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Thursday, April 06, 2006

Snack? What Snack?...

E3-G5

The sub line seems to have gone silent again. The only assignment calls I’ve been getting lately are pre-arranged, direct assignments from teachers. That’s really great for the ego but there aren’t enough of them yet to fill out a decent monthly paycheck.

I checked the sub line at 06:30am to “nothing available” and promptly went back to sleep figuring it’s another non-work day.

The phone rang again at 07:30am. I’m half asleep.

While I’m getting used to being woken in the early morning hours, I also expect the call to be the canned announcement: “This is the E-------- School District calling for…..”

Instead, I hear “Good Morning Mr. Homework. Are you available to sub for me today?”

Now I’m used to the kids calling me Mr. Homework, but this is the first time a TEACHER has called and addressed me with that AKA. Especially, surprising, it’s from a teacher I haven’t subbed for before. I have subbed for a couple of her buddies so I guess the moniker is spreading.

I arrived at the school a little late. The teacher was in the classroom, clearly suffering from some kind of virus. She just completed the lesson plan, laid out all the books, and warned me, repeatedly, that her kids are really “social”.

“They can’t be quiet for more than 5 minutes at time and you’ll need to crack down on them ALL day”.

Then she surprised me by apologizing for not leaving me a “snack” as this was so last minute.

I must have had SOME kind of a dumb look on my face because she asked: “Don’t the teachers you sub for leave you a treat or a snack for subbing for them?”

Now THIS is a new development.

I’m happy if the teacher leaves me a good lesson plan! Now I discover that other subs get snacks? In the two years I’ve been doing subbing, this is the first inkling that there might be extra bonuses to the job.

Good to know! What else have I been missing?

(BTW, her kids reacted great to the Mr. Homework treatment. The HOMEWORK story is entertaining and they all worked together not to get any letters on the board the entire day)

3 comments:

Patti said...

I usually leave candy bars or protein bars, depending on my mood. Hlf the time they are left on my desk when I return.

tagryn said...

Snacks? Um...that's a new one. The possibility hadn't even crossed my mind. Like KM, I figure I'm ahead of the game if the lesson plan's doable.

"Social" is usually a yellow light. Still, I'd rather know about it beforehand than go in blind.

Anonymous said...

I've had to give snacks to some K and 1st grade, usually a few animal crackers. Some older elementary grades allow the kids to bring their own snack if they have a late lunch.


New reader, BTW. Just going through the archives. Love the site!