Teachable Moments [3] - The Supply Teacher

Since I'm back in full swing, it's high time for another segment of "Teachable Moments" in which I regail you with tales from Teacher's College and placement teaching.

I haven't talked about my new placement yet, and the reason for that is that to be honest - I hate it. Hate is probably a bit harsh, but it just isn't me. This semester I have two placements, one from January until March and the other from March until May. For the first placement I picked "Social Science" as my subject, and was promptly put into 2 "Food and Nutrition" and 1 "Fashion Industry" class. When I chose Social Science, I was envisioning Sociology, Religion or World Issues - not cooking and sewing. The classes themselves are also different - because social science courses are considered to be "life skills", they are open to anyone. In 2 of my classes there is a designated youth worker to handle specific special needs and behavioural issue students. It's definitely a different experience.

Yesterday I turned up at my placement expecting it to be a typical Tuesday. No Such Luck. It turns out that my associate teacher was sick and the office didn't have a supply teacher on hand. Guess who was temporarily put in charge of a Grade 11/12 split Fashion class for the first period? That's right.

Luckily for me, the Grade 11's had an assembly to go to, so the office told me to take the Grade 12's there as well and that the designated supply would find me there. No problem.

Well..

The supply teacher barely spoke English. Could not pronounce a single kid's name, did not know how to play a DVD and had no clue how to photocopy.

Enter Miss Ella.

I spent all 3 periods doing her job for her. I took attendance, put in a movie for the Grade 10's to watch and photocopied an assignment for the Grade 12's. It was an interesting day to say the least. It's also quite sad when the students looked at me as the authority figure instead of the supply teacher.

It was definitely a good experience for me, but it's just making me that much more freaked out to have to BE that supply teacher one day. But at least I speak English.

Have a good day!