And Just Like That...

Tuesday. Lunch. 

I had just finished getting the students into their online gradebook (see yesterday's post), and I was organizing my stuff as things kind of go all over the place during class. The classroom door opened, and in walked a stranger to me. 

He identified himself as Mr. N, the new teacher. 

I had heard the prior Friday before leaving school that they had hired someone. We were in waiting mode, waiting for his paperwork to clear. As soon as it did, he could start. 

Mr. N told me he was starting Wednesday. 

All-righty, then. 

They gave us two days of transition. Mr. N needed the time to get his feet under him. I showed him what was up with the success classes. He was also hired as the school's new athletic director, so he had a lot of stuff on his plate. (It's been crazy without someone in that position as the school year begins.) 

But Mr. N is close in age to me. He's been at several schools. He's taught, coached, and done all the educational things, so he knows what he's in for. They're in good hands. 

That was the gig I signed up for. This is probably the shortest vacant position I've ever done. That's a good thing, really. 

And now, back to the day-to-day subbing of it all. 

(I told the kiddos this wasn't goodbye. I'd be around. A lot. And I will.) 

Unappreciated

Tuesday morning.

The only reason I saw the call before I got to school was because I stopped at McDonald's on the way. 

(Sometimes I pick up a little something on the way to work. Their app gives me points that I can get a freebie with every so often.) 

It was from the sub desk. "Since the new teacher is starting today..."

Um, what? Today?!? 

Usually, the afternoon before I get a heads up. (I've done this start-the-year-off-in-a-vacant-class before.) But this time, the day of? Really?

So, I was a bit cranky about the whole thing. 

Not to the new teacher. She's lovely. Ms. D was in the fashion design world, but got bored with it and decided she really wanted to teach. (She gave an intro presentation to the kiddos.) She's excited to have her own class, and I think she'll do an amazing job. 

But I'm really kinda ticked at the district. 

I kinda feel like I've been slapped across the face. Perhaps that's not fair. But it's how I feel. 

(Apparently the school only found out that morning, too.)

I mean, that's the gig. I'm in the class until the new teacher starts. And then I walk away. And I'm good with that. I was getting a little irritated the last week or so, very ready to relinquish control of the classes. 

It's just that some transition stuff, like with the gradebook and the keys and the computer I checked out, is being yanked back as if I'm some sort of undesirable rather than the person who kept those classes going. For a month. The first month of school. 

So, it's all over. Except it's not. Because Ms. D already had some plans in September before she got hired, so I get to sub for her next week. This should be interesting.

Idyllic Transition

The day had finally arrived. The day I had been anticipating since September (or October). I would be taking over Ms. A's classes for 30 days. 

Ms. A has been out since the middle of February. But because emergency teaching credentials only allow us subs to cover 30 days total in one class, and because Ms. A planned a 14-week maternity leave, two subs would be needed. Ms. A told me she wanted me to do the second half. 

The first half had been done by Ms. S, who I had worked with in the past. We were given two days of transition, which are days where she tells me what I need to know to keep the class going. Only, as I had covered Ms. A's classes before, I knew what I was in for.

That is not to say that the transition wasn't needed. It's good to have a couple days where I get up to speed before teaching the class. It's way better than the scramble I usually find myself doing. 

But, we really only needed a couple hours of transition, not two days. (We both got paid for them, so I'm not going to complain too much.) 

I recognized many of the faces in the classes. I had had many of them before, most notably in the math class I covered at this time last year. 

On the first day of transition, Ms. S taught the classes. (They had "study hall", so there wasn't much to do.) On the second day, we were beginning talking about The Great Gatsby (which is what we'll be reading until pretty much the end of the school year), so I took over. 

We started with a bit of background on the 1920s, and then they had an article to read on the author's life. They were to annotate it. I uploaded the article into their Google Classrooms, and then I explained to them what they were to do.

To annotate an article online, they use the comment feature on Google Docs. They highlight the passage, and then they can add a comment to it. Easy enough. 

About halfway through class, Aria approached. I have had Aria in classes for the past couple years. I may have written about her before, but I can't remember what alias I used. Sigh. 

Anyway, Aria had a problem. She had made all sorts of comments on the article (allegedly), but they all vanished. 

Upon some digging, we figured out what went wrong. Aria had clicked on a check mark on the comments she made. Which, if you've ever used the feature, is the thing that tells the program that you have "resolved" the issue from the comment, thereby deleting it. 

And there's no way to retrieve the comments. 

On the bright side, I now knew of one issue that might again crop up, so I made sure to warn every other period about it. 

But Aria's comments... Knowing her as I do, I just said I'd take her word for it and not make her redo the comments. (She wouldn't redo the comments.) 

At the end of the day, Ms. S was again free to do day-to-day subbing assignments. And now I'm in another long term. Should be interesting. 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter

Holding No More

April 1st. Tuesday. My first day in the long-term English class that I knew about since something like October. Maybe September. 

(The teacher had emailed me to ask if I would be willing to cover her class when she went on maternity leave. I was unsurprised at the maternity leave as she had mentioned wanting a second child when she returned from her first maternity leave, which I had covered in part for her.)  

I arrived at the school with my usual carry bag and an extra bag with some other things I'd need for the classroom (as I knew I would be there for 30 school days). 

I went to the office to check in. The first door was locked. The second door was locked. I headed for a third door that would be locked, but it would be manned by the school's receptionist who would let me in. (The other two doors are usually unlocked when I arrive at the school. I was just a touch early this day.) 

As I climbed the stairs, my carry bag suddenly fell from my shoulder. I caught it before it hit pavement. What the...? 

I examined the bag. One of the clasps holding the strap to the bag had broken off. 

Uhhhh....

Yikes. This bag has no other handle on it. With my second bag, it was just plain awkward. But at least the office door wasn't too far. As predicted, the school's receptionist let me in, and I went to check in.

I mean, once I was in the classroom I found a spot for my bag to live in for the day (as I usually do) and I didn't have to worry about carrying it again until it was time to leave. The walk to my car is kinda long for holding a bag that has no working handle or strap. A minor irritation, really.

I have a bag that I used to use that still has a functioning strap. Time to pull it out of storage. It'll do until I find another bag to replace this one. Maybe. 

What a way to start my new long term.

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter

One Last Thing

A sub credential only allows me to cover one class for up to thirty days. This was extended to sixty days the last couple of years, because *gestures to everything*. But it appears that we are sufficiently back to normal, and the number of days I can cover one class will remain at thirty.

Last Friday was day thirty of the school year. 

We all kept an eye on this, and the teacher next door (Ms. W) who's been supplying me with help and lesson plans kept an eye out for a sub to replace me. 

Ms. W realized that Mr. H might be a good next sub. (I wrote about him a few months ago.) And so, those that do these things got him all lined up. 

I asked for and got two days of transition. So, Mr. H started on Thursday. We had two days in the class together so I could pass off everything to him. 

The one thing I wanted to get finished before I left was grading the students' lab safety posters.

In about week three, the students got an assignment about lab safety. There were rules to read and activities to complete. The last activity was a poster they were to create about one of the lab safety rules. 

This particular assignment kept getting pushed back. The kiddos would get ten minutes to work on it, and then class would be over. I'd plan to give them more time for it, but the other lessons would take too much time. After three tries to find time in class to do it, I gave it up. I figured they just wouldn't get it done, and we could skip it.

But then it was test day, and there was about a half hour of class time to fill. Lab safety poster.

The whole thing was a mess, so leaving that mess of grading to Mr. H? Nope. Didn't want to do it. 

But, time just evaporated. I had a hair appointment Tuesday afternoon. Then Wednesday I got pulled into something else. And it was Thursday. The moments I might have stolen to do some grading were the moments I used to go over things Mr. H needed (and when Mr. H asked me questions about what he was unclear on). 

(On Thursday Mr. H taught about half of the lesson. On Friday he did all of it. He's good. The class is in good hands.) 

So, it was Friday. Class time was busy. (Sure, Mr. H taught the lesson, but I assisted. And they were doing a rotating stations thing, so having two adults was a good thing.) Finally, at the end of the day, I said I had to get those posters graded. 

Mr. H offered to do some of it. I observed that there were other assignments the kiddos had turned in. (Sure, I would have liked to have gotten those graded, too, but they were technically on his watch, so I felt less guilty leaving them to him.) 

In the end, I got five of the periods graded. Mr. H graded the last one. And I was able to leave the class having mostly gotten the grading from my time done.

And now I am once again free to join the subbing pool. Back to the day-to-day. And I don't feel even a little worried about the classes I left as I know they're in capable hands.

Handled?

Back in October, I did a co-teaching day in a math class. I covered for the special ed teacher. The general ed teacher, Mr. J, talked of leave he'd be taking in March for the birth of his second child. I agreed to cover his class. 

But, in late January his wife was hospitalized with complications, so his leave had to start early. Alas, I had promised another teacher I'd cover her classes at the end of February. 

They found another sub to cover the classes until I could start. I started last Monday.

They gave us a transition day. 

The co-teacher was around, but of the block schedule days, this was the day she did not co-teach. When she popped in, I had one major question for her:

"When are grades due?"

Because, they have to be. I'm starting a long term assignment, so grades are due. Last year I got slapped in the face with this. Now it's on my radar.

Ms. L, the co-teacher, wasn't sure, but we figured out that the end of the quarter was the next week (read: this week). So, I had some time to get situated before I'd have to submit grades.

As Ms. L discussed what we'd be doing in class, she mentioned some testing that was due. We'd have to do it next week (again read: this week). And I laughed. Because I got hit with that one in the vacant English class I started this school year in. 

At least I have all the things I need for that one. (Getting my log in credentials reinstated for this test ended up being an issue, so I have periodically checked to make sure I still have access since then.) 

I am not going to do anything stupid and say something about being all set. Because I'm not. Something else is going to appear out of the blue that I'll have to scramble to deal with.

But, for the moment, my begin-the-long-term scramble seems to be handled. For now. 

Mr. J is scheduled to return in early May. This should be an interesting two months.

Short Time

On Monday, I knew I was on short time in the long term English 9 assignment. But just how short? 

I had been kept in the loop of the hiring process for the new teacher. I knew when the interviews were. I knew when they were offering the job. I knew when the job had been accepted. And as soon as I got his contact info, I reached out to Mr. V, the new teacher, to let him know what he'd be walking into.

He said the district said he could start as soon as Tuesday.

Monday during third period was when I got the official notification.

We had a two-day transition. I taught the classes while Mr. V figured out what he'd be doing going forward. (The topic of the day was "Fish Cheeks" by Amy Tan.) 

I've left the classes in good hands. And now I'm back to day-to-day subbing.