I'm starting to feel like a teacher again

Well, I seem to have the day off, so it's time for an update. I've been pretty busy lately, fortunately; todya is the first non-subbing day I've had in a week, and I suspect they're going to become very rare soon. So, last Tuesday I had the cold and took the day off to rest. Last Wednesday, no calls, so another badly needed rest day. Unfortunatley, Laura also got it, and we ended up missing the free preview screening of Corpse Bride I had tickets to. Thursday, back to elementary PE again for my friend, as she'd caught the same cold. Thank goodness she has her gym miked up, as I needed that microphone to get anything out. (I have a loud enough voice that I don't normally need it in a gym.) Friday, a high school math job. A lot of the classes were just taking a quiz -- and they were short classes because the school had a guest speaker. But I was able to get some actual math in as well. I was surprised at how many of the more advanced math students had forgotten how to graph the line of an equation, but it was an assessment to see what they knew. I guess that teacher has her work cut out for her now. Monday, back to the gym again, and my friend had found an article about a PE version of quidditch (from the Harry Potter books) that she'd hoped I'd try. I did, and it was fun, but the classes were a little big to pull it off successfully. For the younger students, I thought I'd work on passing the ball and throwing it through the hoops before trying to put bludgers and golden snitches into the mix. And finally, yesterday was a lot of fun, as I subbed for a junior high drama teacher. I took enough theater classes in high school and college, and worked on a few shows, that I had no problem with it. The students knew what they were doing, so I just had to sit back, offer a few pointers, take some notes, and let them enjoy themselves.

And what's coming up? So far, it looks like nothing but math for a while. I have a junior high job tomorrow, I'm back at that high school on Friday (for the same teacher, even), and then... Well, Laura got a call from a math teacher at another high school who needs a long-term sub, and would I be interested? So far we're playing phone-and-e-mail tag, I don't know the details yet, but it's certainly something I'd like to do if it works out for everyone. Here's hoping!

Oooooooooooooohhhhhhhh..........

Occupational hazard: Getting every virus that comes down the pike. I've got the latest crud, so I decided to not seek a job for today and sleep instead. This is one of my biggest gripes with subbing: No sick leave, and no benefits! I hope the rest will do me good today, as I do have jobs lined up for later in the week. Plus, Laura and I have free preview tickets to Corpse Bride tomorrow night, and I'd hate to have to miss it.

New website discovery: From the NCTM's electronic newsletter comes word of a collaboration between CBS and Texas Instruments for a website about using the TV show Numb3rs for educational purposes. Laura and I have really taken to Numb3rs, and are looking forward to the new season starting soon. Take a look at http://www.cbs.com/primetime/numb3rs/ti/ for details.

Winnie Cooper, Math Goddess

I finally got a job teaching math today, and made an interesting discovery -- but I'll get to that in a bit.

First, a quick recap of my teaching week: Science and Spanish on Monday. This was interesting, as the teacher remembered me from last year, including a conversation in the staff room about subs being asked to jus show videos all the time. She knew I wasn't a fan of that, so she made sure I actually had something to teach! (But in her one Spanish class? A video -- one I'd shown to another teacher's classes last year! Oh, well, it was still fun. It's the History Channel's examination of the Aztecs.)

Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday, nothing. I'm a little surprised at how few jobs there are now, as it's usually been my experience that there are a lot more jobs by this time. On the other hand, last year I wasn't able to start subbing until December, and the year before that I was on the picket line, so maybe I'm mistaken. While I need the money, having the extra time has been helpful to get some stuff taken care of around the house, including a major clean-up of my room. I found stuff that had been in boxed up before I got married, so this has been a long time coming!

And today, I got to teach junior high math at last. This was the very-far-out-there-in-the-boonies-at-least-from-here school that I was hoping to avoid working at this year so as to save on time and gas, but out of four jobs so far this year, I've been out there twice. It's okay, it's a great school with terrific students and staff, so I'll put up with it when they need me. Pretty straightforward teaching today, I had two classes (two hours long each, with a two-hours-and-lunch prep in between -- you've got to love those block schedules when they work out that way). We did a little homework correction, a little journal writing, a quiz (what a shock; if teachers don't know what kind of sub they're getting, it's often either a video or a quiz!), and a little preview of the next chapter.

But the interesting discovery came in one of the rooms I was teaching in. The teacher had laminated an article from The New York Times about the actress Danica McKellar. She is probably best known for playing Winnie Cooper in The Wonder Years way back in the '80s, and is now also known as Elsie Snuffin in The West Wing. (Her entry in the IMDB is right here.) Well, it turns out that in college, she really got into mathematics in a big way -- hence the title of this post. She was so good that her professor at UCLA encouraged her and a classmate (who is now a math professor herself) to do some high level research work -- the only undergraduates he'd ever asked to do so! The three of them even wrote a proof, and presented it at a symposium at Rutgers, where Danica and her classmate were the only undergraduate presenters. She considered going into math as a career, but liked acting too much, and went back to it full time after graduation. But she still has a hand in math as well. She's the celebrity spokesperson for Figure This, and has a section devoted to answering math questions on her website (www.danicamckellar.com, of course). And yes, she's played the lead in a production of the Pulitzer Prize-winning play Proof. I just thought it was really cool, and I wanted to share it with you.

Something else I've been wanting to share are some websites I picked up from the book Rookie Teaching for Dummies. Okay, yeah, I'm not really a rookie, but I sure feel like one still at times, especially after all the mistakes I made while I was in a previously unrecorded circle of Dante's Interno* Marysville. Anyway, among all the good advice, this book has some fun links that I hope my technical guru will eventually put over there into my sidebar:

• The Oriental Trading Company, a great site for buying little goodies for your students, including personalized pencils. My favorite that the author created was "My teacher loves me, but in a platonic way."
  
• calculus-help.com, the website of the book's author, W. Michael Kelly, and probably a site I need to spend some time on, as I've never been terribly strong with calculus anyway, and I've forgotten most of it now anyway.
  
• Some examples of WebQuests -- for students of all ages -- can be found at this site in Saskatoon (that's in Canada, for the geographically challenged).
  
• DiscoverySchool.com, the educaitonal arm of the Discovery Channel's website.
  
• PBS.com's TeacherSource
  
• Teacher's Network, including a section of resources for new teachers. I wish I'd known about them a couple of years ago...
  
• Teachers.net, which includes chatboards and other stuff. Again, why didn't I know about them a couple of years ago?
  
• Two sites where one can quickly and easily create a class website without knowing a lot of HTML: MyClass.net (free, but students and parents have to register, and it pays for itself with ads) and Home Page Builder at Scholastic (also free, without the ads).
  
• IceBreakers.us, those little quirky games or puzzles that break the ice at parties, in a new classroom, etc.
  
• Education World -- the name says it all, really.
  

Okay, is that enought to keep you busy for a while?

Already I have two jobs lined up for next week, so maybe things will start getting a little more regular. I hope so.

* Gee, do you think I'm still a little bitter about all that happened in Marysville?

My (short) week of teaching

As reluctantly expected, not much teaching this week. I already mentioned my half day of elementary PE the other day, and that went well. Yesterday (Friday), I managed to snag a junior high Spanish class. It was at a school w-a-a-a-a-y out of the way, which I would normally avoid just because of the distance. I'm trying to stay closer to home this year so I can save on gas! However, at this time of year, beggars can't be choosers, and it's a good school I've always enjoyed teaching at anyway. It went well, and a few students remembered me from last year. One student said I was his favorite sub because I was so high energy. I'll take that as a compliment. Later last night, I got a nice surprise. Last week I sent out some business cards and a note saying I was available to the math departments at several local schools, saying that I was experienced and available. Well, the department head at one of the junior highs had e-mailed, and asked if I'd like to be one of their regular subs this year. YEAH! I responded, although I hope not quite that enthusiastically.

And now, for a bit of fun: David Letterman's Top Ten Things You Don't Want to Hear from Your New Teacher, straight from the home office in Wahoo, Nebraska.

And good news for math heads like Laura and me: The new season of Numb3rs starts on September 23. Woo-hoo!

Quiet so far...

Not much has been going on yet. Actually, nothing at all, apart from the tutoring, since that call last week for a job I couldn't take. But that all changes tomorrow. An elementary PE teacher I've worked with in the past needs a sub tomorrow, and I've decided to take the job, despite the very tight turnaround time getting to the tutoring. But I need to teach, and this is at least a situation I know, and I'll always sub for her. In fact, she needs a sub for a couple more days this month...

Early morning wake-up

So of course this morning I get up early and shower, eat, make a lunch, and basically do anything I can to get ready in case I get a call -- and I don't. Well, I guess that means I have a full four-day weekend.

It's early in the year still, things will start picking up next week.

Whoops!

Well, no jobs showed up early on the websites today, so I didn't think I'd get a job. But lo and behold, the phone rang around 9:00 this morning -- for a job that started at 8:30. Never a good sign when they're that desperate. The job let out at 4:00, however, which is when I need to be at my tutoring job, so even if I'd had my shower and breakfast and packed a lunch by the time I got the call, it's unlikely I could have taken the job. Oh, well. I'll just have to remember to get ready early tomorrow, just in case. With no tutoring on Fridays, it would be that much easier to take any job that comes my way.