WHOA WHOA WOW WOW

I know I haven't written in a long time, but it has been crazy busy around here!!!! I have been working like crazy- basically everyday at the same school for different teachers and it's been great! I feel so at home there. This past week was the worst though...

Dan was in Ottawa for work/play from last Monday up until yesterday. Needless to say it was stressful for me. Not only because I felt like a single parent, but I also had to sub for one teacher, from Mon-Fri who teaches in two different classes. Kindergarden and a grade 1/2 split class. WHOA WHOA it was a lot of work. Great experience (and moolah!) for me, but it was super stressful having to get up at 6am, get showered and ready, warm up the car, go up and get Lucas, dress him, brush his teeth and wipe his face, then be out the door by 6:50am. I'm out of breath just thinking about it. Anyway, it would take 30min to get downtown to drop Lucas off at daycare, then make it all the way back to the school (5 min from house!) in another 30min. An hour of travelling in the morning- another hour in the afternoon, everyday. By the time I put Lucas to bed I was wiped. So tired that I could barely function. My desk was a mess at school, I was becoming forgetful and really worrying about my future as a teacher. It wasn't the work that was just stressful, but having that combined with having to take care of Lucas ALL BY MYSELF. It was too much.

By the time Dan walked in on Sunday just past noon, I was completely burned out. I broke down in tears. I realized that I could never do it as a single mom. I don't know how they do it. It is the hardest job in the world.

So it's another week and I am again, working at the same school for a few different teachers. I'm excited because it's always nice to know all of the kids! I'm off to a "knockout class" with my friend Kristen so I can blow off some steam!

Stay warm- wherever you are!

Grade 10- THE Grade 10's...

All this talk about teaching in this High School got me feeling really nervous today and I was on the verge of being sick this morning because of it. The teacher I am subbing for (I'm on my "spare" right now)was here this morning and let me know about what was going to be going on in the next couple days. She said today was going to be a breeze- that the 10, 11 and 12's she has on Thursday's are all really good kids and I am finding this to be very true- I am having a great day so far. THEN she warned me about tomorrow. I am going to have the same grade 11 and 12's, but there will be the grade 10 class. THE grade 10 class that has terrorized every teacher they have had to deal with. I was told that these kids are "mean spirited" and that they "chew subs up and spit them out with no remorse." The reason why this teacher is out today and tomorrow is because the teachers are getting together to come up with new strategies they can use with this class- this one class has caused a band of teachers to have to take time to learn how to deal and teach them. This is terrifying. I am afraid that I will not have the courage to come back tomorrow. I mean, I have been warned about kids before, but I have never had a teacher tell me- kick out as many kids as you need to, they WILL be bad, they can't stay still, they are all coded with some learning disability or behaviour issue, etc. Oh dear.

Since this is my first time in a High School in a very long time, I have noticed some things...

~Boobs are getting bigger and hanging out even more. Whoa cleavage city.
~These kids have more expensive clothes than I do.
~High School relationships are funny to watch now that I'm a teacher.
~Kids seem to swear more...
~Ipods and cell phones have replaced books and one-on-one conversation.
~Some kids are actually excited about the future and to learn.

So, while I am waiting for Judgement Day, as I like to call it, I'm going to focus on the good things about today. This morning I taught a lesson on poetry and went through "The Swimmer's Moment" with them. They haven't done a lot of poetry and were quite nervous about the assignment, but I assured them that I used to be horrible poetry- I hated it, but when you learn to understand and appreciate it, you hang onto every word. After reading the poem, I walked around and peeked at a few assignments and the kids were getting it- they were totally into it!

Tonight I have to think about what I can do to attempt to manage these 10's tomorrow. Wish me luck!

High School Anxiety...

This week has been crazy busy again with work, but has been going well! For the past two days I have been teaching English at a Junior High that I have been too several times and it's been really nice to get to know kids in this age group. What makes me even more happy is that the grade 9's- 31 of them, that I teach have a really bad reputation with the rest of the school. The first time I was with the 9's I was terrified because I had been warned. But I think I get them and they get me. They know that I will not put up with anything and are actually pretty good. Although, there was that one kid...

The 9's had a writing activity to do and the goal was to explore descriptive writing and to try and write out of their element. Anyway, so I let them browse dictionaries/thesauruses to help them find some words and a student looked up the word "faggot" and began to yell out the meaning and laugh hysterically. Immediately, I called out his name and asked him to leave. The school board is taking this stuff seriously and any comment- joking or not is to be reported to the school board and action is taken immediately. There is a no tolerance policy especially now with all the gay teen suicides. It makes me sad that some kids are so heartless and that the homosexual issue is still well, an issue.

So, I'm a bit nervous about tomorrow because it will be my first day teaching High School English. It is a multiple day job, so I will be with the same kids for two days- if I can handle the first day that is... I figure it can go two ways. One, it could go well because these kids will have the choice to be there- it's their choice to learn. Or it could be bad- where kids will show up JUST so they can torment the sub. Oh, I don't know. I guess I'll just have to hold my head up high- especially because I'm sure 90% of the students will be taller than me :)

One last thing- our Halloween weekend was awesome!! We took Lucas to West Edmonton Mall to do some Halloween activities. The stores had candy so there were a ton of kids trick-or-treating and we also went to Galaxyland where there were a bunch of stations for the kids to go to pick up a special treat or prize. Lucas loved it!!!! But not as much as he loved watching Dan and our friend Mark go on the rollercoaster! Then in the evening our friends came over with their son and we took the kids around the neighborhood. We were out until 7:30 so by the time bedtime rolled around, Lucas just kept pointing at his crib and didn't make a peep. Here are pictures of our little octopus/spider (you decide!)and his second costume, Luigi (and Charlie as Mario)!!