A "WTF" Day at Work

I wrote about my 4th job of supply teaching and how it wasn't as good as the first 3 days. The honeymoon was over. I had no idea what was coming with the 5th day (a half day, thankfully). I got the call for instrumental music and I thought it was for a school in an old neighbourhood of big homes. Then I looked at Google Maps. Ugh. Not that income equals attitude, but in the schools here, this often happens. Though I have had lots of experiences where kids from "rich" neighbourhoods are terrible and lower income schools have been wonderful. But around here, it seems that the schools in the lower income neighbourhoods have really terrible issues with violence, special needs not getting met, and lots of other issues.

And the school, though on the smaller side, had only 20 parking spots and at least 25 names on the staff list. It was on the edge of the business district, so no side street parking except with parking meters. And it was raining.

I  got there 30 minutes early. There was a spot! I get to the office and the secretary was so friendly. The few kids there were quiet and polite, one showed me where to go. There were two teachers leading a girls' club. All good signs, right? There wasn't much on the dayplan. No problem. One of the periods was actually going to be "music". And prep last period which was great because I had to scoot right away to get Megan. So after a few minutes I really didn't have anything to do. About 5 minutes before the bell, another supply teacher comes in for the teacher who shares the room. Of course I questioned why I came 30 minutes early.

So the kids come in for the afternoon. Math, gr 7/8. They had to start with an "exit ticket"--a math problem to show that they understand what they've been working on. It was pretty straight forward. Yet right off, many kids were struggling and some where down right refusing to do it. I had noticed on the day plan that the teacher had written that some kids would get a different one with their name on it, but that had been erased. One of these kids, Black Hoodie,  was acting out and crumpled up the paper and threw it at me. I brought it back to him and said "You missed. The blue bin (recycling) is by the door." A minute later, a girl sitting near Black Hoodie asked to go to the office. She wouldn't say why but since she wasn't working anyway and was being a bit distracting, one less body in the room was fine. She came back and then Black Hoodie was called down to the office. I thought nothing of it until after he left, she approached me and said "He called you bitch and whore so I went to tell the principal".

WTF.

Of course, I don't take the insults personally. They're just words he thinks he can use to insult me. They don't, because he doesn't have anything to base them on other than knowing they're typically insulting. I was insulted by the fact I really hadn't done anything to deserve to be insulted.  He couldn't just sit there and not cause a disturbance. I don't really care if they do their work. Their teacher will know.  But just stay quiet and let others work.

I thought maybe he'd have to apologize. Or that the principal would speak to me. Nothing.

Most of the kids moved on to the math assignment. Many were frustrated and lacking in some basic math skills. The grade 8s didn't care it could affect their gr 9 course selection which leads to if they can apply for university or college (different types of schools and programs in Ontario). It was sad. Black Hoodie did nothing.

Finally it was time to go the gym for music class. They had to research a Canadian composer on their Chromebooks. Black Hoodie claims his Chromebook doesn't work and wants to play basketball. Well, I couldn't allow that with all the other kids sitting around with their Chromebooks! It was a bit of workout to keep him away from the basketballs but then I found him some beanbags. That kept him distracted. Then of course I had to deal with all the other kids asking why Black Hoodie wasn't working. I asked them if they were surprised. No.

Then a teacher came into the gym and blasted the class for leaving the classroom a mess. A few of them had to go back to clean up.

It was called an indoor recess. I had NO instructions on what to do for an indoor recess. No duty list, nothing. The kids said they stay in the gym. Sure. There was no way I was leaving them alone in there. I let them get a couple basketballs. Some of them got really active and Black Hoodie was chasing someone twice his size. I had to keep intervening. I was really trying to be neutral to him and pleasant and respectful. His issues obviously run very deep.

I don't remember what happened after recess. Maybe my prep was after recess and not last period. Anyway, I was asked to go to a gr 2 room to help the teacher who was doing some testing. I walked in and it was chaos. The room felt tiny--probably because of a large cabinet blocking some of the view. Kids were everywhere. There was a boy at a desk facing the wall, tucked in beside the cabinet. He was obviously ASD and he was somehow matching flags with countries, with no guide or anything. There were kids colouring, reading, wondering. The teacher gave me no direction so I interacted with the kids and helped them spell words. At one table group there was a boy rolling around on the floor annoying others. The teacher asked him to stop. He went under the table. He started pressing up on it so it would move. I asked him repeatedly to stop. Finally, I looked him in the eyes and said "You are being rude and we don't like it. You need to move now."

He looked at me with such a death stare my blood went cold. Grade 2. I ended up moving him out and standing so he couldn't go back under. I was so glad when that period was over. Most of the kids were adorable but the class was just so busy!

When I headed back to the office to turn in my key, the secretary was still charming and lovely. There was someone standing nearby who could have been the P/VP but they said nothing to me. The secretary said to come back in if I'm blocked. I went out, and indeed, someone parked infront of me. I waited a couple minutes, hoping it was one of the parents waiting for their kids. No. I had to go back, wait to get buzzed in, head to the office, wait, etc. I was so happy to finally get home. Luckily my husband had been able to get home to pick up Megan for her appointment.

I was quite down after getting home. I didn't take it personally but it was still depressing and scary to think of the things that can and do happen to OTs (I'm in some Facebook groups for OTs.). I never had this type of behaviour when I worked before having kids and I never had it when I was the emergency supply teacher. I know I'm good at what I do and kids usually respond well to me. I also was starting to not feel well. I looked into if I should fill in a report but I couldn't find enough info. Two days in a row of foul language and kids who obviously knew there were no consequences. How many more?

Luckily, the next day helped to turn things around for me.