A rolling thread where we are teachers

I think she's euphemizing.

Wasn't all that bad. Sent one kid out early (the homeroom teacher was TIC--"teacher in charge"--so she was there), basically fine after that. But I can see where this'd be a tough class every day.

I'm hoping one day (wish I'd done it myself before retiring) a teacher leaves me a dayplan that just says "Be afraid--be very afraid."

I had to leave early today for a doctor's appointment, so I set up my last class with their project before leaving them with the sub. As I was trying to give them the overview, they were like, "Why are you leaving? Are you going to see Bruce Springsteen again?" I told them it was a doctor's appointment, and one of them was like, "Ok hear me out. WHAT IF...you walk into the doctor's office and Bruce Springsteen is THERE?"

hey that does happen sometimes

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8NinSGaFDXM

Lol that’s cute, Lily

There are plans that aren't nearly enough, and then there's the opposite. I'm in for kindergarten tomorrow, and I'm looking at the dayplan the teacher has emailed (8 pages of 12-point type over two separate documents) and the three pages of supplemental notes. It's overkill. To be fair, she emailed it two days in advance, but I'd much rather have a clear, simple dayplan of about two pages to look at the morning of.

https://i.kym-cdn.com/entries/icons/original/000/034/711/Screen_Shot_2020-07-24_at_11.33.38_AM.jpg

only way to respond to that plan, good lord

Definitely a challenging day--12 Ks who felt like 25--but the micro-developed dayplan hurt more than it really helped.

The kind of thing that makes anyone who's been at this for a while just shake your head: major revamp of the Ontario language curriculum, released yesterday, government wants it in full effect by September. That's bad enough, but the funny part is the new focus on phonics (and reintroduction of cursive!). When I started supplying in the early '90s, anything phonics-related was being phased out for "whole language," and when I started full-time in '98, phonics was practically verboten. My board purchased some expensive, rather insane program around that time called First Steps. Every three or four years, there'd be something else new come along--First Steps went from the number-one focus to something you monitored on a casual basis to something you dashed off as an afterthought in June to a piece of paper buried in the deepest recesses of each student's OSR. Now everything's come full circle.

I know cursive is a nice skill to have, but seriously? In today's world?

https://globalnews.ca/news/9787008/cursive-writing-reintroduced-ontario-schools/

Very humid outside, storm looming, end-of-year intermediate dance (whole school), Friday afternoon, A/C not working--truly one of life's best experiences. I had cafeteria supervision: thought I was going to pass out. Was also reminded of the eternal mystery of how anyone gets through adolescence. There was this one kid, sort of looked like Michael Cera, who wandered around for the full two hours clutching this large box of Welch's Fruit Snacks. I don't know if it was his way to ingratiate himself with others--there was something sad about it. I did see four of five students wearing Expos hats, so maybe that's a thing now.

Very last thing you want to see on a dayplan: instructions for vacating the room in case your one student-of-concern has a meltdown. I think I run into this once every couple of weeks now. Luckily, I haven't yet had to follow through (and today, the student-of-concern is absent). Before I retired, there were two such students in the room next to me (grade 1/2). They'd clear out frequently, leaving whichever one of them was having the meltdown to turn the room upside down while an adult stood there and watched.

Last day for me; they didn't bump the retired-teachers days, so I've hit my limit for the year. I've got stuff to attend to but expect I'll go crazy anyway. Five months off will be the longest not-working window of my life, along with that first COVID spring-summer--which, because there was so much to monitor and think about and discuss, didn't feel like a layoff.

Half-day in a middle school to finish, and they're having a pre-Easter fun day. One period in the gym for a school-wide rock/paper/scissors tournament, one period co-supervising the games/art room (where I am right now). Free money.

Why I'm posting: one of those absurd moments that still makes me love this job. As 300 adolescents filed into the gym, all hopped up on cinnamon swirls--I mean hormones--whoever was in charge of music had Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" blasting. Surreal and thrilling. When the tournament got underway (class winners going against each other in a double-knockout format), the noise level was enough that I had to get some tissue paper and make impromptu earplugs. Insane--how did ESPN not cover this?