We're Pulling You Out...

Friday night I accepted a 6^th grade assignment from the rare elementary school for Monday morning.

While going over the 6^th grade lesson plan Monday morning, the district office called informing me that they were pulling me out of that assignment and sending me back to the middle school for boys P.E.

While I was there, I met the sub that was working the long term girls P.E. assignment that I turned down.

He said he had pretty much the same reservations about the assignment that I did.

He's evidentially a much braver (or desperate?) man than I am...

They Called Back!

I was sure I would not be hearing from middle school anytime soon where I turned down the long-term girls P.E. assignment. 

I was wrong. They called back for 7th grade science. It was a good experience.

The 2^nd period class convinced me that they were allowed to listen to music with head phones while studying for the physiology science test tomorrow as long as it wasn't distracting to others.

Now, personally I couldn't see any problems letting them use their phone apps to access dictionaries, physiology science related references.  Therefore, I let them.

The only glitch was that I had not had time to review the school policy rules about electronic device usage in the classroom.

When 3^rd period showed up asking for the same, one of the students, on the sly, showed me the school policy statement.

"...No electronic devices of ANY KIND are to be used in ANY classroom. If caught, they will be confiscated immediately"

The word must have made the rounds, as no one in periods 4, 5, and 6 even asked.

Long Term...

The month is almost gone and it has been pretty slow.

Four half-day assignments are hardly worth getting up so early in the morning. So when the office called for an assignment at the only middle school I've never been called for, I was very interested.

"It's a long term, 28 day assignment for girls P.E."

I guess that was a lot for me to immediately process as the office sub coordinator followed with:

"Uhhh, are you still there?"

(...I didn't take it)

Slow Month...

I had only five half-day assignments so far this month.

It's not that there haven't been more calls, but the calls come at the wrong times...

...the day I'm spending with my youngest grandson at the park.

...after I stayed up until after 01:00am watching the earlier recorded Sharks game before someone blabs the score the next morning.

...the assignment is for "RIGHT NOW" and I haven't even showered and shaved yet.

...the call was left on the answering machine after waiting all morning before arranging to go to lunch with a friend. 

...I just don't want to! Burn out?

--- and that's just my short list.

What's yours?

It's Pi Day!

...no, not the round apple kind but the math constant 3.141 kind.

The number π is a mathematical constant, the ratio of a circle's circumference to its diameter, approximately equal to 3.14159. Wikipedia

It’s a great day to indulge in a sweet educational treat – it’s 3/14, also known as Pi Day!

As math is celebrated around the world, PBS LearningMedia is launching a collection of fun, free math resources for educators in a “Math Is Awe-sum!” collection. The new collection is available online at www.pbslearningmedia.org/collection/mathisawesum.

My Substitute Teacher Car...

My commute to school and back is usually in my fuel efficient 2008 Toyota Yaris 2-door hatch back ...

Wouldn't it be fun to show up in one of these instead?

Why I Blog...

Response to an email I received today...

(original questions excerpted from query in quotes" 

 

Hi, Maria

Thanks for the kind words and encouragement

As an answer to some of your inquires...

"...Besides letting the world know you have a voice, that most of the public does not really know what goes on inside the classrooms, good or bad, have you found any economic incentive (i.e. is there a paycheck) in faithfully blogging?"

Ten years ago I didn't even know what a "blog" was, as you can see from the very first post.

I initially intended it to be maybe a diary of sorts for the family/extended family to keep up on our "family news" if they were so inclined. I assumed that the blogger "follow" feature would be populated with friends and relatives.

It was only later when I started subbing and telling my wife Claudette about "how my day went", that she suggested that I should start writing that stuff down. That's when the blog morphed in a different direction. It was a quite a surprise when I started noticing that people I didn't know were "following" the blog.

As for the economic incentive, I didn't even consider it.

As the "following" circle grew, Google notified me about the possibility of earning some cash in exchange for allowing them to post ads. That it makes anything is bonus, but $5-$10 per month isn't a career, it's an occasional free lunch.

"...I notice your posts deal with other "in the news" items and wonder if you get feedback from your readers.  You certainly follow a lot of bloggers."

I only "follow" a dozen or so fellow bloggers (left side). The "members" list on the right are people following this JAST blog.

"...Do you strive a unique perspective or just get inspired by others' writing?"

I guess it's mostly my unique perspective. Sometimes it might be whatever I find interesting in the news.