NaBloPoMo begins... do I have the stamina?

Since my good friend L.G. is doing it, I'll try. I'm almost positive that I won't have the dedication or endurance, but I figure, hey, why the hell not give a try. The point is to publish a post every day of the month to encourage online writing and that creative (or, often in my case, less-than-creative) spark. Warning: I'll be talking a great deal about my banal life over the next month, so get used to skimming... it's the only thing that my two readers will be able to handle.

So.

Being a substitute teacher could be an interesting experiment in sociology. In a way, it's exciting. There are always new kids and new lessons and new schools to fit into and get to know and work your way through. Since I'm trained in secondary schools, I'm typically teaching grades 10-12, but more recently I've been getting some days in the middle grades too (7-9).

As a young teacher, you hear a lot of talk from other teachers. Some of this talk is about the weekend, or about various co-curricular activities, or workplace politics, or horror stories about the profession, and so on and so forth ad nauseum. As a teacher-on-call, you enter this very exclusive workplace environment where you may not know a single teacher, student, or administrator. So, you tend to find yourself in a sort of "fly on the wall" in a place where everyone knows everyone else, and like the "Mean Girls" lunchroom, the various groups or adult cliques rant on about this and that.

Also, as a new and young teacher, you hear stories about the various district schools from the teachers of the school that you're in. "Oh, I taught over there for twleve years, and I absolutely loved it", could be something you hear. It might be, "My, how things have changed... when I was there in '92..." But often, the same general and highly personal perspectives are voiced, whether positive or negative. However, there are always the notorious schools that get a bad rap for any number of reasons. The school dreaded by TOC's. The school that many TOC's avoid going back to. I was called into said notorious school yesterday.

I got the call on Tuesday night around 8pm. It came up as a half-day, and the name of the school was mentioned. I was called in for the afternoon (generally, the worst time to show up due to kids getting tired and cranky and getting ready to go home). Looking at the calendar, I knew what I'd see: October 31st. Halloween. I'd be facing a school of nearly 900 hooligans ranging in age from 12-15, high as kites on Halloween candy, dressed up as ghouls and goblins and falsely-advertised princesses, and I'd have to try to teach them Social Studies. Now, for those of you who don't teach or who have limited Middle-School experience, these factors add up to a deeply-ingrained sense of dread. I was not looking forward to it. And I didn't barely sleep because of it. I guess I was really worried that some little ghoul would huck a sucker at me and I'd be kidnapped by a gang of sugar-high goons when I tried to talk about the Renaissance.

Strangely enough (or, in all reality, not that strangely), it was all for naught. Before heading into the school, I looked on the school's internet communications board (visible by all the school's teachers and any substitutes who may get a call for the school), and realized that the afternoon was dedicated to celebrating All Hallow's Eve with a dance and movies. BIG sigh of relief. My job was simple: prevent people from leaving the school and stop any attempts by students to crowd-surf, get naked, or drink anything beside water, juice and pop. And so, I did just that and survived in tact. And, to my surprise, the kids were actually really good (other than the presence of far too much pushing, shoving, and body-checking and not enough deodorant for sweaty 13 year old boys). So good, in fact, that I wouldn't even mind going back. Sure, I was exhausted after only about 3 hours of work. But, I survived. And that's what matters.

After that adventure in exhaustion, I was able to go home, relax, and then meet my volleyball team for our league night. Today was a new adventure too, but maybe to save some of my wind, I'll write about it tomorrow. Happy All Saints Day!

T