8.28.2008

Mrs. _________

I'm a World History teacher today, subbing at an ASTRONOMICALLY huge high school. The hallways are a maze of doors to classrooms and lined with tall blue lockers. No door, except the front doors by the administration office, lead you outside. And this is strange. Very, very strange for a gal from California who as soon as she left her classroom door was standing outside. And not just outside the walls of my room, I mean OUTSIDE. Fresh air. I call these East Coast campuses, inside schools. I understand the necessity; to be sheltered from cold snowy winters is a must. It's just new.

The kids are the same as those I taught back in CA, although there is one very marked difference: a lack of diversity. Where did they put all the African Americans, the Samoans, the Asians, the Mexicans; where did they go? Are they just not out this way?

I miss that.

And the schedules! What happened to just a simple six periods a day? Out here, at least where I am today, there are 7 periods. After 3rd and before 6th, 4th and 5th get dissected and then bisected. There are like 5 options for lunch because there are so many children, and because they all have to fit INSIDE, they have split periods up to accommodate the masses. So lets say you as student have lunch during 4A, that means you're eating at 10:48 AM! Who is hungry for lunch that early? A snack maybe, but not lunch.


And subbing. It is what it is. It's money, a chance to get known within a school, and unfortunately, boring. I'm a creative being. I need to find a way to make this interesting for myself, because right now the thought of subbing for the next 9 months is intolerable.

Is this really my life right now?

1 comment:

jenny lynn said...

I completely understand the whole "is this my life right now" feeling. I went in to interview for a sub job in my teeny, tiny town. What a difference! Not 33 kids in a classroom...18 at most! There's 500 kids in the jr./sr. high school!

Don't you just love change, though?