Thursday, September 17, 2009

Shop Class

If you read the 'about me' section, you would know that I am a teacher, and that I will be moving to China to teach very soon.  What you might not know (at least from reading my blog) is that I decided to stay on the supply teaching list to make a few bucks and get back into the groove of working before heading out into the big unknown. Supply teaching is one of the craziest jobs in the world.

I got my first call on Monday. It was at 7 in the morning and I couldn't figure out why the phone was ringing, and ringing, and ringing. That was when I remembered that I was on the supply list and it might be work.  They asked if I could fill in for the shop teacher.  I said yes, because I never say no to work.  I hung up the phone and wondered if that was a mistake.  I don't know anything about shop class; I never took shop class; I certainly do not know how to handle a room full of bored teenage boys.  I think being young, female, and having a sense of humour about the situation worked to my advantage because both days (yes, I even went back a second time) the kids were all in all pretty great.  They didn't get very much work done, but at least they were nice about it.  Most of them even humoured me by opening up their books to look like they were working. Some of them even did the assignment. I came home exhausted but happy enough to do it again the next day.

Supplying at the high school is an interesting experience for me overall now that I think about it.  I would say that Monday was fairly successful as I was only mistaken for a student twice (once by a teacher, once by students). And it is much better than the time I was mistaken for a student at the middle school (I know I look young...but middle school?!)  I heard my younger cousin's friend say "she can't be a teacher, she's too pretty to be a teacher" and while that was a nice boost to my already inflated ego, it made me wonder what that implies.  Is it because she just thinks [women] teachers should be frumpy middle aged women? Or does she think that young, pretty women couldn't possibly be qualified to teach?  Coincedentally I went to parent/teacher open house the other day with my mom (for my brother) and she noted that all the teachers seem to be in very good physical condition. I thought about it for a moment and she is right.  At the high school the teachers are, as a general rule, in great shape.  I also noted that many of the women teachers are quite pretty, so I came to the conclusion that the comment had a lot more to do with how young I look than anything else.

1 comment:

Rosaria Williams said...

How did it happen that all teachers are now fit and pretty? Just kidding! Thanks for signing up to follow my blog. You've got quite a sense of humor.