A Typical Day Supply Teaching

I told you several posts ago that I'd write about a typical day supply teaching for me. So here it is:

1. If I knew where I was going ahead of time I'd wake up at 5:30 or 6:00 because I take public transportation and I like to be early to prepare. If I was waiting for a dispatch call, I'd get up at 6:00 or 7:00 since that's usually when I received the calls.
2. If I received a dispatch call, I'd locate the school on a map and decide whether or not I could make it there in an hour. If I couldn't, then I just waited for the next call. If I could, then I quickly collected my things and made a mad dash for the door.
3. I then took the bus, streetcar, subway, then another bus, then walked to get to the school (the things I do to save money :p). And yes, this is typical transportation for me.
4. Once at the school, I checked into the office. I introduced myself, said who and which grade I'd be subbing for.
5. I'd pick up the attendance, and depending on the school, I picked up a key or signed in.
6. If I was lucky, someone would show me around the school (the classroom I'd be teaching in, the staff room, washroom).
7. Once in the classroom, I'd dump my stuff at the teacher's desk and locate the fire exit and emergency folder (which was often difficult to find).
8. Next, I'd focus on day plans, paying special attention to the first half of the day and scanning for any extra responsibilities (e.g. yard duty).
9. After that, I'd explore the classroom looking for items I'd need for lessons (e.g. chart sheets, text books) as well as routine-type things (calendar numbers, chore lists, bathroom sign-out binder etc.).
10. I sometimes wrote an agenda on the board for myself (since each school has its own schedule and I can be bad with time :p)
11. As students entered the classroom, I'd greet them at the door.
12. At the start of class, I introduced myself and wrote my name on the board.
13. If routines/lessons were unclear to me, I'd ask a student who seemed responsible to be a "teacher for a moment" in order to explain what needed to be done. The students enjoyed this as I would call them Miss. Jane or Mr. John, for example, when in their teacher role.
14. During recess breaks, lunchtime, and prep. times, I'd prepare for upcoming periods, and if there was extra time, I'd mark.
15. At the end of the day, I would sometimes mark (as a rule I didn't mark any major assignments or assignments that were subjective e.g. a writing response). I would also write notes about how the day went, commenting on student behaviour (both negative and positive), and effectiveness of activities (usually I would focus on the positive here). I would also leave my phone number and employee number in case the teacher wanted to contact me for future assignments.
16. Before leaving, I stopped by the office to return a key, sign-out, or to simply say goodbye and that I'd left notes regarding the day on the teacher's desk.
17. Return home and wait for dispatch calls for future supply jobs. And so it continued…
    
    Until now…I'm no longer going to be working as a supply teacher. But I'll talk about that more in my next post.
    
    Bye!