Dear Whomever,
It's 7th period at Lake View High School. The student I assist has been gone all day getting her braces tweaked. I have spent the day doing random tasks for other teachers, getting some paperwork sorted out, and attempting to stay busy. This morning I offered my help to some of the teachers I know and one of them sighed with relief and asked me to help cover her 7th period class. All she told me was, "I need to leave for a doctors' appointment but didn't want to get a sub since I'm just heading out a little early. They're just doing a worksheet and then they can go to the library." Hmmm.... sounds good. I assumed I'd see her at the beginning of 7th and went on my merry little way.
What she neglected to tell me was that she would NOT be there when I showed up. Luckily this is a Special Ed Support Facilitate class with only 7 students. After waiting a few minutes to she if the teacher would come, I found a folder on her jumbled desk with a sticky note that read, "7th-finish bridge then this." The students explained what the bridge was and convinced me that they all finished it yesterday (I made them show me their assignment but couldn't tell what "done" was supposed to look like so I just trusted them). I gave them their new assignment. I took roll on a sticky note by asking them their first name. They finished the worksheet in about 10 minutes and I wrote them all passes to go to the library (hopefully my scribbles on a sticky-note were enough to count as a pass).
Now I'm sitting here thinking, "What the heck just happened? What am I supposed to do now? Hope I didn't mess anything up horribly, but if I did it's not my fault." It bothers me that this teacher didn't give me more information - that wasn't fair to me - but what bothers me more is that she didn't care enough about her students to help me help them learn. She left me high and dry, but more frustrating, she left THEM high and dry.
I might never be a high school teacher, but I can tell you what... If I am, I will do a lot better than a most of the teachers here. That is not a statement of pride or cockiness, that is a statement of committment and dedication. These students deserve more.
Sincerely,
Irritated
I want you to be my future children's elementary school teacher! That's unbelievable! Let's start our own school... in all of our free time... I was watching the GG episode last night of Lorelai and Sooky starting their Inn and it made me think of you! Someday our entrepreneurial dreams will come true :)
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