Vera Teschow.ca
  • Home
  • About
    • Overview
    • Education & Diplomas
    • Consulting & PR
    • Teaching Experience
    • Workshop Facilitation
    • Volunteer Experience
    • Extra-Curricular Leadership
    • Writing
  • Learn
  • BLOG
  • Contact

Supply Teaching

5/30/2014

2 Comments

 
Picture
Today I developed a new empathy for occasional teachers, especially those who do day-to-day supply work.  Since I'm technically on leave this year; I've had a chance to do some daily occasional teaching in between my travels to Argentina and various workshops I am facilitating for teachers here in Canada.  

For the most part, I've enjoyed the supply work:  It gives me a chance to see what other great teachers are doing, and what's happening in other schools.  But today taught me a lesson I hope I'll remember when I return to teaching full time in the fall...

It was my first day teaching in a school where I did not know most or all of the office staff and teachers.  (Or, more importantly, they did not know me.)

I biked to the school and arrived a good half hour early like a good little supply teacher, so that I'd have time to take a brief tour of the school, review the supply plans and prepare for the students' arrival.

Alas, the office administrator was just arriving as I was, and was rather grumpy at having to deal with me, an unknown entity.  Further, as seems to be increasingly the norm in our board, the school was short on supply teachers.  To make matters worse, the VP hadn't arranged a "plan b" yet.  All of this amounted to me sitting around in the office waiting to be told what to do, and the end result was that 7 minutes before the bell rang and the students entered, I still did not have a room key, a schedule, or a sense of where anything in the school was.  And I still felt like I was being a nuisance by just being there. 

Interestingly, two other occasional teachers I spoke with that morning indicated that this sort of disorganized, unwelcoming behaviour on the part of the office staff was not unusual, and -- further -- that the VP had recently been overheard saying to someone, "oh, they're just supply teachers"!

Moments before the bell rang, the young VP finally handed me a sheet of paper with no duties, but a whole bunch of names and room numbers, and I found myself running around from one end of the school to the other each period, trying to locate the various teachers whose classes I was covering.  

Ironically, more than half of them hadn't even been made aware in advance that they were being released today. This additional miscommunication resulted in me teaching some rather interesting classes, including an intermediate health lesson on STDs!!!  Thankfully, I've taught such topics many a time in the past, and was not afraid to take on the "question box" head on, and we tackled several anonymous questions together, including everything from "how do you know when your period is coming?" to "what happens if I don't get my period by the time I'm 16?" to  "Do you need a man to get pregnant?" 

The kids were -- for the most part -- awesome, and also I had brought one of my favourite picture books with me, which I read aloud with two of the classes had a chance to work with. 

At lunch I attended my first GSA meeting.  I'd heard of such organizations, but had never attended one in person.  Two teachers and a diverse group of students ate their lunches together, chatted about upcoming World Pride in Toronto, and planned their year-end meeting/social gathering at school.

Despite the apparent lack of organizational systems in the office, I must say that overall, it was a pretty good day. (Even the VP scored some redemptive points by letting me park my bike in the Principal's office, and coming out at the end of the day to thank me for being there today.)  Being incognito for once was kind of a neat experience.

I do empathize with school administration who are dealing with a shortage of OTs and last minute staffing scrambles .  On the other hand, if today was any indication of how most schools "welcome" the average supply teacher, I can see why many OTs just don't bother picking up jobs!!!  Having been an acting VP in the past, I know how critical it is to have organizational structures in place that enable graceful flow in such situations.  And now, as an "acting" supply teacher, I know first hand how it feels when such flow is not happening!

I'm looking forward to a few more days of supply teaching before the end of June, and am debating if I should stick with schools I know, or whether taking the risk in new places is a good way to research my upcoming Summer Academy sessions for OTs! :)))  In any case, I hope I will remember to take a few moments to welcome and support lost-looking OTs in my future schools when I am back to work full time in the fall.

2 Comments
Nancy
6/1/2014 07:03:08 am

As I've told you before, I really believe in giving and love receiving honest feedback. I wonder if you shouldn't share these observations with the VP/P.

Reply
Vera
6/2/2014 04:28:50 pm

Hehe, well... I suspect not everyone is as open-minded as you are, Nancy! ;-P If feedback were asked for, I would give it, or if I was in a position of authority... but let's be honest; my "authentic feedback" would probably not be appreciated by the VP in question.

I did send a nice email following up to say I enjoyed working with the students and appreciated the safe and secure bike parking provided. I suspect the VP knew... that's probably why I got a personalized "thank you" at the end of the day! :D

Reply

Your comment will be posted after it is approved.


Leave a Reply.

    About Vera...

    Vera & her Sons, April 2021
    After writing for several teacher and multiple birth publications, including ETFO's Voice Magazine, Multiple Moments, and the Bulletwin, Vera turned her written attention to prolific blogging for some years, including BiB,  "Learn to Fly with Vera!"  and SMARTbansho .  Homeschooling 4 was her travel blog in Argentina.  She now spends more time on her Instagram (@schalgzeug_usw)  than her blog (pictures are worth a thousand words?!) 
    DISCLAIMER
    The views expressed on this blog are the views of the author, and do not necessarily represent the perspectives of her family members or the position of her employer on the the issues she blogs about.  These posts are intended to share resources, document family life, and encourage critical thought on a variety of subjects.  They are not intended to cause harm to any individual or member of any group. By reading this blog and viewing this site, you agree to not hold Vera liable for any harm done by views expressed in this blog.
    Picture

    Categories

    All
    Argentina 2013
    COVID 19
    COVID-19
    Cycling
    Family
    Flying
    Geocaching
    Honduras 2011
    Lakeshore
    Lgbtq
    Math Eyes
    Music
    Other Stuff
    Prince Edward Island
    Teaching And Learning
    Teaching-and-learning
    Travel

    RSS Feed

    Archives

    March 2022
    January 2021
    September 2020
    August 2020
    May 2020
    April 2020
    March 2020
    February 2020
    December 2019
    November 2019
    August 2019
    July 2019
    April 2019
    February 2019
    December 2018
    November 2018
    October 2018
    September 2018
    August 2018
    July 2018
    June 2018
    May 2018
    April 2018
    March 2018
    February 2018
    January 2018
    December 2017
    November 2017
    October 2017
    August 2017
    July 2017
    June 2017
    May 2017
    April 2017
    March 2017
    February 2017
    January 2017
    December 2016
    November 2016
    October 2016
    August 2016
    July 2016
    June 2016
    May 2016
    April 2016
    March 2016
    February 2016
    January 2016
    December 2015
    November 2015
    October 2015
    September 2015
    August 2015
    July 2015
    June 2015
    May 2015
    April 2015
    March 2015
    February 2015
    January 2015
    December 2014
    November 2014
    October 2014
    September 2014
    August 2014
    July 2014
    June 2014
    May 2014
    March 2014
    February 2014
    January 2014
    December 2013
    October 2013
    September 2013
    August 2013
    July 2013
    June 2013
    May 2013
    April 2013
    March 2013
    February 2013
    January 2013
    December 2012
    November 2012
    October 2012
    September 2012
    August 2012
    July 2012
    June 2012
    May 2012
    April 2012
    March 2012
    February 2012
    January 2012
    December 2011
    November 2011
    October 2011
    September 2011
    August 2011
    July 2011
    June 2011
    May 2011
    April 2011
    March 2011
    February 2011
    January 2011
    December 2010
    November 2010
    October 2010
    September 2010
    August 2010
    July 2010

Vera C. Teschow, OCT, M.Ed., MOT
Toronto, ON & St Peter's Harbour, PE
www.verateschow.ca 2021
Photos used under Creative Commons from Sean MacEntee, Studio Paars, Bengt Nyman, zeevveez, GoodNCrazy, CJS*64, Accretion Disc, CharlesLam, Courtney Dirks, CJS*64 "Man with a camera", Accretion Disc, Bobolink, Ian Muttoo, BioDivLibrary, Alaskan Dude, IsabelleAcatauassu, runran, Transformer18, jglsongs, Create For Animal Rights, david_shankbone, Paul J Coles, foilman, Newport Geographic, Photo Everywhere, kevin dooley, Claudio , Alex Guibord, Tscherno, f_mafra, Terry Madeley, musee de l'horlogerie, BobMacInnes, wwarby, jonathangarcia, amboo who?, chimothy27, Elin B, cliff1066™, Grzegorz Łobiński, Rennett Stowe, Farhill, Phil Manker, Guitarfool5931, airguy1988, dierk schaefer, Rob Stemple, katerha, StockMonkeys.com, Ramotionblog, andrewk3715, charlywkarl, AJC1, rachel_titiriga