about technology than they do? My mom can't text, and really has no desire to do so. She also can't program the VCR, and refuses to pay for Tivo. Why should she? She has a VCR.
Technology moves forward, but we stay put. I found this to be true today as I was subbing for an Elementary school music teacher.
The teacher dropped by in the morning to make sure I had everything I needed. The plans consisted of playing a CD so the classes could sing to it. While showing me how to work the CD player, she mentioned that I shouldn't ask the kids to help me. She'd asked before, and it seems the kids of today only know how to work their iPods. They have no clue how a CD player works.
Forgetting this piece of information later in the day, I asked a sixth grade student to find the place where the kids were on the CD. She couldn't do it until I showed her how to move forward through the disk. And, at one point, a student asked me to "turn it over" so we could sing a song a second time.
So, to all those confused by the fast progression of technology, I offer this: technology is quicksand. Moving forward can be as difficult as moving backward. We simply grasp the technology of our time and rely on the oldies and the younglings to pull us out.
Monday, April 26, 2010
Tuesday, April 20, 2010
Demon of the Day
I often think I'd like to present a "Demon of the Day" award, but I doubt that it would go over with the same tongue-in-cheek humor with which I intend.
Those of us who spend time in classrooms know that there is always one kid who just has to have been placed there by supernatural forces in order to test us. It's the kid who decides to scream out "HERE" while you're taking roll. It's the kid who asks to use the bathroom twelve times before lunch. It's the kid who sits and draws on his desk instead of doing his work. It's the kid who tattles about everything. It's the kid who wanders the room. It's the kid who slinks up to you, puts her arms around you and asks very politely to do things that she knows are against classroom rules. It's the kid who plays the entire time you're explaining something, and then says "I don't get it," when it's time for the class to do the assignment. The list goes on and on.
Even in the best behaved classes, there always seems to be at least one party very deserving of this award...and that child is probably the CEO of tomorrow.
Those of us who spend time in classrooms know that there is always one kid who just has to have been placed there by supernatural forces in order to test us. It's the kid who decides to scream out "HERE" while you're taking roll. It's the kid who asks to use the bathroom twelve times before lunch. It's the kid who sits and draws on his desk instead of doing his work. It's the kid who tattles about everything. It's the kid who wanders the room. It's the kid who slinks up to you, puts her arms around you and asks very politely to do things that she knows are against classroom rules. It's the kid who plays the entire time you're explaining something, and then says "I don't get it," when it's time for the class to do the assignment. The list goes on and on.
Even in the best behaved classes, there always seems to be at least one party very deserving of this award...and that child is probably the CEO of tomorrow.
Tuesday, April 13, 2010
An Adventure Every Day
Yesterday was the first day back at school after Spring Break. I didn't think I'd have work, but I was fortunate enough to find a job in Kindergarten just down the street from home.
I figured subbing for kinders on the first day back from break would be a little bit of a challenge. The fact that they were forecasting rain made me a little more tense, but lately we've had a lot of off-base weather reports, so I wasn't terribly worried.
I really do love Kindergarten. The kids can be fantastic or monstrous, and I've certainly had groups at both ends of the spectrum. This group of kids was quite good. Unfortunately, they got less "good" as the day went on and they were stuck inside. That's not their fault, but it makes for a headache by 3pm.
The rain started at about 10:00, ten minutes before recess. The classroom was large, the kids didn't fight with each other and there were only 21 of them, so it was all good. Sadly, it kept on raining.
I don't think the classroom teacher suspected that it would rain, because he didn't leave me a copy of the rainy day schedule. The office gave me a copy of the bell schedule when I checked in, but that was just for regular days. So, imagine my surprise at 11:15 when I was just getting the room cleaned up so I could line the kids up for lunch at 11:25 when an announcement came over the speaker saying that we would be on rainy day schedule and that kinders would be having lunch at 11:15. Are you kidding me?
So, I rushed them through cleaning and lining up...the poor kids...and it took me until 11:30 to get them through the lunch line and seated. Then another teacher tells me to hurry because I only get 30 minutes for my own lunch. (And that's 30 from 11:15.) So....I had 15 minutes to visit the restroom and gulp down some food. I'm a flexible person when it comes to last minute changes. I figure they're paying me to be there, so I don't really care about recess duty or how long my lunch break is, but a person needs a bio-break once in a while!
Fortunately, the sun started shining at around noon and the kids were able to play outside for their afternoon recess time.
I'd never been to this particular school before, and they had one program that I absolutely thought was a godsend. The kids who need extra help stayed after the bell for intervention and worked in a small group with the teacher. I dismissed most of the kids at 2:00 and worked with the remaining three of them until 3:00, when the older kids get dismissed. A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to another kindergarten teacher within the same district about the need for such a program. He must have known it existed at this school. His position was that not all kids need extra time in class, but for the children who do, we should offer the personal attention. It seemed reasonable to me, and seeing how calm and ready to work those three kids were during that last hour cemented my opinion on the issue.
Although there are negative things about subbing: low pay, no benefits, not working steadily, and having an extra challenge with classroom management by virtue of not being the person the kids see every day, there is an enormous advantage to traveling throughout different schools and different districts. I really get a chance to see things that work. And that may turn out to be worth it's weight in gold at some point in my career.
I figured subbing for kinders on the first day back from break would be a little bit of a challenge. The fact that they were forecasting rain made me a little more tense, but lately we've had a lot of off-base weather reports, so I wasn't terribly worried.
I really do love Kindergarten. The kids can be fantastic or monstrous, and I've certainly had groups at both ends of the spectrum. This group of kids was quite good. Unfortunately, they got less "good" as the day went on and they were stuck inside. That's not their fault, but it makes for a headache by 3pm.
The rain started at about 10:00, ten minutes before recess. The classroom was large, the kids didn't fight with each other and there were only 21 of them, so it was all good. Sadly, it kept on raining.
I don't think the classroom teacher suspected that it would rain, because he didn't leave me a copy of the rainy day schedule. The office gave me a copy of the bell schedule when I checked in, but that was just for regular days. So, imagine my surprise at 11:15 when I was just getting the room cleaned up so I could line the kids up for lunch at 11:25 when an announcement came over the speaker saying that we would be on rainy day schedule and that kinders would be having lunch at 11:15. Are you kidding me?
So, I rushed them through cleaning and lining up...the poor kids...and it took me until 11:30 to get them through the lunch line and seated. Then another teacher tells me to hurry because I only get 30 minutes for my own lunch. (And that's 30 from 11:15.) So....I had 15 minutes to visit the restroom and gulp down some food. I'm a flexible person when it comes to last minute changes. I figure they're paying me to be there, so I don't really care about recess duty or how long my lunch break is, but a person needs a bio-break once in a while!
Fortunately, the sun started shining at around noon and the kids were able to play outside for their afternoon recess time.
I'd never been to this particular school before, and they had one program that I absolutely thought was a godsend. The kids who need extra help stayed after the bell for intervention and worked in a small group with the teacher. I dismissed most of the kids at 2:00 and worked with the remaining three of them until 3:00, when the older kids get dismissed. A couple of weeks ago, I was talking to another kindergarten teacher within the same district about the need for such a program. He must have known it existed at this school. His position was that not all kids need extra time in class, but for the children who do, we should offer the personal attention. It seemed reasonable to me, and seeing how calm and ready to work those three kids were during that last hour cemented my opinion on the issue.
Although there are negative things about subbing: low pay, no benefits, not working steadily, and having an extra challenge with classroom management by virtue of not being the person the kids see every day, there is an enormous advantage to traveling throughout different schools and different districts. I really get a chance to see things that work. And that may turn out to be worth it's weight in gold at some point in my career.
Saturday, April 10, 2010
Documenting Life Changes
In my former life, I viewed resumes. Hours and hours of reading resumes of job seekers. Job seekers who sent me lists of former jobs with the names of employers misspelled. Job seekers who saw fit to note on their resume that they were married with X-amount of children. Job seekers who felt that a prospective employer should know to which religious belief they subscribed or how they spent their weekends. Typos, grammatical errors, spelling errors...I often had to fight the temptation to mark up their offerings with a red pen and send them back with a "better luck next time" note attached. I even considered writing a book about how to design an effective resume, and then realized that the people sending me the awful resumes probably wouldn't read the book.
Since I've changed careers, I've put off rewriting my own resume. I just added my additional education information and student teaching jobs to my Human Resources resume and that was that. It was good enough to get me hired as a substitute. Yet, I don't wish to remain a substitute, and it's time to start applying for positions for the next school year. The time has come to do some surgery.
For some reason, paring down my resume is more painful than walking out on my former career. It's harder than passing the tests to get into the credential program. It's worse than the additional year of school required for my teaching credential. It's more difficult than facing a room full of exuberant students who have just realized today is Torment the Substitute Teacher Day.
Why?
A good resume is written documentation of the accomplishments you've achieved in your career. You are showing that yes, you can and yes, you have done these things. You've passed these tests and gained these professional designations. Someone else was impressed enough with what you did while working for a former employer to give you a chance at a new opportunity. A resume is your chance at no-holds bragging and it is the only time anyone will ever really care about your professional experience.
So, to reformat my own resume and make it appeal to an entirely different career field means deleting a lot of information that is not applicable to the new field. In my own case, I highly doubt that a school district will care about my experience processing payroll, recruiting, handling employee relations issues, etc., etc., etc.... They don't need the details about every job duty I've ever been responsible to complete. They only care about what is applicable in their world. And that's where I need to adjust my own focus. I'm not wiping out my own past. I'm simply making some changes.
I guess I'd better get to it, then, instead of sitting here blogging about it!
Since I've changed careers, I've put off rewriting my own resume. I just added my additional education information and student teaching jobs to my Human Resources resume and that was that. It was good enough to get me hired as a substitute. Yet, I don't wish to remain a substitute, and it's time to start applying for positions for the next school year. The time has come to do some surgery.
For some reason, paring down my resume is more painful than walking out on my former career. It's harder than passing the tests to get into the credential program. It's worse than the additional year of school required for my teaching credential. It's more difficult than facing a room full of exuberant students who have just realized today is Torment the Substitute Teacher Day.
Why?
A good resume is written documentation of the accomplishments you've achieved in your career. You are showing that yes, you can and yes, you have done these things. You've passed these tests and gained these professional designations. Someone else was impressed enough with what you did while working for a former employer to give you a chance at a new opportunity. A resume is your chance at no-holds bragging and it is the only time anyone will ever really care about your professional experience.
So, to reformat my own resume and make it appeal to an entirely different career field means deleting a lot of information that is not applicable to the new field. In my own case, I highly doubt that a school district will care about my experience processing payroll, recruiting, handling employee relations issues, etc., etc., etc.... They don't need the details about every job duty I've ever been responsible to complete. They only care about what is applicable in their world. And that's where I need to adjust my own focus. I'm not wiping out my own past. I'm simply making some changes.
I guess I'd better get to it, then, instead of sitting here blogging about it!
Saturday, March 20, 2010
What I Like
I was going through my recent posts and cleaning up some of my terrible grammar, and I noticed that there are more negative than positive posts. I suspect the reason for that is that when I'm wound up about something, I start tippy-typing to vent the frustration. When I've had a good day and I'm happy, I just move on and don't feel the need to write about it. It doesn't present the most balanced blog, so I thought that I'd try here to list things I really enjoy about my job, in no particular order:
- I get hugs!
- Teaching is centered in reality. The whole purpose of the job is to boil complex ideas down to simple building blocks. The rest of the world is covered in marketing sparkle and political spin. In a classroom I don't have to sell anything or try to make people believe a lie.
- I enjoy going to different places each day. I would love to have a full contract and my own classroom, but there is value in subbing and seeing how things work in different classrooms, different grades, different schools, and different districts.
- I get to read stories!
- Sometimes, kids go home after a day with me knowing something they didn't know prior to that day.
- Kids are cool!
- I get to go outside during the day.
- For the most part, other teachers are very kind and helpful.
- I get to teach art. And music. And math. And reading. And history. And do science experiments. And tell kids never to start a sentence with the word "and."
- The random things that crack kids up are hilarious!
- Even on the worst days, when the kids are the most out of control, I think about my days of working in an office and thank my lucky stars that I get to be in an elementary school!
Friday, March 19, 2010
They Behaved! Honest!
I picked up a half-day assignment today in a third grade classroom. They were really very good. They got a little loud early on and I promised them a game if they listened the rest of the morning. The kids wanted to play that game so badly that they were extremely good all morning!
When walking them to the lunchroom, though, they completely lost their line. They were all over the place and cutting across the basketball court. (This was my fault, because they were following me that way. I didn't know they had to walk all the way around.) Another teacher was behind us and yelled at them to stay in line. Once I got them through the lunch line and left them, that same teacher asked me if they'd been like that all day. I assured her that no, they had been very good in class, but I let them play a game right before lunch and they may have still been giddy from that.
So, I went back to the classroom to leave my note and collect my things. When I checked out at the office, their regular teacher was there. She told me she heard they'd been terrible! What!? Sheesh! How information travels!!! I assured her that no, they'd been very good in class, but they just had some trouble staying in line on the way to lunch. She said she'd been working on that with them and they just couldn't seem to manage to stay in line.
Other than that strange conversation, it was a pretty nice morning.
When walking them to the lunchroom, though, they completely lost their line. They were all over the place and cutting across the basketball court. (This was my fault, because they were following me that way. I didn't know they had to walk all the way around.) Another teacher was behind us and yelled at them to stay in line. Once I got them through the lunch line and left them, that same teacher asked me if they'd been like that all day. I assured her that no, they had been very good in class, but I let them play a game right before lunch and they may have still been giddy from that.
So, I went back to the classroom to leave my note and collect my things. When I checked out at the office, their regular teacher was there. She told me she heard they'd been terrible! What!? Sheesh! How information travels!!! I assured her that no, they'd been very good in class, but they just had some trouble staying in line on the way to lunch. She said she'd been working on that with them and they just couldn't seem to manage to stay in line.
Other than that strange conversation, it was a pretty nice morning.
Wednesday, March 17, 2010
Lost Key = Lost Mind
Believe it or not, during the two-day kindergarten job in the previous post, I had another crisis that concerned me even more than the behavior of the students.
As a substitute teacher, the first thing you do in the morning is check in at the office. During this time the office manager tells you the room number where you'll be working and hands you the key to the classroom. I always put the key in my pocket so that I have it with me at all times and can not lock myself out of the classroom.
At this particular school, the kindergartners are released through a gate on the side of the school. Nobody else uses this gate. The teacher for whom I was subbing left me the key to the gate on her desk with the lesson plans. It was a loose key and I stuck it in my pocket along with the key to the classroom door.
When it was time to let the kids go, I unlocked the gate, sent them off with their parents and returned to the classroom to lock the back door. Then I down to organize the teacher's desk and get ready to go home. After stacking everything nicely, I reached in my pocket for the gate key and it wasn't there!
So, I shuffled through my nice stacks of paper on the desk, peeked in the drawers in case it had slipped inside, looked on the floor, crawled around on the floor to look under everything, dumped out my tote bag and my purse and then took a walk to the gate and around the back of the building along the same route I'd taken before. When I got back to the classroom, I moved everything on the desk again, shook out the teaching manuals and still found nothing.
Trying to decide what to do next, I opted to wait another day. Since the assignment was two days, I'd hoped someone had picked up the key and given it to the office, or that walking away from the situation would allow me to remember something that the stress of the moment might be blocking.
Naturally, I couldn't sleep that night, thinking at best I'd be blackballed from that school, and maybe lose my position with the district. I'd always be "the sub who lost the key." Should I play stupid and say that the last time I saw it, it was on the desk? Should I confess? Should I just call and cancel the next day?
I didn't do any of this. I went back the next morning and asked at the office if anyone had turned in a loose key. Ironically, they had several keys that had been turned in, but none were the key I needed. I did another circle of where I had walked the day before and searched on and around the teacher's desk again, but found nothing. I had to borrow the gate key from another teacher to let the kids in for school. Since he was busy at the time, he didn't even question me. While the kids were at lunch, I wrote a note apologizing for misplacing the key and offering to pay for a replacement, thinking the entire time that this was probably my last job ever in my own local school district.
The final subject of the day was Science. I grabbed the teacher's manual and brought it to the front of the room. As I flipped the book over to get to the right page, what should come flying out but THE KEY!!!!
Lordy, I don't think I've ever been so happy! The kids couldn't comprehend why I was so ecstatic to see this key. I had looked through all those books the day before, but apparently I wasn't thorough enough! I'm just glad it was a two day assignment. If I'd admitted to losing the key the day before, it would have upset some people. Then the key would have turned up and I would have looked even worse. I very seldom lose things, especially things that are only loand to me, so on the occasion that I misplace something, I get very upset.
I'm just glad this time there was a happy ending!
As a substitute teacher, the first thing you do in the morning is check in at the office. During this time the office manager tells you the room number where you'll be working and hands you the key to the classroom. I always put the key in my pocket so that I have it with me at all times and can not lock myself out of the classroom.
At this particular school, the kindergartners are released through a gate on the side of the school. Nobody else uses this gate. The teacher for whom I was subbing left me the key to the gate on her desk with the lesson plans. It was a loose key and I stuck it in my pocket along with the key to the classroom door.
When it was time to let the kids go, I unlocked the gate, sent them off with their parents and returned to the classroom to lock the back door. Then I down to organize the teacher's desk and get ready to go home. After stacking everything nicely, I reached in my pocket for the gate key and it wasn't there!
So, I shuffled through my nice stacks of paper on the desk, peeked in the drawers in case it had slipped inside, looked on the floor, crawled around on the floor to look under everything, dumped out my tote bag and my purse and then took a walk to the gate and around the back of the building along the same route I'd taken before. When I got back to the classroom, I moved everything on the desk again, shook out the teaching manuals and still found nothing.
Trying to decide what to do next, I opted to wait another day. Since the assignment was two days, I'd hoped someone had picked up the key and given it to the office, or that walking away from the situation would allow me to remember something that the stress of the moment might be blocking.
Naturally, I couldn't sleep that night, thinking at best I'd be blackballed from that school, and maybe lose my position with the district. I'd always be "the sub who lost the key." Should I play stupid and say that the last time I saw it, it was on the desk? Should I confess? Should I just call and cancel the next day?
I didn't do any of this. I went back the next morning and asked at the office if anyone had turned in a loose key. Ironically, they had several keys that had been turned in, but none were the key I needed. I did another circle of where I had walked the day before and searched on and around the teacher's desk again, but found nothing. I had to borrow the gate key from another teacher to let the kids in for school. Since he was busy at the time, he didn't even question me. While the kids were at lunch, I wrote a note apologizing for misplacing the key and offering to pay for a replacement, thinking the entire time that this was probably my last job ever in my own local school district.
The final subject of the day was Science. I grabbed the teacher's manual and brought it to the front of the room. As I flipped the book over to get to the right page, what should come flying out but THE KEY!!!!
Lordy, I don't think I've ever been so happy! The kids couldn't comprehend why I was so ecstatic to see this key. I had looked through all those books the day before, but apparently I wasn't thorough enough! I'm just glad it was a two day assignment. If I'd admitted to losing the key the day before, it would have upset some people. Then the key would have turned up and I would have looked even worse. I very seldom lose things, especially things that are only loand to me, so on the occasion that I misplace something, I get very upset.
I'm just glad this time there was a happy ending!
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)