Wall of SHAME

Sometimes substitute teachers have to get a little... creative. Check it out at Chicago Teacher Man.

Next Stop is Whenever.

I just think this cartoon is hilarious.

http://www.marriedtothesea.com

OMG. More interviews! I'm getting so good at this that I don't even like spend 3 hours preparing like I used to. I just go in and crack a few jokes and talk about what a badass I am and then they ask me to come in again next week. No more sweaty pits or nothin'.

And you know what? It seems to be working. (That or we're back into hiring season. Go figure.) I've been talking with this really cool after school organization and they seem to like me. And I'm still psyched about interviewing for the museum job, although that one will certainly be more competitive.

But it means I haven't subbed in TWO WEEKS. And maybe my schools are going to stop calling me because I keep having to say no? Then I'll have to get a job asap. It's a shake-up anyway you look at it.

Where is my my guest blogger?!?!?! J... we need you more than ever. Don't forget about me!

Someday (soon), I might only work one job.

I haven't subbed at all this week because I've been interviewing. So far I've interviewed at two family service agencies. I also have an interview at a museum.

One of these jobs pays a whopping $10 per hour with benefits and it's only 30 hrs per week. I don't believe I'll take it.

But the others are salary. Not a large salary, mind you. Not a salary as big as, say, a teacher in CPS (bet you didn't expect me to say that). But... a salary nonetheless.

It would be a big step up. Being on salary means that I could move into my own place and buy more healthy food and a little furniture and, most importantly, stop working 3 jobs. Keep your fingers crossed!

Special Ed Sub Scandal

Head over to the (awesome, informative, entertaining) District299 blog to read about how it seems that substitute teachers are being placed in CPS Special Education classrooms in order to get around aspects of the Individuals with Disabilities Education Act (IDEA) such as paying to have highly qualified teachers in Special Ed classrooms.

The concern, of course, is that Special Ed students aren't getting the assistance they need, which we know they aren't. There is also great concern that under-qualified teachers will be outright harmful to students (see the new teacher who used masking tape to tie a student to a chair).

That said, part of me wonders how one gets these sub jobs in special ed classrooms. I mean, hey. I have an interest in special education and at least some experience working with Special Education students. I know what an IEP looks like. I'm not saying we shouldn't push for IDEA to be upheld, but if under-qualified folks are doing the work already, then it may as well be someone who really cares.

Warm Fuzzies

Best thing ever today. I was walking home from the bus stop, having subbed at a high school downtown. As I crossed a street, I glanced up at the minivan that waited at the stop light in order to make sure the driver saw me,* and someone in the passenger seat waved to me. It was one of the kids from the private school where I sub! The sweet little 5th grader recognized his substitute teacher all bundled up on a snowy day and waved to her. And smiled. I was so happy after that.


* I got hit by a car recently when I was walking through a crosswalk. The driver had stopped at the crosswalk, but didn't see me right in front of his car. He hit me at a slow speed, then didn't really understand what happened and decided to go forward, meaning he hit me again.

One Word: Homecoming.

Last Friday was the most... unique... day I've had so far as a substitute teacher. I was at a high school subbing in a Chemistry class, and what do you know but it was their homecoming day.

It was pretty exciting at first. Everyone was decked out in crazy clothing and they painted numbers on their face and dyed their hair in school colors. It meant they weren't particularly interested in Chemistry class, but hey, I'm used to that.

The interesting part of the day was that our bell schedule was accelerated so the students could spend the afternoon traveling to another high school for the Homecoming Pep Rally. Let me be clear here: since this school doesn't have an auditorium large enough to accommodate the entire school, all the students would take a field trip to another school's auditorium. This high school has about 800 students. Buses would have been a logistical disaster, so instead, the school opted to charter a CTA train to take the students to their pep rally.

And I was to go with them.

This was pretty exciting to me at first. Certainly better than teaching Chemistry, right? Anyway, my home room only had 5 students in it, and I figured I could keep a handle on them. I had no real instruction for how to proceed with this field trip, but the morning announcements informed my class that we were to stay together. "Do you hear that?" I said. "I know it will be crazy, but let's please try and stay together." "Um, I don't think so," said my students, "basically we'll all go our separate ways, and you're just supposed to look out for the students who happen to be all around you," they explained. "Pretty please?" I said. Five students whose names I know sounded better than 50 whose I didn't. "OK, we'll do our best," said the students.

Then we went into the CTA tunnel and they promptly lost me. That was ok because there were 795 other students to be looking out for after all. In case you weren't sure, an underground CTA platform holds about 800 people. These 800 people are very, very noisy when they are shouting their graduation years at each other.

Welcome to the Spirit Express

So there we were on the platform together, waiting for the train that was called "The Spirit Express" (you have to drag those words out with a really upbeat announcer voice). It would be completely empty, and it would take us all directly to our destination without other stops. When the Spirit Express finally showed up, everyone screamed a little more and then piled in. So you know, 800 people makes for a crowded CTA train. It was just like rush hour on the brown line: I was fighting for breathing space and smelling the armpits of other riders. But there was one major difference between this and rush hour: these commuters were all 16 years old and STILL screaming their graduation years at each other. It was one hell of a ride.

My favorite part of the whole day, I think, was when the announcement came over the loudspeaker on the train, in that same cheesy announcer voice, "Now you all know that the Spirit Express is... a Respectful Express!" The voice went on to talk about being quiet as we walked into the school or something, but I didn't hear it. I was to busy laughing my ass off about the Respectful Spirit Express and how lame it all was. It was soon after this point that I began to feel bamboozled. The sub coordinator had told me that I might enjoy traveling to the pep rally; that it would be a fun time. On the sweaty train, I realized that man is full of lies.

From there on out I was in no mood for a pep rally. It didn't help that once we got to our destination, I learned that we still had 3/4 mile to trudge through the snow in order to get to the high school (There were about 8 inches of snow on the ground at this point.) The kids were throwing snowballs and falling down in the slush... it was a mess.

Finally we made it to the school, though, and I began to relax and look forward to the pep rally. Too bad it sucked.

Well, ok actually it was probably really cool for a 15 year old. There was a neat marching band that danced a lot, and cheerleaders, and a dance team, and basketball players, and a bunch of kids crowned kings and queens, and a blurry slide show set to party music, and even some pyrotechnics that had to be put out with fire extinguishers. But honestly, I was just not very impressed. The cheerleaders were really lame, I couldn't hear anything anybody said, it only lasted for about 30 minutes, and all I could think was, "THIS is what we came all the way here for??"

It was then that I looked down from the bleachers and saw the special ed kids, who were sitting in the front row. I could only really see the kid who has to wear a helmet all the time, but his helmet was bobbing all around like crazy, and I knew he was having a really excellent time at the pep rally. The special ed kids had to leave half way through for some reason, but I remember wishing that I could have sat next to them and maybe gleaned a little of their enthusiasm for the event.

After the pep rally we were were supposed to escort the kids back to their own high school so they could go to after school activities or something, but I ditched. The sub coordinator had mentioned something about the possibility of leaving work directly from the other high school, so I just did it, no questions asked. On my train out of there, I ran into another substitute who had the same idea. It was kind of like finding other smokers behind the cafeteria, I suppose, although I'm not sure because I never smoked in high school. We talked about how someone would hopefully punch us out for the day and how we probably wouldn't get in trouble for ditching. You know, I may be an adult now (sort of), but cutting school still feels great.



P.S. I've been a bad blogger this year... but I've just been so busy with work and life and everything else that I haven't gotten to it as much as I would have liked. Thanks to those of you who kept reading and commenting anyway! From now on, I might even stop apologizing every post and just write about what happens.