Preparing for away days
Oct. 25th, 2004 01:13 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
velvetpageEvery teacher I know, at some point in every year, has expressed what I'm feeling now.
It's not worth it to be away.
For every day of school I miss, no matter what the reason, I have at least two hours of preparation to do for it and at least two hours of tidy-up to do after it - marking, dealing with kids who wouldn't behave for the supply, etc.
I have to plan every lesson in much more detail than I normally would. (This is partly about my bad habits; there are some subjects, such as French, where I know my routines so well that I'm usually only planning something for about half the period - the rest is taken up with little oral drills and games. When I'm being lazy, I'll occasionally do an entire period of these, leaving me with no prep for that class. Obviously, I can't do that for a supply teacher. In fact, I have to plan on a supply who doesn't speak French. The same is true of Music and Art - I tend to wing it, or plan as I'm lining the kids up. They get a good program, but it's not up to the planning standards I should be setting. Heaven help me if I'm away unexpectedly!) I also have to mark every single thing the class does, because if I don't, they generally won't do anything at all the next time there's a supply. Also, I have no idea what has happened in my absence until I return, so I can't plan for the day I come back until that morning. It's a pain in the neck.
My kids now know that my guest is a) male, b)a friend (as opposed to a relative). They know it's someone I talk to on MSN. That doesn't narrow it down very much for them. And they know I've talked about this person before, though they don't know when. I'm having a ball with this. One girl wants me to tell his profession next. I told her his profession really had nothing to do with him coming in, so it wasn't relevant. They're starting to get really frustrated. I might play a game of twenty questions with them on Thursday, just to watch them lose. :) One thing is sure:![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
rainwolf will be a school celebrity from the moment he walks through the door. :)
It's not worth it to be away.
For every day of school I miss, no matter what the reason, I have at least two hours of preparation to do for it and at least two hours of tidy-up to do after it - marking, dealing with kids who wouldn't behave for the supply, etc.
I have to plan every lesson in much more detail than I normally would. (This is partly about my bad habits; there are some subjects, such as French, where I know my routines so well that I'm usually only planning something for about half the period - the rest is taken up with little oral drills and games. When I'm being lazy, I'll occasionally do an entire period of these, leaving me with no prep for that class. Obviously, I can't do that for a supply teacher. In fact, I have to plan on a supply who doesn't speak French. The same is true of Music and Art - I tend to wing it, or plan as I'm lining the kids up. They get a good program, but it's not up to the planning standards I should be setting. Heaven help me if I'm away unexpectedly!) I also have to mark every single thing the class does, because if I don't, they generally won't do anything at all the next time there's a supply. Also, I have no idea what has happened in my absence until I return, so I can't plan for the day I come back until that morning. It's a pain in the neck.
My kids now know that my guest is a) male, b)a friend (as opposed to a relative). They know it's someone I talk to on MSN. That doesn't narrow it down very much for them. And they know I've talked about this person before, though they don't know when. I'm having a ball with this. One girl wants me to tell his profession next. I told her his profession really had nothing to do with him coming in, so it wasn't relevant. They're starting to get really frustrated. I might play a game of twenty questions with them on Thursday, just to watch them lose. :) One thing is sure:
rainwolf will be a school celebrity from the moment he walks through the door. :)![[identity profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/openid.png){kind=small}
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-25 10:59 am (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-25 01:55 pm (UTC)If the pictures on - um - chip are half as good as the ones in my head, we'll have the mother of all guest visits here. :)
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-25 02:42 pm (UTC)As a service engineer (make that the Service Engineer since we only have one in the UK) I know what awaits when you dare to take a day or two off....
I spent today doing the storemans work since he's on holiday. Must do some of mine sometime.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-25 06:44 pm (UTC)(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-26 03:17 am (UTC)we make electronic visual aids for the partially sighted - electronic magnifiers. Can magnify text, enhance contrast colour, black/white, yellow/blue.
We make the best on the market, too (yes I really believe that!)
You may have pupils who have such devices....
we sell to personal users, schools, libraries...
I fix 'em when they get broken, talk folks through tech problems, send out bulbs... it varies.
But I also handle my own computer logging....spares ordering...etc etc etc.
(no subject)
Date: 2004-10-26 04:02 am (UTC)Damn it I'm an engineer not a doctor, Jim!
Date: 2004-10-26 09:00 am (UTC)Using our equipment kids and folks with misty (cataracts) or peripheral vision can work alongside their normally sighted friends.
Did you know that the proportion of legally blind folks with no residual vision at all is 4%? That leaves 96%....
some are beyond the aid of our equipment and some not bad enough to need it but there's a load in between.
Incidentally, folks with tunnel vision (central only) can usually read OK, but bump into things since lacking peripheral vision. Hence the guy with the dog & white stick reading a magazine on the Underground....who will tread on your feet.
Those with peripheral only lack the central vision - the macular, where the detail perception is. They will look at you and see you...but they cannot see your head! (no loss in my case)
This is a little superficial I grant but I fix units, and talk to customers...I'm not an eye specialist.
Re: Damn it I'm an engineer not a doctor, Jim!
Date: 2004-10-26 11:25 am (UTC)The school in Brantford is a residential school, and has been there a very long time. I'm not at all sure what its function is now, but I believe it caters to those who need more help than an educational assistant can provide easily. Since it's private, not public, it's outside my immediate sphere of knowledge.
Vision issues have fascinated me since I first got glasses in grade 3 (age 8). If I'd gone into any branch of health care, that would probably have been it.
Re: Damn it I'm an engineer not a doctor, Jim!
Date: 2004-10-26 01:37 pm (UTC)Of course there is one letter in Braille that doesn't obey the logical rules...."W" why? Braille was a Frenchman and French doesn't use "W"....
Hey is that why "W" doesn't like the French?
Re: Damn it I'm an engineer not a doctor, Jim!
Date: 2004-10-27 03:33 am (UTC)