I Should Have Known

After the third time yesterday afternoon that Kim reconfirmed with me whether I would, indeed, sub again all day today, I should have known there was the portent of something unusual. I think I mistook the glimmer in her eyes and her laugh as an apology for forgetting if she had already asked me, but now I am left wondering if it was more mischievous than that. I certainly need to remember from now on to ask more questions of this high school secretary when she asks me to sub in the future.

Monday I subbed for only half a day and just wore some nice, but casual khakis and a pullover shirt. The classes I had that day were Algebra II and Web Design. Since I would be at school all day today, I decided to dress up a little more, topping my new sweater with a scarf and blazer. I tried not to cringe when Kim handed me the keys to the Ag. Room, since this meant one of my classes would mean fending off sparks during welding and wading through animal poop at the land lab when I took students there to feed the chickens. NOTE to SELF: If the information is not volunteered, ask which classes I will be subbing in. Waders, ear plugs, and a leather apron may be preferable to earrings and heels.

It is always a relief to see a well-thought- out lesson plan when I arrive. Last minute calls can be hairy because sick teachers don’t have the time or energy to prepare for a sub. For that reason, I have learned to bring a bag of tricks with me when I get an early morning request. As a general rule, however, getting a call the day before usually means that the teacher has had a chance to prepare a plan and leave some resources. So, today I only brought a book to read during the teacher’s prep period and, sure enough, was given an emailed plan that, although brief, seemed adequate in its directions. Apparently, this was not the first day of the teacher’s absence, though, and the sub plans hadn’t varied much from the day before so I had to weather some groaning when I directed the Biology students to take notes on the chapter that could then be used on the quiz. The first such class opened their books and at least appeared to jot down some facts, but the second class thought they might turn to ash if they had to do it aga-a-a-a-in. *sigh* A DVD would have been nice to have at that point. Or even a word find. NOTE to SELF: Ask for whom I will be subbing to give myself a heads-up about how much leeway there may be in the lesson plans. A Plan B should always be in my bag.

The final period of the day was to be either demonstration speeches or the Farming Game (no lie, it’s a board game). After giving the students the choice, two decided they would give their speeches and, since they were both cooking demonstrations, everyone was pretty ecstatic. We removed ourselves to the staff room, which is also the old Home Ec. Room, and I prepared to take notes on the students’ deliveries while the rest of the kids actually became the perfect, quiet audience. Would miracles never cease? The making of the brownies (from a mix) went well and, while they cooked in the oven, the next student began her fry bread demonstration. Suffice it to say, forty minutes later and three trips to the rescue by me to dump out the excess four cups of water mistakenly added, to stir in more flour because the demonstrator’s arms were tired, and to generally speed up the lagging process, the release bell rang. Flour and water muck were all over the counter, the brownies were not done because the oven temperature had been set too low, and only two half-cooked three-inch frybreads bubbled away in the hot pan. NOTE to SELF: The “easy way out” isn’t always.

“Can you sub Friday?” I heard as I finally checked out at the office. (Was that a chuckle or a smirk?)

“Uh, no. I have to work at the middle school.” *smile* “Really. I do.”