Schedule Change

Monday. I was woken by my cell phone ringing. It was the sub caller? 

I already had a job for Monday. I was starting a long-term gig for a geography/economics teacher.

Nope. They were short subs, and they needed me to cover a fifth grade class.

Fifth grade? Do they not know I don't do elementary? 

(Well, it has happened. I've written about it here, here, and here. But I'd rather it didn't.)

After arguing, I accepted the inevitable. 

Because the sub caller called me late, I was late to the school. The principal was covering the class. She handed the class over to me, and I was off and running.

I know how to do this sort of thing with high schoolers, but elementary kids? Well, it was pretty much the same. They had something to get started on while I figured out how to set up the computer. Once I had the technology working, I was able to project the math notes. And then it was time for recess. 

(Well, we did math notes for an hour. But it was fifth grade math, so nothing I couldn't handle.)

My lesson plan stated that after recess, they were to go to PE. So, I went to pick up the class (after fumbling about for where I met the kiddos), and I told them it was time for PE. They informed me that it was not.

Apparently, the schedule had changed. They did PE at 11 AM, not 10. (From what I gathered, their teacher has been out for a bit, and they've been taught by subs for a week or two or more.) 

There are times when I go by the lesson plan even when the kiddos tell me that's not how they do things. Because sometimes the teacher does change the way things are done because substitute. But this time I trusted the kiddos and took them back into the classroom.

I flipped the PE lesson with the English lesson. At the time I was told to pick up the kiddos from PE, I took them out to PE. And it appeared that I was on time. Whew.

Forty-five minutes later, there was a knock on the door. Because I had a wrong schedule, I did not know when PE was over (when I should have gone out to the yard to collect the class). Oops. 

Well, I made a lot of mistakes that day.

At least I had the correct time for their lunch. And to release them at the end of the day. 

We all made it through relatively unscathed. If all my elementary days went like this (the actual subbing day, not the getting there), I'd do more of them. Maybe. I still prefer the older kiddos, though.