Wednesday - September 24, 1997

Wednesday - September 24, 1997

Today was an interesting day to say the least. First, I was a little late getting up so I came in at 8am (5 minutes late). While going through the hall, Craig stops me. "The sub will just sit in the room. You can handle the teaching and discipline." Huh? What sub? "Oh," he continues, "didn't Maureen call you?" Nope. Turns out that Maureen is feeling on the Not-Too-Swell side and isn't coming in. She calls the office and I talk to her there.
So I go up to the room. Whoops! I forgot that I gave my wife the keys for today. The key to Maureen's room is on that keyring. Back I go to the office to get a spare set.
I was fortunate in one respect: most of the classes were taking chapter tests today so I didn't have to worry about teaching them. I don't know what I would have done if I was supposed to teach Geometry.
Still, I was teaching Algebra I for the first time and I had wanted to break in gradually. That is, I was planning on teaching only 4th hour and waiting until next week to tackle 5th hour. That wasn't to be. I was prepared for the lesson, though, so it wasn't too bad.
Second hour went by fine. I gave out the test and most everybody spent the entire hour working on it. A few didn't finish at all. Third hour was fine, also. I handed out their chapter test and they all worked for the entire hour on it. So far so good.
I look up just before 4th hour and see Gerald Parker. "Great!" I think to myself, "Not only am I going to make a fool of myself before the class due to my flustered state, but I'm going to be doing it with my supervisor watching"
I was lucky again. 4th hour is a very good class and the material I was covering was very straightforward. Plus, my lesson plan looked good. Hey, it was my first day teaching this class. My lesson plan had to be very detailed. Now my other lesson plans... well, let's just say that I'm very glad he didn't ask to see previous ones!
I discovered during 4th hour, though, that my lesson plan was much too short. The kids finished up with about 15 minutes to spare. This didn't matter much for this class (as I said, they are good kids), but there was NO WAY it would work for 5th hour.
I go to lunch. Since Parker needed to talk to me about my performance (prety good, by the way), I was late starting to eat. So the bell that ends lunch period rang while I was only midway through my meal. I stuff some more food into my mouth, go to the bathroom, and get up to my class- room only to find another teacher opening it. The bell rings as I go through the door. Not good.
5th hour is roughly like I expect it. They are noisier then with Maureen in the room, but not so much that I can't handle them. I finish the original lesson plan too early, though. If I just had them do the same assignment as 4th hour, they would be rioting by the end of the hour. So I wing it and start lecturing on the next section. Plus, I assign quite a bit more homework. With the extra load, I make it to the end of the period with no major hassles.
6th hour is my recuperating time. My adreniline is still pumping from the previous hour so I take this time to relax. 7th hour is a direct replay of 3rd. I go home, relieve that I survived and I didn't strangle anybody in 5th hour.