My Week

I've bookended this post with pictures of cute kittens. They're not my kittens, but cute kittens always make me happy. And I feel like I need cute kittens this week. I have to be honest, it's been kind of a crappy week. Crappy enough that I haven't felt like posting anything. But now I feel this overwhelming need to vent.

It's been the slowest week subbing-wise since January. And after being busy for a few months, I feel like I'm going to go out of my skin now that I have nothing to do. I know that my top two schools are keeping me at the top of their list, and are trying to get me in as much as possible, but it's hard to get a sub in when you have no teachers out. This whole thing has jump-started my hunt for a summer job which I was hoping I could avoid for at least another month. But all this wouldn't be that big of a deal on its own. I should take this little lull and enjoy it while it lasts. But it's easier said than done.

I know I've already mentioned about this long-term sub position that I was enjoying, but got bumped out of when a permanent teacher ran out of sick days and needed to come back. But I keep hearing things about her that make me crazy. The latest is that she didn't even bother sticking around for parent-teacher yesterday. I mean, she didn't even stay for middle-of-the-afternoon-during-school-hours parent-teacher much less evening parent-teacher. She couldn't even be bothered to meet with the parents of 2 advanced classes and a grade 12 class that is preparing for the big provincial exam in May. Apparently so many parents showed up that three and a half sheets of looseleaf were full of names and contact information. I just hate to hear about someone making such a mockery out of a job that I really wanted, and a job in which I actually cared about the students.

Craig often talks about how much he hates unions. He is part of the NSGEU, and feels that they don't benefit the good workers, and seem to only protect the crappy workers. I never really thought too much about it until it actually affected me. So now, not only is this teacher practically taking money out of my pocket that I would be making, but she's really making it seem to the students that she doesn't care about them. The whole thing has gotten me so worked up that I just had to let it out.

I think that's the end of my rant right now. Here's cute kitty #2...

The Latest

I wish I had enough excitement going on in order to write something here everyday, but unfortunately I'm just not that interesting. I had a really good week at Halifax West this past week, and really enjoy going there, but I'm still really hoping that something will work out at Citadel. For those who I haven't told, I was looking pretty good to get a long term sub position there, but alas I lose out to seniority. Gotta love unions (*silently curses unions*). Things were going great until the department head found out that one of his teachers who went on sick leave last semester had run out of sick days. She was a permanent post teacher, but her position got filled with a term contract position, so she couldn't just jump back into her old job. But they had to find somewhere to put her. So... three guesses who gets bumped...

After being there for only a week and a half, I had already developed a great relationship with the students, and when they found out I was leaving, they wanted to riot the union. It was actually pretty sweet. The good news, at least, is that the teacher who is in there now is apparently sounding pretty sick (I received an update from a student) so I'm hoping... Okay, so maybe it's not so nice to hope someone gets sick, but if she goes out again, I get to go back in! I think the reason it was so hard to leave was that for the first time since I started teaching, I actually really enjoyed myself and felt like a real teacher. Plus it was a lot of fun being at the same school as Nicole. Students got a kick out of there being two Ms. Whynots!

So, in the meantime, here are some cute teacher comics. Hopefully nobody gets mad that I post these. They're not mine!


Sad but true...
I've definitely felt like this a couple times...



Real math geeks will get this one...

I'll have to use this next time a student asks why they need to know something...

Keep your fingers crossed for me...

Just for Cari!

Cari, you're right. I do need to update more frequently. So this post is dedicated to you. I've been very swamped lately, jumping in for a teacher that is out due to a death in the family. I'm trying to plan lessons for courses I haven't taught yet, marking assignments and tests that were in mid-progress, and preparing tests and assignments when I don't know what the students have learned. So it's a little crazy! But strangely enough, I'm enjoying myself. I really like most of the kids (notice I said MOST), and seeing things come together each day is really satisfying.

Aside from this, I don't have a lot going on. We can finally see grass which is nice, even though it's yucky old brown. Yucky old brown never looked more beautiful! As long as it's not white, I'm happy! Hopefully spring is on the way!

Oh, and Cari, since this post is for you, I should tell you that I thought of you the other day. There were a couple girls in my grade 12 class who were whispering to each other, and it was driving me nuts. So I told them that if they didn't want to listen, and if it was imperative that they talk to each other, they could pass notes behind my back. I told them that I passed notes all through high school, and I turned out fine! It made me think about how all our teachers used to pretend they didn't see us passing notes in class! Some conversations just couldn't wait (especially "trapezoid" sightings)!

That's all for now. Back to marking...