Above and beyond (and below)

Today the headmaster said something about how he expects us to think of our job descriptions as a guideline, not as a limit as to what we do - basically, take the description as a basic minimum and go above and beyond it.

Which makes me feel a bit bad about whining about all the substituting (babysitting) we've been forced to do lately. With the sudden resignation of one staff member, and others away on leave, ill, or otherwise not at school, my co-teacher and I have been roped in to help out at the junior school.

I chose to teach high school for some very, very good reasons. 

Some of my responses over the past week:

Monday:

Holy cow! I think someone put crack on my Grade 9's oatees. Well, at least this time round (crit-wise) they weren't staring at their desks (connection-wise) and had a lot of fun (lesson-wise). I think they might even be a bit... wiser... now. All my lessons done for the day! WOOHOO!

(and then my boyfriend told me he was locked in my flat, with the alarm on. Had to rush off to save him. Very professional)

Tuesday:

Holding thumbs for Tuesday to go swimmingly (no crits, no hair being set on fire, minimal teenage drama, no strange insect things that trick you into thinking they're leaves and murder you in your sleep, no sudden changes to the staff and no people getting trapped in my flat with the alarm on...) Is it too much to ask for one normal day?

Wednesday:

Dear sweet mother of all things holy, may I please never, ever, ever, ever, ever have to teach the grade 6s for two lessons in a row ever again. Please? *rocks quietly in the corner*


Weekend. Here. Now. Don't make me come over there... Wednesday, stop pulling Thursday's hair! No, Monday, do NOT spit in Friday's face. Tuesday, for the last time, listen to the instructions and stop sticking pencils in your nose.

I cannot wait until 4pm - seriously need to whack something against a wall to rid myself of anti-primary-school-kid aggression. Maybe it will be a squash ball. Maybe it will be a small child who has suddenly reached the 'spitball' phase. Who knows?


Thursday:

Annihilated any hopes the Grade 7s had of even thinking of spitting wads of paper at each other today by sternly telling them that anyone caught chewing ANYTHING would be sent to the deputy principal, and then giving them a brief period of amnesty during which they could spit their paper wads where they should - into the bin. Disciplining LIKE A BOSS. Kept the grade 4s in during break to clean up their mess and was helped by a very nice grade 6 who decided to organise all the magazines and books. Am completely in love with my grade 9s, though, who were working like angels without any begging necessary, when the headmaster decided to pay the class a surprise visit. ♥

Now for my crit, which I'm feeling pretty confident about. Unfortunately it's happening in the middle of an arc, so it's mostly work and not much teaching, but I guess that's real teaching and not a show. :) 10 minutes to go and counting.