so it looks like my mom still really does love me, after all. she sent a Valentines Day package here a couple days ago with some things i should have brought from home as well as tons of heart candies and a jar of delicious cherry jam.
in other good news, i'm finally working! yep, it took me two & a half goddanm weeks to go through all the paperwork rigamarole, but Urbana Schools are certainly making it worth my while. Working 3 1/2 or 4 days a week at $65 a day adds up to just about exactly what i need to get by here. i don't think i'd want to live on it for a more extended period of time, but it'll do :)
subbing itself is incredibly informative, incredibly trying, and incredibly befuddling. Informative, because i'm in a different classroom every day, so i get to see how all these teachers organize their curriculum, and also how they manage/discipline their class. (And man, can you tell when a teacher has already told them what's what.) Trying, because as i just said, there are plenty of discipline issues to deal with. It's taken me a couple weeks, but i've come to realize taht when you're subbing, having to send kids out of the classroom is often the rule, not the exception. And when you don't follow the rule, you regret it. Befuddling... well, because of the way your day starts, mostly. The day starts at 6:30 with a phone call that you're not quite awake enough for. (why set an alarm if you don't know you're working?) Some lady gives you a school name and a teacher name and a time. You write these down in the half dark, not quite trusting your foggy memory. You're awake when you finally get to the school, but now you've got to find both its main office and then the classroom with the maybe 4-word directions the secretary gives you. And once in the classroom, you have to hope the teacher has left you coherent lesson plans. If not... well, you wing it. So yeah. The job is keeping me on my feet and money in the wallet. And i'm learning more about teaching than i think i might as a student teacher.