9/18/15; A Day

The school day started off in an unpleasant way.

As soon as I get to school, I put my phone on silent, put it away, and don’t look at it until about fifteen minutes after school has ended.

For some reason I looked at it at 7:10, which is when first period starts. I never do that.

I see a text, received at 6:50, from one of the teachers in my department — “From [AP]: Can you cover [absent teacher]’s class first period?”

Caught off guard, I quickly put the PowerPoint for today’s lesson on my USB drive and head down to his classroom.

The Principal is there, and tells me I’ll also need to cover his homeroom.

I know what the lesson is for today, but I’m off balance because one minute ago I thought I was going to have 90 minutes to plan and chip away at my long to-do list. I’m also off balance because I realize how if I didn’t just happen to check my phone, I would have never have known they wanted me to do this, because they didn’t bother to send me an e-mail or call my classroom.

It’s not a problem for me to cover his class, in fact, it was listed on a sheet that said all the responsibilities that department heads have. We are supposed to sub for our teachers if they’re not there and the front office can’t get a sub. But it was dumb because my teacher put in for his substitute at the beginning of the year, since he knew he’d have to go to this wedding. Plus, I only have first period off, so I am not sure who they got for the last period. The two other periods he has a co-teacher, so the co-teacher led the class for those periods.

I did the lesson as expected, and there was no problem with that. As soon as the period was over, I had to rush up to my room, where kids were already waiting for me.

After that period was done, I had to rush back down to the other teacher’s room. On my way I was feeling a bit angsty. What was I supposed to do with his homeroom? I have no idea what they normally do. I certainly don’t have anything planned, and it’s not like I’ve had any time to plan, seeing as how I have not had a break since I found out this was happening.

So I decided to show them an episode and a half of a family-friendly show on ABC called The Goldbergs.

When I had a homeroom last year we would work Monday through Thursday, and I would reward them on Friday with an episode of this show. The first time I showed them it I had a worksheet (attached to the bottom of this post), because I was only planning on showing them one episode.

The show takes place in the 80’s, so I asked them to compare and contrast life then to life now. Plus, all of the episodes have good moral lessons, so I could always use that, too.

Of course I didn’t have time to make copies of a worksheet, so I figured I would just introduce the show to them, explain the concept, and told them to pay attention to the clothes they were wearing, and see what was different and similar to today. That way if someone came in, the students would be able to be on track.

Thankfully nobody visited the room, but the kids were so enthralled with the show that we would have been fine if we did have a visitor.

After homeroom was PLC. I told everyone what happened and how I had to cover our fellow teacher’s class at the last moment, and how I just barely found out. My former co-teacher (who is now co-teaching with the teacher who was absent) told me that he saw the Principal call me over the radio to tell me I needed to cover.

I don’t have a radio.

This whole situation was extremely irritating. Besides the fact that the one period I have off was taken away (most department heads have multiple), nobody in the administration bothered to tell me. Instead, I got a text from another teacher in my department. Plus, I know I would have gotten in trouble if I had gotten there even later, even though there was literally no possible way I could have known.

So then that brings up a whole new issue — how do I bring this up to my Principal? How do I tell her that the only way I knew about this was because I just happened to check my phone, something I literally never do during school hours?

The teacher who was absent today is also going to be absent on Monday, but I don’t have any periods off on Monday, so it’s not like they will be able to have me cover for him. But I will have other teachers absent sooner rather than later, and I have a feeling the exact same thing will happen.

I have decided that instead of telling my Principal (because I am afraid that she will think I am a complainer, rather than her feel like I am making an actual point), I will just let it play out next time. I don’t have a radio, so that won’t work. And if they don’t bother to call me, how can I know I’m needed? At that point in time, I will express the reality of the situation — there is no communication.

Another example of this exact problem is when we have “leadership meetings” during homeroom. These meetings occur once every week or every other week, and it’s all the administration and department heads. For the majority of these meetings we have had so far, they have not sent out an e-mail, but call the meetings over the radio.

Again, I do not have a radio.

Another teacher uses my room during homeroom, so I am kicked out and have to get work done in the PLC room, which happens to be where the leadership meetings happen. So, I haven’t missed any of the meetings, but only because they happen to take place in a room that I am already in.

I don’t have a radio because I don’t need one, but all I ask is that they be aware of the fact I don’t have a radio so they can contact me in a different way. I can’t get in trouble for not being somewhere or not doing something if I have literally no clue that there is something for me to do or somewhere to be.

Also, I found out this afternoon that my Principal forwarded an important e-mail to the former department head (my co-teacher from last year), but not me. As though she forgot that I am the head of department. Again, not insulted, just feel like there is a supreme lack of communication.

Today’s lesson was all about weathering and erosion. When I was teaching them how to figure out whether a mountain range is old or “new,” I showed them a picture of the Organ Mountains, which are in my college town.

I asked the students to look at this picture and give me some words that describe them.

“It’s like a Hispanic kid’s hair!”

Where is he going with this?

“SPIKY!”

If I was the type of person who rolled on the floor while they were laughing, I would have been on the floor.

Later on in the lesson I was explaining the difference between physical weathering and mechanical weathering.

I pretended to hold a big granite rock in my hand, then I “dropped” it. I explained how all of the broken bits of rock are still granite. Nothing has changed, just the size.

The same kid as before interjected. “I like this topic!”

“…Why?” I was happy, but confused.

“I was thinking about what you said, and then you said the thing about dropping the rock and it made sense.” I was overcome with a strong sense of pride. That was a good way to end the day.

Goldbergs Worksheet