Weird week of wonders

Despite the WASL, I managed to get work for the whole week. It all started Sunday evening with a high school math teacher calling me to ask if I could take her classes the next day, and possibly Tuesday. No problem, I said. Oh, she said, and thanks to WASL testing, she doesn't have a class until 10:40, so I wouldn't have to be there until late in the morning. Uh, yeah, not a problem! But Monday morning, my phone rang with another job for just that morning at another high school. Turns out a teacher there wanted to slough off the WASL so she could get a couple more hours sleep. Oh, well, it made for a full day for me, and the math classes were good for me (I'd worked with them before). The same teacher, as she thought she might, had to take Tuesday off as well, so that was another short day, and there wasn't another bit of WASL proctoring in the morning, so I had a relaxing morning...before hurrying out the door when I noticed just how late it was really getting! Again, a nice day of teaching and talking math with students who were interested! That doesn't happen very often.

Wednesday I snagged an elementary PE job. Woo-hoo, I got to wear shorts! This was a sudden absence, so the teacher had no plans ready. Fortunately, I've done enough PE that I have a few tricks up my sleeve, and it went well. Thursday was PE again, this time junior high, and just up the road so I could walk. It was a bright, warm, glorious spring day, and fortunately all of the classes were outside playing soccer. Also fortunatley, the other PE teacher had some sunscreen he let me use! This school, however, has been cutting PE teachers of late, so the PE department has no planning time. Yup, that nice short day on Tuesday got balanced out by a day of six periods stright through. Good thing, too, since the district isn't able to pay for substitutes taking on more than a contracted day's work. I may have to contact the union about that.

I wrapped things up with an elementary music job, and that proved to be very nice, as there were only seven classes that day. In the past, when taking on elementary PE or music, I've had as many as ten classes in a day, but these were nicely spread out and allowed for some breathng space. One of the amazing parts of this job, however, was the school secretary. This was at a school I've been to less than a dozen times in the last five years -- but she recognized me, and greeted me by name. Oh, yeah, and the custodian popped in at one point and warned me that there would be a fire drill that afternoon. It just goes to show something I learned a long, long time ago: The secretary and the custodian are the two most important people at a school. They are the ones who actually help keep things running. Be good to them.

The WASL is over now for most schools (but I think there are a few elementaries still going next week), so things should get back to normal here, whatever normal may be. I have a high school math job lined up for Friday next week, but otherwise I'm free. But, as I usually observe in this space, something will probably turn up.

La semana de examenes y espanol

First off, my apologies. That title should say "La semana de exámenes y español," but I can't figure out how to get special characters into the headlines. Oh, well. For those who don't remember much of your high school Spanish (or, even worse, never took it), the translation is "The week of tests and Spanish," and that about sums things up. Monday I taught junior high science, and then on Tuesday the WASL started. That's the Washington Assessment of Student Learning, and it's the big standardized test that the state offers, so as to see how well students and schools are doing, and the like. Never mind, of course, that all students and schools are different, so you can't really expect them all to do the same on such a test... But that's for another day. In the meantime, Danny Westneat, a columnist for The Seattle Times, took the WASL as part of his column, and gave his readers this report on it.

So, anyway, with the WASL starting on Tuesday, I ended up not working that day, which gave me the opportunity to do a little more work on applying for jobs. Thanks to all of the legwork I've done already, it actually went pretty smoothly -- either that, or I've just been doing it for so long that now it's all become rote! Then on Wednesday, I got a high school Spanish job that ended up going two days, as the teacher was not feeling well. Good thing I had three years of Spanish in high school and another in college, so I'm passable, and can certainly handle teaching first or second year Spanish. The trouble with this assignment was that they'd had a substitute the previous two days, and the teacher didn't have much planned out, so I had to scramble a bit to find something for them to do. Fortunately, with testing going on for the first two hours, each class was only thirty-five minutes long, so I didn't have to do too much. It went pretty well, and while I also had to proctor some of the tests, that gave me an opportunity to catch up on some reading.

Then on Friday, more Spanihs, this time a junior high job that I'd already arranged some weeks earlier. Most of the classes got to see a video on the Aztec Empire, and the last one learned about the command form of verbs. I knew this well enough to smooth them over the bumps, but I'm not sure I was able to adequately explain where to put in the accents in those cases where you need to. Oh, well.

Testing is still going on next week in both districts, but I'm sure something will turn up. And if not, there are still those jobs to apply for.

Yup, this one's a little late

Hi, everyone, did you miss me? I didn't do my usual update over the weekend because I knew I had all of this week to do it. Yes, I'm on a well-deserved and much-needed spring vacation this week. I actually feel like I'm getting some sleep, for once, and I've gotten a few things done around the house that needed looking after. On the education front, I updated my resume, and got my files current in the two districts I currently work in. So let's hope something actually happens as a result! (In the coming weeks, I hope to get additional school districts into the pipeline.)

So, what happened with the teaching last week? It was all PE and math, and I really enjoyed it all. The one high school math job was particularly nice, as it was some of the more advanced students, and we could actually talk about math on an equal level. I had fun doing some of their worksheets and offering insights as to how to do them. The junior high PE was a good way to close out the week before break, but as often happens at that level, all I really did was stand around and watch them play. Dull, but they alll seemed to have a good time.

So far, not much lined up next week, but I'm sure something will turn up.

Another pretty dull week

Thank goodness spring break is coming up next week. I'm running myself exhausted, and I need the rest.

Another unremarkable week: Elementary library, high school math, junior high gym, and junior high woodshop. So, a couple of unusual things that happened:

• I had two junior high gym jobs at the same school two days in a row -- but for different teachers. Both teachers (who had a presence in the building that day) were amused by the coincidence.
  
• In the woodshop, I had one ninth grade class that was glad to see me, as I'd had many of them for a week of math at the same school earlier this year. One of them said that he did a lot better that week than he has with the regular teacher, which is kind of sad...
  
• Also in the woodshop (different class), I had to write up reports on two of the students. One put a "Kick me" sign on the other as an April Fool's joke -- only to have his victim turn around and punch him. This is bad enough in any other class, but in a shop, with all that machinery? I rarely write students up -- I usually don't have to -- but there was no way I could let this one go by. I wrote them both up, and the one who put the sign on his classmate's back was really upset. I pointed out that one of the rules in that class was "Use common sense," and that he didn't.
  

Already have a high school math class lined up for tomorrow, and junior high gym Thursday and Friday, so this week is looking pretty good. Then next week, over break, I can polish up my résumé and start applying for jobs for the fall. I just hope somebody needs a math teacher in the area...