Fridays are good

This has been a long ass week. I have meetings, as usual, coming at me from everywhere, and have been just trying to keep up with what I'm teaching at school.

This year I'm teaching more directly out of the textbook than ever; but that also means I'm not quite sure how long a certain lesson or part of a lesson will take. It's frustrating for planning. I will sub for another teacher during my prep for the 5th or 6th time this year, because we are so short on regular substitutes, that the school has to cover classes with regular teachers (each of us has a planning prep). I really hate doing it, because it means I basically get a 33 minute lunch, and 4 minutes between classes that I don't have to be "on." It's tiring. Especially Monday this week. I went into the 7th grade classroom, and there were no notes left at all. Nothing. No books, no overhead transparencies, no seating chart, no attendance list. Turns out it was in another room. The attendance chart I mean. The only other item was a post-it note that said,"have students study for test."

Oh my. You try telling a bunch of squirrelly 7th graders, during the last period of the day, to "study for the test." I don't know their names, I don't teach history, so I don't even know what they're supposed to be studying (the rise and fall of the Roman Empire), and there are no textbooks. I looked for the most scholarly looking kid and started having the students quiz each other.

And I'm subbing again today during 6th period. This teacher assures me that it will be a snap.

I'm glad I don't have to sub for a living.