it's been a long week. not necessarily a bad week, but long. i worked all week at taz's school, pretty much coming home too tired to do much more than check the more important forums i'm on and then go and collapse for awhile. and i'm not sure if there was an attempt at my period or not - i was tired enough for it, but i barely even spotted on and off for 3 days. it was really weird. stress maybe? and i didn't even get any writing done in my off time - what i had of it - and it took me 4 days to type up and post a completed crit.

part of it was probably losing my usual "free" time in the middle of the day. all teachers get an hour or two off for "planning" during the school day. it's a good time to just power down a bit and do grading or anything else you need to do, to plan future lessons, or hold conferences. of course, subs don't usually have to do planning, so that's when i usually revise or work on a crit. this week, however, i spent a lot of that time in a classroom other than the one i was originally assigned to. see, subs can be called to work anywhere needed even if in a classroom already (in the same school of course - we don't go running off to a different school unless we're working a half day at each). so, if the band or art or computer teacher has to leave a half an hour early for a doctor's appointment, if you're free, they will ask you to go and cover for that half hour. i did a lot of covering this past week. i had to cover 2 classes towards the end of the day and another in the middle of the day this week, leaving me only one "planning" period, and that one was so broken up that all i managed was to eat lunch or take care of a few other things that had to do with work or my kids (like checking on their lunch money totals).

on the up side of it all, i did get to stay in the same classroom for 2 days and in the same team for 3 for my actual assignments - the 4th day was spent in an elective class. it's always nice to be working in the same place and with the same group of people. on top of that, the kids are starting to get to know me, at least at taz's school. so when i had the elective class, it wasn't very hard to manage at all - there were a sufficient number of students in each class who knew me and that i didn't really have to say or do much to remind them of that fact. as a result, that class was so low key that i was fighting sleep towards the end of the last class.

but i came home too tired to do much. i did get a new fl up that was overdue, and only because i stayed up way late working on it. i seriously suffered the next day. i also decided to change my wake up call time from 5:30 am to 6:30 am. i don't get called often enough by high schools to warrant getting up every day at 5:30 to wait and see if i'm going to be called in. i need the extra hour of sleep, even when i'm going to bed at 12:30 or 1 am instead of 2 or 2:30 am (my usual bedtime). and on days i don't get called at all, being up that early is just too much. it seems like 6:30 am is about my cutoff time for being coherent for the day. high schools can still call me, i'm still on the high school lists i called when hired by the district, they just have to wake me up now.

i'm back at taz's school for 3 days next week so far, 2 days in the same classroom. of course, the other thing i've found in subbing is that assignments are likely to change at any time. some teachers have regular subs they request, and you go when the sub isn't available. i actually had a cancellation last week because the sub became available. but then they needed me for another class. and i also had a change in assignment when the teacher had just called in and i was the one who had subbed previously so was familiar with the class.

i have to say, though, that i think i'll like working full time certified in a single class. the new places, new people, different kids thing can be very cool, i enjoy meeting and roaming. but it's also tiring not knowing when or where you'll be working. it makes it very hard to get adjusted to a work schedule when you don't have a regular one. out here the start and ending times of the schools are staggered, with high schools starting around 7:30, elementary schools around 8 or 8:30, and middle schools starting close to 9. if i get in a regular classroom, then i might be busy, but at least i can adjust to a set schedule.