I went into work on Friday afternoon, while Grandma watched Sam, to chat with the sub I've had for the past six weeks. The kids were happy to see me and said they missed me. I got a lot of hugs. I found out their behavior was horrible, however. They got 8 discipline slips in the 6 weeks I was gone. One boy was responsible for 3 of them. My bucket of candy was entirely gone, the room was disgustingly dirty and one boy had called 911 from the classroom phone. I gave them a lecture. I told them to enjoy their 3 day weekend and come back on Tuesday with a different attitude because the "party is over." I know I need to lay some blame on the sub, but the kids do know better. I spent an hour and 1/2 cleaning and then left. The kids will do more cleaning on Tuesaday.Saturday my mother watched Sam in the morning and my sister watched him in the afternoon, while I spent the day at work getting my room back in order and plans written. It was gloriously quiet and I got a lot accomplished. I only go back for 4 days this week, 5 the next and 3 (with kids) the next. Thursday and Friday of the last week we have parent conferences. Then I'm off for 3 weeks. I planned the next three weeks now, so I can concentrate on report cards after school each day. I don't want to have to bring anything home for these three weeks. We'll see how that works out.
Yesterday was our first day back at church with Samuel. We wanted to wait until he was a little bigger before getting him around a lot of people and germs. Everyone was very happy to see him and he even got introduced in front of the congregation. Then we went shopping and bought a La-Z-Boy rocker/recliner. Richard's going to pick it up on Tuesday. 
Today, I'm dropping Sam off at my sister's house, while I spend another day at school getting organized for my big return tomorrow. Wish me luck...I am very stressed and nervous!
7 comments:
Good luck to you, Tracey!:)
I pray that you get all you need to accomplished!
(((BIG HUGS!)))
Amy:)
What a great slow start back these three weeks will be. It's going to be great.
Thinking about you all in your start back to work. Hope that things go smoothly and that they kids are on their best behavior for you:) God Bless!
I feel your long-term sub pain. I began school 5 weeks late because of a broken ankle. My students had learned to run over the sub and everything was in shambles - the room, the gradebook, the lesson plans and their behavior!
It took a while, but pretty soon the kiddos understood I meant business. Yours will, too!
Hang in there.
Wow! As a teacher who was out for about 10 weeks total, I can relate to walking back in to a mess! Sorry about that! It is disappointing that the sub didn't have better control than that!
Good luck going back to work! I think this is a huge juggling act for new moms, and my heart goes out to you as you figure it all out!
As for the sub and classroom problems, I can see both sides of it. Having been a sub, I can see how behavior might sometimes be questionable; however, I would NEVER leave a room in that kind of state!! As a prospective classroom teacher, I can also see how the children do know better, and they shouldn't be allowed to simply get away with taking advantage of a sub because they could. Good luck cleaning up the mess, both physical and behavioral! I'm sure it will be back to normal in no time! :)
Melba
Hi! I’m Mike Gatten, inventor of Miracle Blanket, and your blog was just brought to my attention. I noticed your mention of the Miracle Blanket and I wanted to say a HUGE thank you! As a matter of fact, we can’t thank you and others enough for helping us spread the word. We really want to help other parents avoid the all-too-common problem of sleep deprivation with a newborn, but we have found that getting the word out is incredibly difficult. People just don’t believe us when we tell them it might be “this easy.” The fact is, advertising doesn’t work for a product like ours, so we rely solely on word-of-mouth from parents and professionals who have been so great as to give us a try and then tell everyone about their experience.
To show my personal gratitude I want to thank you with a free Miracle Blanket! If you don’t need it for yourself you might give it as a gift or maybe a giveaway on your blog.
Please call Susan in Marketing and she will send you a free Miracle Blanket of your choice – really! (214) 675.0539.
And again, thank you so very much!
Mike
Post a Comment