Working for the Weekend

December 9-10 and 16-17, 2006

As my loyal readers you’ve probably been wondering what I’ve been up to teaching-wise the last couple of months since my last “Sub Life” entry. Unless you’ve talked to me, of course, but even if you have please humor me and read on. A full-time teaching position in an elementary school classroom – my ultimate goal – has eluded me to this point but I am once again working with children in an educational setting. How, you ask? I recently took a job with an education service who shall go unnamed for legal purposes (i.e. I don’t want them to read this and sue me) and am working with children of a variety of ages in a variety of subjects on the weekend.

While it is similar to the classroom in that I am working with children and doing lessons on various subjects such as reading, writing and math, the educational philosophy of the center is quite different than that of the public schools where I have worked previously. Basically, I work with anywhere from 2-3 children at a time (usually 3) for 1 hour blocks of instruction. The kids can be of any grade level and in some cases will not be working on the same subject at the same time. In other words, I could have a 2nd, 5th and 8th grader doing reading, writing and math, respectively at the same time.

As a teacher it is the ultimate juggling act, trying to keep the children consistently busy as they are finishing assignments at different intervals during the hour. Also, there is a whole system of paperwork and coded books for me to figure out as I go. If I don’t have the right book or need copies made, I call out for the teaching assistant and she takes care of it for me. The first few times I was hesitant to yell out the TA’s name, like I felt guilty for having her get the stuff for me. Those that know me understand I am not a bossy person by nature and don’t particularly like to raise my voice. However, I have to understand that the TA’s are there to help me, and in the often frenzied atmosphere of the center it is sometimes necessary to raise the voice to be heard.

I just finished my second weekend today and have to say that I am enjoying the chance to teach kids once again, even if it is a somewhat different dynamic than the classroom. The reality is that kids are still as unpredictable (in good and bad ways) at the center as they are in the classroom so just like with the classroom there is never a dull moment. I also have my share of funny moments, like last weekend when I bonded with a kid over Weird Al Yankovic. That is not a misprint.

The student had the spelling word “parody” and mentioned Weird Al as someone who parodies other singers. I was like “Yeah, did you ever see his video for Michael Jackson’s “Beat It?” It was called “Eat It” and Weird Al stuffed his face with food and burped a lot. Good stuff.” If our exchange had been on TV this would have been the time that you heard the crickets chirping and saw the tumbleweed blow across the room. The student looked at me with a confused, quizzical expression. However, we got back on the same page when he mentioned an Avril Lavigne song (“Complicated”) that Weird Al had done. The generation gap was once again closed.

There was a very nice teacher moment yesterday when I was working with a young boy who, after a solid start to the hour, was fading fast while trying to do a comprehension assignment. The task was to look at a series of marked shapes (e.g. 6 squares with an “X” through two of them) and write the instructions he would give to someone else to make shapes and mark them appropriately. The child kept saying “I can’t do this” and was on the verge of tears and I knew that I had to do something to change his mood so he could get back on track.

I quickly looked in his binder at a “Get to Know Me” sheet with different questions he answered. I saw that he liked basketball so I was like “Who is your favorite basketball player?” He said Ben Gordon of the Bulls and I was like “Me too. He played college ball with Emeka Okafor for my favorite team, UConn and I really like him. See, we have something in common.” The ice was thus broken and things went much better for the remainder of the hour. One of the other teachers complimented me on how I handled the situation and told me a little bit more about the child’s history. It was a very nice way to end the day.