Completely Useless

Tuesday. Digital art.

I arrived to the classroom to find the teacher there. It was an art meeting day where Mr. L was going to be close by, just out of class. This is not the first time I've encountered this setup. Just this school year I've done this five or six times. (There was math day, science day, and history day. Across different campuses.) 

Mr. L informed me that he'd be there for the first ten minutes of class to get the kiddos going. And then he'd go back to his meeting.

No problem. Again, I've encountered this situation before. 

The first block was a conference, so I covered a different class. I returned for the second block. and Mr. L wasn't around. No problem. I knew the gist of the assignment. 

Oh, the kiddos were thrilled Mr. L was out. I did warn them he planned to drop in, though.

I started to explain things, and that's when Mr. L appeared. He went over what they had to do. He took roll. And then he went back to his meeting.

For ten minutes. 

Mr. L returned. He had gotten leave to do the purchase orders he needed to do in the classroom. 

Uh... 

I mean, I'm there. I can watch the kiddos work. 

Anyway, throughout the day, Mr. L was in the class more than he was at his meeting. While I was kind of needed for those moments he was out of class, those windows got shorter and shorter. 

By 8th period, he didn't leave at all. (He told me that the teachers went out to lunch. He didn't want to go. So he remained in his classroom.) 

I was not needed. 

(There were a couple teachers not covered, hence why I had a class to cover on the conference. Things would have been so much better if I had taken one of those classes leaving Mr. L's classes to be period subbed. Since he was mostly there. But hindsight is 20/20.) 

With about a half hour left in the day, Mr. L told me I could go home. So I did. 

I mean, it was an easy day. But I felt pretty useless. Sigh. Better than some of the difficult days I've had.