Substitute Teaching

Why are Substitute like diapers? Because they catch a lot of crap from kids

But it's a lot harder to change these diapers because these kids are old enough they should know how to act by now. So with that, and the load I take on from them, I can't always change the diaper quickly enough, so I start to stink.

Okay, that wasn't terribly pleasant an opener, was it?
Well, I'll try to be more positive. I have had some good experiences subbing lately, but it is pretty tough.

A few weeks ago, while a Spanish class was Venn diagraming the differences between the US and Spain, I thought I'd draw my own Venn Diagram (They seem to be popular in this district--I've subbed for several classes who have had to make one for something or other). Mine is on the similarities and differences between my school experience between elementary and high school, and the schools where I've been subbing. The things that are somewhat in the middle but hanging over into the Con Ball side mean that those things are at some PG schools but not all.

Can you get a little bit of a sense of what difficulties I've encountered? There was no such thing as an ipod or a cell phone or a PDS when I was in school, so no teachers had to take these things away. There were toys, of course, and you can be sure teachers took them away. Why students think they "need" their phones for emergencies now when we've gotten by without them for so long is beyond me. But it's not just student silliness that causes problems, as you can see. It's the nature of the whole beast. In the first class I subbed for this school year, a class I had for three weeks, several kids consistently did not bring their books to class. So I tried getting into their brain that this class was ESOL and the most important book for them to bring to ESOL was the ESOL book. Get your other books from your locker after class. But then I heard an administrator in the hall get after a kid for getting into his locker between classes. There's no winning. I can see to a degree why they have minimal time in their lockers. But it's also a pretty tough burden on those kids to make them carry all of their books to every class.

And there's this other issue. Aside from typical disruptive students, one of the big disruptions is having several children one after the other raise their hand, or approach you without raising their hand, to ask to use the restroom. You think you're onto something good and then bop--it's only a restroom break. Maybe the children need some more diapers in these classrooms.

Socks

As the cold weather has hit again, I've had socks on the brain quite a bit. Why? Because I'm not terribly fond of socks. Generally speaking. There are some socks that I like, however, and I love getting warm, fun socks as gifts. But generally, I'm a barefoot baby, quite happy to run around with pebbles poking my arches.

Why do I not like socks?

1. They're the key to letting people know my pants are sometimes not long enough

2. Finding the right ones to match whatever I'm wearing is tricking and expensive

3. Wearing shoes and socks makes my feet stink.

4. They're either too thick or too thin--either can't fit into my shoes, or so thin they're falling down my ankles all the time.

5. When they get holes, I'm annoyed with the hole all day, and probably longer because I don't want to throw them out and pay money to replace them, especially if they happen to match something.

6. They look funny with skirts and dresses which means I have to have pantyhose, which are even worse.

7. Pairs get split up all over the place

in the wash

in the bed

behind the bed

between the shower and the hamper

8. If I'm wearing only socks and I have to go outside, they get dirtier or sopping wet a lot faster than if I'm only wearing shoes.

9. I have nice looking ankles without the socks.

Why do I, therefore, like socks that are gifts, or fun socks?

1. These socks are cute, so it doesn't matter if they match anything. I'm not wearing them for that.

2. They keep my feet warm enough that I don't have to wear shoes, too.

3. They make people smile.

4. Of course, they still get lost and separated. Especially because these are often night socks that are bound to be worn into bed. But because they're colorful and fun, I can usually notice readily when they're missing and see them as they stand out in the mess of sheets, etc.

Happy Birthday Cyndi!

The last but not least, my sister Cyndi. That is, since I started with John whose birthday is later this month, Cyndi is the final immediate family member to be recognized in her birthday month.

Cyndi is the child right after me in birth order, number four. We're just over two years apart, and so we tended to play dolls and house together a lot. We also had next door neighbors that had girls each of our ages, so we went together over to the Menkes a lot to play with Jenny and Becky. But even on Sundays, when we didn't play with neighbors, we had our box houses in the basement and played quite a bit. Although I think I shared a room longer with Kim, I did also share with Cyndi, especially after Kim moved out.

This is not to say, however, that we were best of friends. No, I was probably more often the annoying big sister who liked things quiet so I could get my homework done, and who didn't always like her music, and was jealous of her popularity, jealous that our big brother seemed to like her better, that she was cuter, or something. Typical sibling rivalries. And yet she still loved me and missed me when I went away to college. Will wonders never cease.

But Cyndi has always been a cheerful person and she turned out quite all right.

I have nice memories of her coming with my mom to help out when I had my car accident back in 1993--her senior year in high school. The next year, when she was at Ricks, she came down with a friend to visit me, and we braved a little car wreck together. Poor Cyndi, sitting up front, got a taste of air bag face. She still looked cute, of course.

Since her husband and I are about the same age, we both graduate with bachelors' at about the same time, so when I moved home after BYU, he was starting his graduate work, and it just happened to be at Denver University, so in 1998 and 99, we were once again in the same state, and not that far apart. I went down there a few times to watch her oldest and then second after he was born. And they, of course, came up from time to time. Those were fun times.

Now, she's on the other side of the country from me, but we talk occasionally on the phone, and communicate through our myfamily website. She's a fun and bubbly mom of five wonderful kids, four of whom she has enrolled in soccer right now. Plus she's doing a pre-school again for her fourth child, and taking care of a one year old (her fifth). Amazing!

Most recently, I saw her at the reunion in Colorado this summer. I had fun playing with her kids and laughing with Cyndi at things. She has a very fun, catchy laugh, and I love her to death! Happy Birthday, Cyndi!