No, subbing is not our favorite. Quite a few years ago I had a little boy in my class with autism. He was a really interesting little guy who had a particular aversion to gym. When I would walk the class down the hall for gym, he would keep his eyes closed, I believe on the premise that if he couldn't see us, we couldn't see him, and therefore wouldn't make him go to gym. Also, on the walk down the hall, he would repeat over and over, "Is P.E. our favorite? No, P.E. is not our favorite." I think of this phrase often when I'm confronted with a distasteful task...
I got back on that subbing horse today, and it was actually a pleasant day. I was in first grade, the class was amazingly well-behaved, and there was a bonus assembly which took up a block of time in the morning.
Even though the day went well, I'm still not a fan. And here are some reasons why:
1. Sub pay is excruciatingly low
2. You get phone calls at 5:00 AM to ask you to come work that day
3. You never know if there will be plans left for you (my personal favorite is that empty desk when you walk in, and an entire day with 25 little kids that you need to figure out in 15 minutes or less)
4. I think the main problem is that I'm just not a change-on-the fly kind of gal - I like going to bed knowing what I'll be doing the next day, and flexibility has never been one of my finer characteristics
Good things about subbing:
1. If you don't want to/can't work, you just tell the computer not to contact you
2. No lesson planning
3. No parent conferences
4. If the class is horrible, you only have one day with them, and don't have to go back
And, of course, the fact that nobody pays me at all when I stay home, so I could do worse than a class of cute little first graders....
No comments:
Post a Comment