Preparing for away days

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Every 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: rainwolf will be a school celebrity from the moment he walks through the door. :)

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