Dreading Tomorrow/sub from Hell
I hate spending one day worrying about the next one, but that is what I’ve done all day today.
All I can think about is the damn meeting that I have to face first thing in the morning, and that I know will involve a lawyer. I hate lawyers, they come in guns blazing and demanding things that I can’t grant. Often things that I don’t think are appropriate, but even if I did think they were appropriate I couldn’t do what they want because only The Ice Queen can give out special programs or placements. I can only talk about things that are available or possible within my building.
And the Ice Queen refuses to come to these meetings, so that makes it even worse, as the parents are frustrated that the person who has the power to make these decisions refuses to attend the meeting.
Half the time she refuses to answer their phone calls and will call one of us to have us call to find out what they want to talk to her about and try to take care of whatever it is that they want. She NEVER calls them back.
She makes about $80,000 a year (actually she only has a ten-month contract) and she does nothing. At least not as far as the staff can figure out.
Today was also the day of the "substitute from hell". Now as I write all this it is necessary to keep in mind that I am working with fifth graders. Kids who are either ten or eleven years old. We are not talking about teenagers here.
One of the teachers had to take the day off to be with his wife, as her father was having major heart surgery. Substitutes are hard to come by, but they sent a man who lives in town and who applied to be a sub. He is also a minister.
Now while this class is not filled with angels, they are not bad kids. This guy started out the day telling them that he would tolerate no talking at all. A kid coughed. He yelled at the kid.
The day deteriorated further from that point on. I didn’t know about a lot of what was going on until the little girl that I tutor showed up at the end of the day. She looked as if she had been pulled head first through a wringer.
She started to fill me in on the day. The sub was awful, mean to the class (there are some very active little boys in the class), and ended up telling them to "shut up" and that he "wasn’t going to take anymore of their crap"!
Eeeek!!!!
No one talks to children that way! At least not in this school! I was absolutely appalled. Even when we get to the end of our rope, we never deal with it by saying words like that. I guess the kids in the class were shocked to say the least.
I’d say there will be a flurry of phone calls and notes to the principal by tomorrow morning. As well there should be. Perhaps this guy treats his own kids with those kinds of words, but they are not appropriate or acceptable as far as the teachers, administrators, parents and kids are concerned.
I think we all need a vacation.
Listening to: The Only Other Broadway CD you’ll ever Need
Reading: Call It Destiny Jayne Ann Krentz
Weather: 45, sunny
Trivia:Who is the elastic man?
Since 1983 Pierre Bauchemin has held the Guinness World Record for being the "elastic man;" that is, the person with the most bounce and stretch in his joints. One of Bauchemin's more unique abilities is to turn his upper torso around 90 degrees, allowing him to walk forward while looking behind him. His parents discovered this extraordinary ability to twist and turn his limbs when he was only a year old. So extreme was his flexibility that doctors predicted he'd be crippled by age 30. However, at age 33, his only real problem seems to be that there is no one else like him: "I cannot compare myself to someone doing the same thing" regrets the contortionist. The only known person who had a similar gift was a man living in Russia in 1912.
Cool word: assay [v., n. ASS-ay / ass-AY]
To assay a task is to mentally evaluate your ability to do it. To assay can also be to chemically analyze a substance, and an assay is the act of assaying, or it is the result of a chemical assay. Example: "I stood at the base of the sheer wall, assaying my climbing ability." This word looks like essay, another verb with a similar meaning, and both are from the same root. To essay is to evaluate your ability by actually attempting something, as opposed to mentally deciding. It's a subtle difference that is not always honored in practice, and the two words may be evolving into one. In fact, some dictionaries do not show the difference. Both words come from Old French essai (test; effort), from Late Latin exagium (act of weighing). That's from the prefix ex- (out) with agere (to drive).
Person of the day: Imhotep, architect, physician, poet, priest, late 2600s BC
The architect who designed the first large stone structures in Egypt was Imhotep, whose Step Pyramid at Sakhara was the first of the great Egyptian pyramids. Imhotep was not only an engineer and architect, he was also a great physician. His fame was so great that he was thought of as a god, even during his lifetime. As a "living god" he was among a select group that included the Pharaohs themselves. Because of his "divine" status, for many years historians thought Imhotep was a mythical figure. Born a commoner, Imhotep became known for his many talents. At the court of Pharaoh Zoser he served as sage, astronomer, scribe, architect, magician, physician, priest, poet, and philosopher. For three thousand years after his death, he was praised and worshipped by Egyptians, Greeks, and Romans.
previous |
next
|
Home |