Ms. Conn the Substitute Teacher Day 1

Today was my first day subbing. This was a day that I snagged off of the system last week. It wasn't my elementary school, but I need money so I take what I can get. I was actually pretty nervous and considered deleting the job (plus it made me miss the Royal Wedding!) but again.. I pushed through because I need to get paid $$$.

I got there on time, signed in and got my key. I was subbing 4th grade Language Arts (this school switches between two classes), however, today was a celebration day for the kids because as of yesterday, TAKS testing is over. My sub plans for the day were "today is a day for board games." Easy, right? All I did was read a chapter in the book to them, and they played their games, recess, lunch, switch classes and repeat!

So when I got there, 2 of the other teachers had subs.. so there were 3 subs... I was kind of hoping for some teacher support after student teaching.. but alas, I was on my own.

I did what I knew to do. I laid out my expectations, and when they weren't being met I pulled out some good 'ole Love and Logic techniques so I wouldn't have to get mean and yell. These kids were wild too. A special surprise was that the ASHLEY elementary jump rope team came to perform! So I got to see some of my kiddos! That was exciting for me.

So the Assistant Principal came into the classroom I was subbing in. uhmmm SCARY! He came in just to let me know that this class has some "behavior problems" and that he will be stopping by throughout the day. GREAT! He came by twice and all was well.

Story of the day-
There was a little girl who had her own desk at the front of the class (never a good sign) She had some trouble following directions, so there was already a lot of redirection. I could tell something was up, so I just watched carefully. We were gathering our things, and a student came up to me explaining that this girl took scissors and was cutting the fur off of her pillow pet (they were allowed to bring pillows today)
1. I saw the scissors in the girls hands when she was walking back to her desk
2. She said, "Oh PLEASE! it's just a toy!"

Student with the cut up pillow pet was explaining to me that it was her brother's and he was going to be so mad. I had to get on my soap box for a moment and give a speech about how we respect eachother and each other's property and touching and CUTTING another person's things is absolutely unacceptable. So the whole class was staring at the obvious suspect... So her reaction to this was to start bawling her eyes out, and screaming at the class, "STOP LOOKING AT ME! I DIDNT DO IT! IT WASNT ME! STOP IT! ITS NOT FUNNY!"

Obviously pretty emotional... I told her to "calm down, if you say you didn't, I will believe you because I know you can be honest.' BAM! Love and Logic right there. Then I turned to the whole class and said, "If the person who cut up the pillow pet is listening, it would probably be a good idea to write {Student} a letter of apology."

So the girl who was freaking out got out a piece of paper and wrote her a letter of apology. LOVE AND LOGIC WORKS!!

However, this student was sent to the office by her afternoon teacher.. and the office sent her home.

The kids kept telling me that I was "a really cool sub." I don't know if it's because I taught them how to play the statue game, or because they just got to do whatever they wanted all day... but it definitely made me feel good!

Student teaching is over.. on to Subbing!

Friday was my last day student teaching! It still feels like I have to go back on Monday.. so it hasn't completely hit me yet...

My kiddos made me cards, and I got some goodies from my mentor and the parents, including a $100 giftcard to Teacher Tools! how sweet and generous is that?! I need to get crackin on the thank you cards!

I have my first sub job on Friday at Rogers Elementary in 4th grade Language Arts.. Im a little bit nervous since it isn't my school, and I don't know the kids. Stay tuned to see how that goes!

I also have one day of subbing for my kindergarten class, and 4 days of subbing for my 4th grade class. I will really enjoy those days! so I have 6 days reserved for subbing so far! Being able to sub till the end of the year is such a blessing. I am doing what I love, but I don't HAVE to sub when I don't want to! There will be mornings I am awake at 5 am checking the computer system for jobs for the day, but I am able to take a break and apply for jobs, and make money when I need it. I will apply for some sort of retail job for the summer, just to stay on my feet...

I have less than 4 months to find a teaching job... If not I have to start implementing plan B...

An update in the life of Megan

Kindergarten field trip #2 was to Roach Middle school to watch their dress rehearsal. It was pretty good! A good way to spend the morning!

This last week is really starting to get to me. I am going to miss these little kindergarten kids so much! They act like first graders now! It's amazing! My last day is on FRIDAY! Hopefully I can get some more sub days reserved... No more free labor from this teacher! I am broke as a joke!

I have a portfolio to do.. shouldnt be too bad.. I need to finish my 8 page paper (5 pages down) and do 2 or 3 minor assignments for that silly online class. The last class is on Monday thank goodness. I am so over school work right now.

I am having a little but of a hiccup in my personal life right now, so I am trying to keep busy and look ahead to the future. Once my school stuff is finished, I think I am going to spend my days at the UNT library and get my tuition money's worth. I will probably just apply for jobs all day everyday. I want a little bit of a break for now... and hopefully apply for some sort of summer gig this summer.

I feel really lost right now. I don't know what is going to happen to me or where I am going to be in 4 months. Kind of like last year I guess... only this time it's the real world.. not just college. Scary scary.

Kindergarten Field Trip

The Kindergarteners had a field trip today! We went to Frisco Safety Town.

This is the second time I have gotten to go to Safety Town this year. I got to go with 4th grade back in January. Each grade level does something different. in 4th grade it was all about severe weather. The kindergarten program was geared more towards Emergency 9-1-1 situations...

When I went with fourth grade, it was right after an ice storm, so the roads were too icy for them to do the fun activity, which was ride bikes in their miniature little town. They got a tour of the fire house instead. The kindergarteners got to ride in jeeps in the little town.

2 classes from kindergarten go to safety town. While one class rides in the jeeps, the other class is practicing being pedestrians. When they told us that each class would get 10 minutes in the jeeps, at first I thought "well that isn't very long.." after 2 minutes of watching kids run red lights, go over curbs, and rear end each other, I quickly realized that 10 minutes was plenty of time! You could tell which kids had some sort of play motorized jeep car at home from those who didn't. They weren't watching the red lights, they couldn't drive straight, much less make a turn. Chaperones, teachers, and fire fighters were moving kids' jeeps off the sidewalk the whole time!

It was a lot of fun today. The kids were wired when we got back to school, so they just got to do free choice, recess, and go home!

Tomorrow we go on ANOTHER field trip...

STAY TUNED

It just really hit me that I only have a week left with my kiddos. I have grown so attached to these little ones. They really do love me and I love them back. I get a dozen hugs everyday and they are so sweet!

Before the field trip, one of the little girls asked why I didn't have a class t-shirt. I told her I wasn't here when they ordered them, and she said, "I'm going to buy you a shirt for our next field trip." what a kind heart!

According to one of the other teachers at our school, her son is in our class, and he was sleep talking one night saying, "Ms. Conn! Ms. Conn!" hahahahahaha HOW FUNNY!

It will be a sad day to leave them...

Winnie...

My room mate Caroline got a dog. Her name is Winnie, she is 3 months old and an Am Staff/Pit Bull/French Bull Dog mix. She has gone to an overnight week long obedience training, and will have 5 weeks of follow-up classes on Saturday. So far she has peed on the carpet 3 times.. but no #2s just yet *knock on wood and fingers crossed* but we have only had her since 10:30 yesterday morning.




Notice I said that it is Caroline's dog, so I will not be picking up any poop, or cleaning pee or vomit. She is obviously paying the $300 pet deposit, and the extra $10 a month rent for having Winnie... (looks like Winnie needs to get a job)

I love dogs so I am going to reep the benefits of having a puppy to cuddle and play with, but my life will be affected by having to listen to her whine in her crate when Caroline isn't here, and taking her out to pee or poop at her beck and call. Things will be better when she is trained and not a baby anymore.

I am going to attend some of the obedience training sessions, just so that I can better understand and help train her, and hope to do 1 work-out a night with her (we are supposed to be doing 4-5 work-outs a day.. a work-out is 5 minutes of running through the obedience commands). We really have to get on her about aggression since she has pit bull in her. ay ye ye.

Stay tuned to hear about belongings being chewed...

UNT Job Fair

This morning I woke up and dressed really fancy for a job fair at UNT. As student teachers, we are allowed one day off from school to attend a job fair or an interview. Since I'm not exactly rolling in interviews right now, and all of the school districts all over Texas have cancelled, or "postponed" their job fairs, I figured this would be my only chance.

There were some good districts that showed up... a lot that were on my list. Carroll ISD, Grapevine-Colleyville, FRISCO, Carrollton-Farmers Branch, Coppell, Richardson, Plano, and others.

I printed 30 copies of my resume.. I think I handed out 4 or 5... only because this was the response I got at each table I visited:

"We aren't hiring right now, because we're on a hire freeze. But once teachers turn in their resignations, and we move existing teachers around, we might have some openings."

It was strange to see Irving and Plano and other districts at the job fair that have recently laid off teachers... I am convinced they only showed up because they committed to the job fair before all of this budget stuff hit the fan...

There are some positive things that came from the job fair. David Boles, HR director of Frisco, recognized me from the UNT student teacher meetings he has been to. He paper clipped my resume and circled that I am currently student teaching there. I got some good tips from some on applying and following up, and will be making a couple of changes to my resume by putting the principal from my school as a reference, and adding my presidents list and deans list semesters to it.

I need to dedicate my next couple of Sundays to the UNT Library (while I am still a student!) and just knock out application after application. I am really trying my hardest!

Hopefully around the end of May or beginning of June, districts will start to lift their freezes.

Teachable moments

We are talking about Texas in kindergarten this week. One of the items on their report card that went out last week was if they knew the name of their city. So, we pulled down the map and asked them what was bigger, a city, or a state. (you would be surprised at how much probing and hinting it took for them to realize that a state is in fact larger than a city... oh well that's first grade stuff!)

So pulling the map down intrigued them, one thing led to another and we were pulling down the world map and showing them the whole world and where Frisco is on the map. Then came the teachable moment..

On the flat wall map of the world...
"What would happen if Ms. Conn got in a boat in California, and just started sailing that way?"
I take my finger, make some boat noises, and slide it west to "the end" of the world....

Kindergartner: "She would die!"
another kindergartner: "She would fall off the Earth!"
and a different kinder kid: "She would fall down a waterfall!"

Me: "Is the Earth flat????" points at globe...
kids: "NO!"
"So you're saying I would just fall of the Earth and be in space?"
"uhmmm noooo.."

showed them on the globe that I would actually end up in Japan, and that the wall map was just a globe map, cut in half and spread out flat to be on a piece of paper.

this whole process took out a good 20 minutes of our morning...