What Up Doc?

Monday I got a call saying I was going to M.P. which was the school that I had done my first observation in.  It was going to be in nursery which is basically free day care provided by the school.  It was fun though.  However, I was so concerned about getting to the school, and after getting lost at least once and having to call TimePlan about which bus to take, I got there just as school was starting.  I went into the office who was so busy, they told me to just go to the building right next door which is where I would find my placement. 

With no other instructions, I headed next door and went through the first door I saw opened.  It was Reception classes.  I went from class to class to see where I was suppose to be when I found a class that had no teacher. So I assumed I was going to be their teacher.  Took register, helped kids get changed for P.E. then at 9:30 just after the kids left, a woman walks in and says, “I’m finally here!”  The T.A. and I looked at each other.  It wasn’t their normal teacher, it was the supply teacher that was supposed to be there.  The T.A. went to find out what was going on and when she came back, she said I was supposed to be in Nursery and took me there. Whoops!

I did have a lovely day in Nursery though.  It was very fun, I must’ve read eighty million books while there to the kids who wanted to read.

The next day was Tuesday. I woke up and called TimePlan as usual at 7:00 am.  This is the earliest you are allowed to call in.  I always call within a few minutes of 7.  And of course, people who call in after me usually end up getting work before I do.  I ended up getting called in at 8:40 to be a cover.  Great right? Only problem was school starts at 8:45 and the school was an hour away.

While in my Year 2 class, I had to teach the class about a Victorian Christmas.  We discussed lots of things about what was the same between now and then and what was different in terms of celebrations.  One little boy near to me said something about how Santa didn’t exist.  I made a huge deal about it. I said, “EXCUSE ME! You cannot say such things like that! I KNOW Santa exists because I still get presents from him!” (Best part is, I still do. Thanks Dad!)

I continued in my rant with, “Boys and girls, you need to help me out here. I have a bit of a problem. I’ve been living in England for a while, but I’m going home to America for Christmas.  Do you think Santa will be able to find me and get me my presents?!”  It was met with a resounding, “NO!”  :(  So sad.

 Wednesday, I was back in the same school in Year 4.  I had to teach a horrible PE class.  From my understanding, PE is basically just gym without the fun kickball/dodge ball games. I was supposed to be teaching dance, but had no music.  We had to practice our slow dancing moves. UGH.  I had to tell the class to pretend that they were sad giraffes because they had discovered they could not dance.  So they got to “dance” around doing that.  Then we ended the session by making patterns with movements.

That day I had to teach maths, literacy, Guided Reading, handwriting, art, music and PE.  It was intense. I feel bad for English teachers. They miss out on those lovely time to yourself periods when their kids are being watched over by a specialist teacher.  They do get this weird thing called a PPA, no idea what it stands for, but it means the teacher gets half a day off once a week to do planning.

Today, I called in at 7:00 AM on the dot. Again.  I got a call at 7:15 telling me to go to a school an hour away to teach Reception.  No problem. I was actually going to be at the same school as Nicole and Danielle!  At 7:20, I got a call cancelling the booking with the promise that I’d be getting the next call they received.  I stayed awake, as my tendency is to fall asleep until I am called back.  By 8:50, I had concluded that TimePlan was not calling me back.  So I went back to sleep slightly angry. 

You see, Danielle had been given a Year 4 class that someone at TP had put her down for yesterday.  No problem, except for, Danielle’s not trained to teach any higher than Year 2.  And they gave her a Year 4 class that was horrible for her when they let not one, but TWO trained teachers sit at home all day and do nothing.  Oh well, c’est la vie.

Instead of working, I got on a bus to Romford, walked around the mall a bit and went to the library where I got FOUR! new books. Very exciting.

Tomorrow, we are going to go shopping in Romford, go out to dinner for 5 pound(!) and see the third Narnia movie.  It should be a fun day.


Also, glad I’m not in Syracuse, my second cousin is borrowing my car…

This is how much snow they had!




http://www.9wsyr.com/news/local/story/Historical-lake-effect-snows/eaqYsUEz3EyecMJxkhopHA.cspx
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/40576859/displaymode/1283/for/facebookvideo
Here’s to you ‘Cuse, for surviving 95 hours of almost non-stop snow and 39”!