Third Day of Work!

I had been hearing in the chat groups that work was a little slow for supply teachers--but it was still very early in the year. So I was stoked when I got a call for a THIRD FULL day in my first week of work! Instrumental music at a school where one of my cousins works. It was 20-25 minutes to the north east of me, a little further than I really wanted to be going. And, every time I had to turn north, it was against all the westbound (Toronto bound) traffic, and NO advance greens.

I arrived and signed in and was told "Be prepared for potentially, most likely, definitely, a lock down drill at 8:45". Yikes. I read all the notes and closed the windows early. The kids pretty much knew we were having the drill already. I couldn't hear the announcement but someone noticed suddenly any kid in the hall was going into a classroom. I got the class where they needed to be, covered the door window, and waited. 

Well, I was really disappointed. This was a grade 6 class and a few of them could just NOT keep quiet and still. Some kids were a little anxious too. How hard is it really, to just close your mouth? I was not happy with them during the drill and I left that in my note to the teacher. I never had to do lock down drills when I worked 20 years ago. We had tornado drills (don't think I ever did one). I think it's so sad this is part of the school routine now. There's never been a significant issue out here, but sometimes they do have "hold and secure" which means something is happening outside the school.

The rest of the day was a pretty typical day. Some issues at one point with a girl looking at a boy (long standing history between them and the boy potentially had a "label" but nothing was left for me). At lunch I went to the staff room. It was a small room for a big school so I sat at a table with other women. One looked familiar but when she spoke, I knew that I knew her. Took me a minute, but I remembered she's a mom of girls in Lucy and Megan's classes. Megan and her daughter are friends so it was nice to actually chat with someone. That connection wasn't quite enough to fill the whole time. No one else tried to include me in their conversation. In the halls though, teachers were friendly. I also recognized a teacher from the kids' school a few years ago. In one class there was a student I had as kindie student when I did lunch supervision and he had been in a class I supplied in last year at that school I was lunch supervisor in. He remembered me (it had only been a few months really LOL). And yes, I remembered him!

I had to rush out to a portable for one period and I went the wrong way around the square school. Then I got there, and the class had gone inside to the music room. Argh. So they had be retrieved. Not off to a good start. The portable was so hot. They tried to have the door open but there was a strong wind. I think the kids were just done. I know I was. Not a good class.

The classroom got hotter and hotter as the day went on. It was a corner room with lots of windows, but the ones that opened were very narrow and not getting a breeze. It was so hot that by last period, when I had a prep, I just went and sat in the staff room. There was an assembly going on but I could not handle going in the gym with the entire student body. I was getting a headache.

Right after, I had to boogie out to go to an interview for a LTO position! All the way over into central Ajax. After I had accepted that interview, I got a request for another one at a much closer school, for the same time. I was disappointed but in the end it was okay because that one included science.

I felt rather dull in my interview. I was tired, and not feeling great. I'm sure I showed my excitement for the primary grades, but I also said I was excited to hear it wasn't a grade 6 class but a grade 2 class instead, and I expressed a few concerns with one class that had medically fragile students. Not so much a concern, but I just said I didn't have experience with them (have some experience with Down Syndrome and ASD and other developmental delays) and what would the class be doing. I also said technology isn't my strong area but I am definitely upgrading my skills. When he called to tell me I didn't get the job, he recommended not saying much, if anything, about my weaknesses (though, I think they ask what is your weakness!). I just wanted to be authentic!

It was a long day. Three full days in one week is intense, especially for the first week back. All new schools, new kids, new subjects. However, since then, this pace has not kept up. The school board hired a lot of new OTs and stopped offering daytime PD courses. They also changed how specific OTs can be requested and how teachers can put in OT requests. Oh well, I'm still working!