What a Day!

How much can change in a few hours! I went into Gascoigne this morning as per usual, and instead of the receptionist telling me which classroom to go to, I was told the deputy head (VP) wanted to speak to me. She walked me down to the classroom where I was going to be teaching, whereupon she proceeded to ask me whether TimePlan had talked to me yet about doing a longer-term placement at the school. I said no, and then found out that Miss Aidoo is off now (on sick leave, I believe), and is supposed to be leaving in December for a mat leave. She asked me if I wanted to take over--starting today. She said it was a spillover Yr. 1 class, made up of 11 students from four other Year 1 classes plus a lower-achieving Year 2 boy. I said yes, with the proviso that I feel totally green and will need lots of help. She vouched her confidence in me, said I should just spend some time getting to know the children this morning first thing and ease into the day, and then left. I immediately started looking at all the materials on the walls, in binders, in bins etc. trying to absorb as much information as possible in a short time, my mind meanwhile racing a hundred miles an hour with all kinds of questions, primarily, Help! Where to begin?

After about ten minutes of me trying to work off nervous energy, the deputy head returned and told me that several teachers had gotten caught in a huge traffic jam, and could I please take over in a reception class until the teacher arrived (my class was going to stay with their "other" classes until I could take over)? So I ended up supervising reception until the teacher finally arrived an hour late. At that point, the VP told me to take some time to get organized and collect the children after playtime. Then I spent the next hour or so planning what to do for the rest of the day, and rehearsing the children's names to make it easier to attach names and faces when they arrived.

I collected the children from their rooms after playtime, and began with introductions (name and a favourite activity). Then I tried "Who took the cookie from the cookie jar?" but they become totally giddy on me and just kept laughing and laughing. I gave up on that and went into phonics and guided reading with them. While I was working with two students on guided reading, I asked the rest to copy a few of our phonics words on their whiteboards, but they were either a) just drawing rather than doing what I asked or b) coming up to me to tattle on each other. I lost too much time getting up to monitor students who should have been working independently. Starting Monday, I'm implementing a new strategy: put them on time-out if they get out of their seats, and keep them in at playtime if they don't do their work.

It didn't feel like a great first day. I put three kids on time-out and sent two kids to the VP throughout the course of the day, and did lots of yelling besides. There was one kid who kept making animal noises whenever he felt like it, and a girl who was constantly wanting to use the toilet. I think I'm going to have to go in there Monday and really sit on them...use time-outs, loss of playtime, and sending them to other teachers or the VP until they learn I mean what I say. I also had two kids lose their poppies (though admittedly, one girl had previously lost 6) and the same girl left her glasses behind in the room. I feel a much greater weight of responsibility suddenly to get up to speed with how to teach phonics, what guided reading resources are available and how to use them, and other curriculum-related materials, to say nothing of helping kids keep track of, or find lost articles of clothing and other paraphernalia.

That is not to say it was all bad. I spontaneously decided to do some nursery rhymes with the children at the end of the day (which they participated in more enthusiastically than with most of the other things we did). Then I found out after the bell rang, that they have been doing a unit this week on nursery rhymes, so when I gave them a chance to say their nursery rhymes, they gave me the ones that they have been learning all week. I also have a good Yr 1 teacher to work with. She and I talked several times today about today and Monday, and we're going to get together on Monday afternoon to do some planning. She invited me to ask her about anything and everything I might have a question about.

So I've brought home a binder of stuff to hopefully figure out where the kids are at before Monday, as well as some information about teaching phonics. I did not clarify with the VP today how long this placement will be, but I had the impression it might be from now until the end of this teacher's mat leave. I need to go back Monday and get some more details. This has certainly come up faster than I expected. I had been thinking this week I should talk to TimePlan about looking for longer-term work starting in January, but had not actually gotten around to calling them yet.

I'm both excited and stressed out about this opportunity. I am eager to learn, but know I need to be realistic in my expectations too. Nina (my mentor teacher) and the VP (Namsa, I believe) both told me to ease into it next week. I would appreciate your prayers that I would be able to do that, and that God would fill me with courage and wisdom and grace for this (what feels like a massive) undertaking.