An Open Door

Thursday found me back at the middle school where I had done the long-term for Ms. S, and, in fact, I was covering a classroom just across the way. 

Snack was between the first and second blocks of the day. As is my habit, I left the classroom to head to the restroom. On the way, I ran into another sub I know, and we compared notes. (It's a good thing I took that long-term assignment as gigs have been a little sparse this year.) 

On my way back to the classroom, I noticed an open classroom door. It took me a moment to realize it was the room I was in. 

Um, had I not closed the classroom door when I left? I knew I had. I generally check the door before I leave, too. Then how had someone gotten in? And, more importantly, why? (Because mostly the kiddos will see no one's in the room and leave.)

When I got to the room, I immediately knew what had happened. Mr. F (the teacher I was subbing for) was there.

I've subbed for Mr. F many times in the past. (This is the Mr. F from the tortilla slap.) We know each other. 

Mr. F leads a middle school leadership group (called We All Belong), and they were going to do a thing the next day with popsicles. There was a popsicle freezer in his room, but it was empty. Mr. F was filling it with popsicles. 

(I didn't actually peek. The previous day a student had walked by, gotten curious, and asked the leadership class if he could get a popsicle. They said no. The student poked his nose in the freezer anyway, only to find there was nothing there.) 

Mr. F had a few students helping, and his best teaching buddy was there, too. (I've subbed for Ms. B as well. Mr. F and Ms. B are pretty much attached at the hip most days. They've been like this for years.) 

They finished filling the freezer. The student helpers were compensated with popsicles. I chatted with the other two teachers for a bit until the bell rang. Then Mr. F was back to wherever he was for the day, Ms. B went back to wherever she was for the day (she had a sub as well), and as Mr. F had a conference period, I went off to another room to cover a class there. 

Just another subbing day. 

(When I cover Mr. F's classes, more often than not I see him at some point during the day. He isn't sick often. Usually when he's out, it's for school business reasons.) 

Locked Out

Thursday. I was having a morning. I had gotten out of my house late, and by the time I got to school, I was feeling rushed. 

The good news was, I had covered Ms. L's co-teacher on Tuesday, so I had had a chance to talk to Ms. L and I knew what the lesson for the day was. I had volunteered that I knew how to work the classroom TV, so I had the copy of the slideshow for the day. Which meant (the bad news) that I needed a bit more time this morning to get set up (because while I know what to do in theory, without having set everything up on this TV, I couldn't be sure everything would work smoothly). 

I got to school later than I would have liked. The classroom was at the far end of campus, upstairs. But, I know the layout of the school, so I didn't get lost. I took out the key, twisted it in the lock, and the door would not open.

Deep sigh.

I know a few tricks. I can fiddle with the doorknob. Sometimes the key needs a little extra push. Perhaps I turned it the wrong way. Nope, nothing worked. It would just not twist that little extra bit to disengage the lock.

I didn't have time for this.

(Yes, it was the correct key. It clearly worked in the lock.)

Out of ideas, I decided I'd try to call security and see if they could brute force me into the room. I went to the classroom next door (Ms. K who I subbed for earlier this school year) as it was open and asked if I could use her phone.

Ms. K: "Are you subbing next door? There's a trick to the lock..."

Ms. K led me back to the door and demonstrated how to get the door open. It involved shoving her shoulder into the door while turning the key. 

Well, that's a new one.

(Ms. K's door has the same issue. They've put in a work order to get it fixed. They're still waiting.)

Now that I knew the trick, I was able to get back in the room later. (I don't leave the door open or unlocked when I leave to use the restroom.) 

That extra bit of time to get in the room did not help with me setting up the slideshow for the day. (Seventh grade English class. They were learning about writing an argumentative essay.) Because, of course that didn't go as smoothly as I would have liked.

But the day went fine, once things got going.

(It was an advanced seventh grade class, so keeping them busy writing notes was just the trick to keep the class mellow.) 

The Wait

Called to cover an extra period after lunch, I figured I'd get a jump start on what they'd be doing by getting there a bit early. I called for someone to come and open the room for me.

I got to the classroom a good three minutes before the end of lunch. I waited. Then the bell rang.

Ah well. It wasn't like three minutes was going to make that much of a difference.

As the students arrived (eighth graders), they waited along with me. A few asked why we were waiting. I told them we needed someone to unlock the door.

The passing period ended with no security in sight. Um...

(I should mention that eighth graders do not wait patiently. They wait loudly. And now all the other classes were in session.)

I called again. "I'm still waiting for someone to come and unlock this door."

Apparently, someone had forgotten to make the walkie-talkie call...

Since I had no desk to thump my head on, I'll call this a headwall.

(Security spends their time on campus, observing. Transporting. And such. So, to get into contact with them, one needs to contact them via walkie-talkie. This is easy enough to do as the front office staff has a walkie-talkie or two. Ideally, they grab the walkie-talkie right after someone calls them. Not this time, though.)

Security did arrive shortly after this. Well, two different people arrived. Then there was the whole different issue of getting the kiddos to settle down and get to work, but that's a different story altogether.