Workin' 9 to 5.

Wednesday 13 April 2011

I think I can officially say that I am now a working woman. Of course I don't actually work 9 to 5. Sometimes it's 7 to 3 or 8:30 to 4 or 7 to 7... it just depends on where I'm working that day. Steven and I have essentially swapped schedules (although mine isn't qiute as hideous as his was). Now instead of him working all of the time and me being home alone all of the time, I am the one who works and is occasionally gone for 12+ hours a day and he's the one who gets to stay home alone! I can't say that this was really the kind of change we were looking for but it's still good. It's good for me to be working and it's nice for Steven to have a bit of a break. He's been spending a lot of time filling out applications and studying for tests. He has a test with the Tacoma FD next Tuesday morning and the his test with the Enumclaw FD is on May 7th (I think), which is coming up incredibly fast!

I have been working almost full time. I've substitute taught at least 4 days these last two weeks and then I've also been working at the tutoring center about 6 hours a week. So there are certain days where I leave the house at 6:45am to go sub at a high school and then don't get home until 7:30pm after tutoring. At which point I usually just feel like pulling on sweats and getting in bed to watch an episode or two of Iron Chef with my husband. It's hard to get motivated to do much else (as you would very quickly notice if you walked into my rather messy little home right now). I've been very fortunate over these past couple of weeks to have had sub work scheduled in advance. Sometimes I'm able to find jobs online and not only was I able to work a full week this week but I already have three days scheduled for next week! As of next Tuesday I will also be employed by the Puyallup School District so I'm hoping that that will help me to get even more work (and at a higher pay rate).

I've come to the conclusion that the tutoring job has been really good for me. The timing isn't ideal (we usually don't end up eating dinner until 8pm on those days) and it's tough to go back to work after a full day of teaching but I'm glad that I'm doing it. I've been having a pretty tough time with the substitute teaching. And if you've been reading my blog for any length of time, then I'm sure that's nothing new but it's a topic I'm revisiting just the same.

Substitute teaching can be so easy, in a sense. Soemone else has already done all of the lesson planning for you and quite often it just involves turning on a movie or handing out a worksheet, but the rest of the job is challenging in a way that my own description cannot do justice. First of all, it is so difficult to basically have a new job every single day. Since I'm new to these districts I'm not even familiar with where the buildings are. So I get a job, I look up directions online and jot down the phone number just in case (I've already gotten lost twice and had to call to say I was going to be a couple of minutes late). Then I find my way there and try to determine where I'm allowed to park: visitor parking? staff parking? am I taking someone's spot by accident? One time the spots were ALL numbered so I called the office and they had to look up the assigned spot of the teacher I was working for. then I have to get my bearings in the building and try to remember important things like where the bathrooms are and how I get back to the office (I just don't really go to the bathroom at school ever because I don't want to ask someone where it is). Then I read the sub notes and frantically try to figure out what the heck it is I'm supposed to be doing. Then the kids come in, "Sweet! A sub!" I wish this meant they were actually happy to see me. What it means, in fact, is that they assume they don't have to do anything while I'm here and they can just sit and talk. I. Don't. Think. So. But that's their expectation for when there's a sub so that's what they try to do and I try to be all nice and friendly about asking them to be quiet and get some work done but then I end up having to yell to get the point across that I mean business and then I get all upset because now they think I'm mean and I'm really not but they made me be mean because they weren't following directions and they were being disrespectful. I've recently discovered a secret weapon. If you "sacrifice" a student (sending them to the office or ISS - in school suspension) then the rest of them will shape up pretty quick. If not, kick another one out. I had never sent a kid to the office before I started working down here but it really helps. And let's be honest, I don't have to put up with everything they're dishing out. They can be so rude some times. The other good thing is that I know that I have the support of the other teachers and administrators in the building. Everyone is willing to step in when there are behavior issues. And when I take attendance and accidentally mispronounce someone's name everyone laughs like how-could-I-be-so-stupid-to-mispronounce-that-name-in-such-a-weird-and-totally-wrong-way? As if it's my fault their parents named them something I can't pronounce! Then I spend the whole day worried that I'm letting the kids talk to much and all of the other teachers probably think I don't know how to manage a class or maybe I'm yelling too much and the other teachers think just crazy or maybe I didn't follow the sub notes exactly and the teacher is going to be frustrated when they come back or maybe everyone's just thinking "who let the 23 year old in here?" because I'm also always really self conscious about how young I am... and I could go on and on and on. The students don't understand that I've had the same training their teachers have and I deserve the same respect. Kids are always saying how substitutes are so mean and now I know why: Zero job satisfaction. And heaps and heaps of job dissatisfaction.

Basically, I never feel successful as a substitute teacher. I don't really get to help anyone or see the kids make progress. I'm not accomplishing anything or working towards any goals and that's difficult for me. I am a product of 17 years of education where my teachers told me exactly what I needed to do to be successful and now I've been tossed out into the real world where there aren't any rubrics or guidelines. No one is going to hand me a list of things that I need to do to get an "A" in life. And it's just so difficult feeling like I'm failing everyday. Okay, not everyday. I do get paid on the last day of the month and on that day I usually feel decently successful. So that's where the tutoring comes in. At the tutoring center I usually see the same students every week. I can chat with them and ask how school is going and how their weekend was and I can give them the one-on-one attention that they need and actually watch them learn. I can see their progress from week to week and celebrate with them as they improve. It feels good to move through math packets with them and see them conquer a concept that had them totally stumped just three weeks ago. It feels like I'm accomplishing something and having an impact and I can't even explain how much I need to feel that.

So that's how I feel about that.

Aside from work, these last couple of weeks have been pretty fun. We had Tara over for a sleepover and game day while she was on spring break. We had a super fun dinner with the Piehlers and played two great games of Scrabble. I've done a little shopping, including buying a dress and shoes to wear in Lena's wedding. I love shopping and have seriously missed it! It's so fun to come home with bags of shoe boxes and clothes. On Steven's last full weekend with the ambulance company a spent an afternoon with Tara and our dad building bee boxes. Dad has bees on his farm. Last year he had 40 pounds of honey but he's getting more bees this year and is expecting 1,000+ pounds of honey! We spend almost four hours drilling holes and putting boxes together. And on Sunday of that weekend I spent 8 hours at church. No joke. And 6 of those hours were spent in the nursery. I did my normal church stuff in the morning and then stayed after to help set up for the membership class and then went in to the "under 2 years" classroom for 4 hours during the class. We had everyone from a little 7 week old baby to two almost two year olds who were potty training. It was crazy. My back was pretty sore for the next couple of days.

Tonight Steven and I enjoyed a much needed date night. I put on some new shoes (yay!) and we went to Salty's on Alki for happy hour. It was so tasty and such a beautiful view, as always. It was still cloudy and somewhat rainy but the sun was shining on the city and it was lovely. We shared a sushi roll and a basket of fish and chips and then drove into the Seattle for a show at the 5th. It's a new Dolly Parton musical called 9 to 5. It's not our new favorite or anything but it was cute and fun and we laughed quite a bit.

Sorry this post was so long... that's what happens when I go two weeks in between updates!

We've got a fun weekend ahead of us including a visit from our dear friend Chelsea and a long awaited worship night at church.

Hope you're having a great week!
Steph