On Tuesday I got an email from the sub desk. Would I be interested in taking over a long term subbing assignment? Starting tomorrow?
I mean, better busy than spending too much time in my own head wallowing.
On Wednesday, I jumped right in.
My first period was a co-taught class, so I circulated and helped where needed. Then it was time for third period (block schedule).
And I had nothing. Deep sigh.
The classes are special ed. I had an instructional assistant (IA). She gave the me low down on what the class had covered with the previous sub. As the class started.
Uh...
It was a world history class. They had just studied World War II. With no other ideas, I quickly created a Google Classroom for them, threw up some blank slides, and told them to create a presentation about an aspect of WWII.
Terrible lesson plan. But I'm terrible at winging things, and this was totally winging. But it was something to keep them busy until I could get something set up.
Deep sigh.
Why did I take this class again? Yikes.
(The whole thing is a mess. Their teacher, who was hired after the school year started, left the position at the end of the first semester. It's not likely that the school is going to hire a new teacher for them, so they'll have a succession of long term subs until June.
Oh, and the schedule is a mess. Two co-taught periods. Two periods of sophomore math. Two periods of sophomore world history. It's a weird combination. I mean, I can do this, no problem, but someone didn't plan this well at all.)
Taking up classes at short notice must be challenging.
ReplyDeleteSo, the teacher worked less than a semester? That's a shame, and hard on the students. As a substitute, you shouldn't be expected to "wing it." I would expect you'd expect to use the lesson plans already there!
ReplyDeleteThat's what I *should* do. Sadly, in cases like this, there are no lesson plans to work from.
DeleteThat sounds challenging to be able to keep up with when you have to wing it.
ReplyDeleteOn the plus side, you have lots of experience. It's a shame there wasn't any lesson plans waiting for you. Winging it is hard for many of us.
ReplyDeleteI'm not good at the improv. I need to have something ready.
Deletethecontemplativecat here. My first teaching (after being away from it a long time) came from the existing teacher who was ill and couldn't commit to teaching. Feb. 8 to June 21, 1989 I was the teacher. They were so messed up. I was the 10th or more Sub teaching. they were so lost. It was a busy strange few months. winging was often part of the lessons.
ReplyDeleteYet you stuck with them for four months. That's huge. It's so hard on the kiddos when this happens, through no fault of their own.
DeleteYou should detail things Hitler did to woo the people, including North America, and ask if this can be related to anything happening now...like something Orange. You probably can't do that but it would be great but you would have dumb asses on your butt which sucks. It does sound disorganized so I wish you the best with this class.
ReplyDeleteOh and I come up as anonymous when I comment from my IPad. I forgot to include my name
DeleteYou're name is appearing. Weird.
DeleteWe do watch CNN 10. Because I like it. And current events are good to learn about. I think they're very clear on my political leanings at this point.
That really is a shame that the kids lost their teacher and a new one won't be hired.
ReplyDeleteYou’ll manage. You always do
ReplyDeleteI do, but I'm going to whine about it. I saw the best meme that would so work here.
DeleteI always find it fascinating what is studied in other countries. Our kids do Modern History and Ancient History. While you felt it was a terrible lesson plan as you were winging it, a) the kiddos probably didn't have a clue and b) it would give you a good gauge on what they understood from the previous unit. Seems clever to me.
ReplyDeleteThat must be quite challenging. I'm glad to hear you had an instructional assistant to help you navigate the first day.
ReplyDeleteYeah, she's been very helpful.
DeleteI think the presentation idea was a good one. Especially at the last minute!
ReplyDeleteIt's one of my better ideas. Ideally, I would have come up with more directions. Kiddos like more directions.
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