(no subject)
For the love. This morning was possibly the WORST way to start off part-time student teaching.
So I'm driving to my school, driving, driving, and I get there at 9:20. Second period, which is the one I'll be observing/teaching, doesn't start until 9:49 today because it's long advisory schedule. So, I get to the attendance office, and I sign in. The attendance secretary says to me, "Did you get the note that Marc left you?" I say no, and start flipping through the binder. Notice that the attendance secretary does nothing to help me, not at all. Doesn't even say where Marc left the note. Just sits and watches me flip through the notebook.
Finally, several minutes later, I find the notes. Several sheets of paper with post-its on them, giving directions for copies to be made. It's my first day, and I'm already the copy bitch. So, I ask the attendance secretary, "Can you show me how to make double-sided copies?" No. No assistance there. I ended up asking someone else who walked into the office. So I start making copies. I have to make, total, 140 copies. After I've made 80 copies, one of the secretaries comes up to me and says, "How many copies are you making?" The dialogue goes as follows:
Lauren: "140 in total."
Secretary: "Well, you're only supposed to use this machine for 30 copies or less."
L: "I'm sorry, I didn't know. It's my first day."
S: "You need to use the copy machine upstairs."
L: "Can you show me where it is?"
S: "Directly above this room. Can't miss it."
L: "Can you tell me how to use it?"
S: "Just the same as this one."
So, I leave the office with my 80 copies, five overheads, and more pages to be copied, frantically searching for the stairs. Finally, I have to ask one of the people in the cafeteria where the stairs are. Turns out they're right in front of me through some doors. So, I go very carefully up the stairs, trying not to drop my 80 copies, five overheads, pages to be copied, coffee, student teaching notebook, and clarinet. I go searching around the second floor until I find a room with a sign that says "Staff Room."
Thank God, this is it. I set down all of my copies, my student teaching notebook, my coffee, my clarinet, and my overheads, and set to making the other copies. Prior to making my last sixty copies, I figure it's a good idea to do a trial run of ONE copy before making sixty copies that could very easily be fucked up. So I do that, and find that this machine, in fact, does NOT work the same was as did the one downstairs!! I, in fact, have to do THREE trial runs to find that this machine does not work the same way as does the one downstairs!
Finally, though, I figure it out, I get all of my copies together, and I toddle back down to the attendance office to ask directions to the band room (I had forgotten). "Take a left at the cafeteria; it will be on your right." Thanks.
So I wander the halls a bit, looking for the room that looks vaguely similar to the one I saw on Thursday, and finally I find it, four minutes before second period is about to start. That's probably the only great thing about this morning, that I finished my copy bitch duties, found the band room, and arrived early.
Soon as I walk into the band room, I'm accosted by several kids. One is particularly concerned about his sister, as they are homeschooled and only come to school for one period a day. I can't do anything. I am not the teacher. I tell him to talk to Marc when he (the brother) has band next period, and that I would tell Marc about his sister, which is all I can do. Also, several of my St. James kids from last year are in this class, and they continue to call me Lauren, though I tell them several times that they need to call me Ms. Keller.
Marc shows up, asks if I did the copying. I say yes and point to it on the disaster-area of a table sitting in the front of the room. I get a thanks, and a "you are a goddess." This makes me feel a bit better, but not enough to feel so great about being the copy bitch this morning.
Marc gives the kids a pre-test, to see what they remember from elem. school music. We go over this, and then do the name game (i.e. my name is Lauren and I like Liechtenstein). After the name game, the floor is mine. I do a short clarinet demonstration, playing "Thunder and Blazes (Entry of the Gladiators)" and talking briefly about the clarinet. I am so nervous that my hands (and my tone) are shaking. My hands have been shaking all morning.
However, when the bell rings, I feel as if I accomplished something, even though I am now 15 minutes late to my own clarinet lesson. I talk to Marc for several minutes, and then leave, in a hurry to get to my own lesson. Switched lesson time around, which is good.
So, that was my first day. I only hope it gets better. Tomorrow I'm doing a flute demonstration.
So I'm driving to my school, driving, driving, and I get there at 9:20. Second period, which is the one I'll be observing/teaching, doesn't start until 9:49 today because it's long advisory schedule. So, I get to the attendance office, and I sign in. The attendance secretary says to me, "Did you get the note that Marc left you?" I say no, and start flipping through the binder. Notice that the attendance secretary does nothing to help me, not at all. Doesn't even say where Marc left the note. Just sits and watches me flip through the notebook.
Finally, several minutes later, I find the notes. Several sheets of paper with post-its on them, giving directions for copies to be made. It's my first day, and I'm already the copy bitch. So, I ask the attendance secretary, "Can you show me how to make double-sided copies?" No. No assistance there. I ended up asking someone else who walked into the office. So I start making copies. I have to make, total, 140 copies. After I've made 80 copies, one of the secretaries comes up to me and says, "How many copies are you making?" The dialogue goes as follows:
Lauren: "140 in total."
Secretary: "Well, you're only supposed to use this machine for 30 copies or less."
L: "I'm sorry, I didn't know. It's my first day."
S: "You need to use the copy machine upstairs."
L: "Can you show me where it is?"
S: "Directly above this room. Can't miss it."
L: "Can you tell me how to use it?"
S: "Just the same as this one."
So, I leave the office with my 80 copies, five overheads, and more pages to be copied, frantically searching for the stairs. Finally, I have to ask one of the people in the cafeteria where the stairs are. Turns out they're right in front of me through some doors. So, I go very carefully up the stairs, trying not to drop my 80 copies, five overheads, pages to be copied, coffee, student teaching notebook, and clarinet. I go searching around the second floor until I find a room with a sign that says "Staff Room."
Thank God, this is it. I set down all of my copies, my student teaching notebook, my coffee, my clarinet, and my overheads, and set to making the other copies. Prior to making my last sixty copies, I figure it's a good idea to do a trial run of ONE copy before making sixty copies that could very easily be fucked up. So I do that, and find that this machine, in fact, does NOT work the same was as did the one downstairs!! I, in fact, have to do THREE trial runs to find that this machine does not work the same way as does the one downstairs!
Finally, though, I figure it out, I get all of my copies together, and I toddle back down to the attendance office to ask directions to the band room (I had forgotten). "Take a left at the cafeteria; it will be on your right." Thanks.
So I wander the halls a bit, looking for the room that looks vaguely similar to the one I saw on Thursday, and finally I find it, four minutes before second period is about to start. That's probably the only great thing about this morning, that I finished my copy bitch duties, found the band room, and arrived early.
Soon as I walk into the band room, I'm accosted by several kids. One is particularly concerned about his sister, as they are homeschooled and only come to school for one period a day. I can't do anything. I am not the teacher. I tell him to talk to Marc when he (the brother) has band next period, and that I would tell Marc about his sister, which is all I can do. Also, several of my St. James kids from last year are in this class, and they continue to call me Lauren, though I tell them several times that they need to call me Ms. Keller.
Marc shows up, asks if I did the copying. I say yes and point to it on the disaster-area of a table sitting in the front of the room. I get a thanks, and a "you are a goddess." This makes me feel a bit better, but not enough to feel so great about being the copy bitch this morning.
Marc gives the kids a pre-test, to see what they remember from elem. school music. We go over this, and then do the name game (i.e. my name is Lauren and I like Liechtenstein). After the name game, the floor is mine. I do a short clarinet demonstration, playing "Thunder and Blazes (Entry of the Gladiators)" and talking briefly about the clarinet. I am so nervous that my hands (and my tone) are shaking. My hands have been shaking all morning.
However, when the bell rings, I feel as if I accomplished something, even though I am now 15 minutes late to my own clarinet lesson. I talk to Marc for several minutes, and then leave, in a hurry to get to my own lesson. Switched lesson time around, which is good.
So, that was my first day. I only hope it gets better. Tomorrow I'm doing a flute demonstration.