Footprints

• I know it's been a long time since my last post. There have been many topics I have thought about posting, but never found the time or had the energy or drive to do it. I'm forgetting about all of those posts now since it's far too late.
• What's on my mind today relates to my work. There is one school that I sub at regulary. It is a junior high/high school specifically for kids that are classified as SED-Severely Emotionally Disturbed. Most of these kids have been arrested for one reason or another. Some may not be technically SED, but fall under something else which still results in them attending this school.
• I've become good friends with many of the workers here including teachers, teacher's assistants, secretaries, and even one or two members of the administration. Last week I was invited to their staff Christmas party. I felt so appreciated and had a really great time! Last week I was also added to the staff birthday board that's in the office. They took down my birthday and printed my name on a label which they then put under the month of June with the rest of the June babies. Again, felt very appreciated! There have been many times when I've been asked to join a group of staff for some wings after work, even when I don't work at their school that day. So I really enjoy working with these really fun people who have accepted me into their community and gladly accept assignments when requested.
• But today kinda sucked. In fact, I've worked at this particular school four times in the last week and a half. Three of these days were in the same classroom-C1. The assistants and the students in this room are great! I have a great time with them. I've known most of the kids for a couple years now and they pretty much listen to what I have to say. My problem is the actual teacher-Mrs. Tibbetts. I can say alot of really negative things about her personality and teaching (in)abilities, but I'll just mention a few things that really have erked me since I've worked with her recently.

1. She calls me Rachel. I've worked in her classroom maybe 10 times or more in the last year and she still calls me Rachel. No, she's never met my sister and didn't even know I had a sister named Rachel till I told her when she apologized after a STUDENT yelled at and corrected her in my defense. She never apologized when I corrected her and after a while I just stopped correcting her because it was stupid.

2. She sends me on errands to the office non-stop (I think just to get me out of the room). While I've become greater friends with the office staff because of her errands that she sends me on one at a time, as opposed to all at once, it's really annoying to be able to say that I made 8 trips to the office during the first HOUR of school. 3 of those trips were in the first 15 minutes. (I will also mention here that Sterling, the other assistant in the room, had brought donuts on this day and it seemed like every time I was about to pick one up, she called my name. And I missed most of the movie--both times--that day)

3. It was my fault that the staff member who usually does the monthly attendence wasn't there. I don't know how to do it, I'm just a substitute. Why doesn't Sterling know how to do it? Wait, why doesn't Mrs. Tibbetts know how to do it? Why is it MY fault nobody knows how to do it and it can't get done because the secretary's too busy to explain it to somebody (which would have been me and had no effect on any situations like this in the future if I wasn't there)?

4. Not only does she give me ridiculous busy work jobs and blame me for everyone (including herself) being ignorant of the school's attendence procedures, she also gives me jobs I REALLY shouldn't be doing. Such as calling parents to verify absences. A SUBSTITUTE should not be calling and talking to parents about why their kid wasn't at school on a previous day of the week. When I didn't jump up right away to do the unethical task, she folded her hands in front of her and said indignantly, "Miss Rachel, I asked you to make phone calls. Are you going to do that for me?" I replied sweetly with "Mr. Sterling said he'll do it since he's your permanent assistant." But I was boiling inside! (I had just sat down and started to watch the movie, Sterling hadn't moved all day except to get a donut!)

5. She actually asked her assistants NOT to request me anymore! I figured this out today when I saw an assignment for Miss Julie and it didn't say "requested" like usual. I took it anyway since it was the only one available and I didn't work yesterday because there were none available. I also took it because I enjoy it there and I really just wanted to spite her by showing up even though I KNEW she had asked her not to request me. When I asked Sterling if she had done that, he didn't answer right away then said, "She doesn't like any subs really...but I enjoy working with you!"

• Well, I don't like her much either. That won't stop me from working in her room though. I've never worked somewhere and had a staff member just not like me. They have usually asked for my number (to request me with) and asked me to come back. I have alot of regular schools I work at and therefore, know alot of people, because they express appreciation for my work ethic and abilities. So it is wierd to KNOW for a fact that a teacher does not like me. Even though she's not one whose opinion I hold very highly at all, it's still odd. And it's only that much worse because the two assistants and the students appreciate my presence in the classroom. And I enjoy their's--most days. So do I ignore her immature actions and work there anyway? or succumb to her desires and deny those assignments for her room?
• Oh, I was actually pretty excited when I arrived today and learned that she was doing CPI (Crisis Prevention and Intervention-something like that) training today and tomorrow so she'd be absent. Yeah, I day without her-fun. Of course, her substitute was on the phone the entire time and ended up leaving after 2 hours because she hit her head on the tv set.........That's all I'll say about that.