So, I am annoyed with trying to introduce invisible people to me. Since I suspect only people who know me will actually read this thing, I am going to make it a little more personal. From now on, I will not go into the pains of introducing the reader to my history or explain more than is necessary.

So, I subbed at TH elementary today and yesterday. I taught second graders today and first graders yesterday. Up til now I have taught mostly kindergaertners when I have subbed at the elementarys (or is it elementaries?).

I also have subbed for the reading teacher over at Moxee. She apparently has been saying great things about me. The funny thing is the reason she seems to like me is probably the reason she should not like me. See, she was testing children in the library and I was lucky enough to have...

hmmm, ok, here is the thing, it is difficult to explain, but I will try. One of Cora's mom's moms...a mother of one of the children in Cora's mom's daycare...is a teacher and has put out a good word for me. The reading teacher requested me from that good word.

...ok, back to the story. So, I show up and find that she taeches different batches of kids through out the day. Generally kids who are a little behind the rest of the class. So, they arrive and they leave and they arrive and they leave throughout the day. So, this one child, we will call him Jose, comes in and I was helping him read. I kept watching the clock, but for some reason missed the fact that it had switched from eleven to twelve. He got squirmy, but I just put it up to his personality. Well, this teacher walks by from her testing. She looked confused all of a sudden, then realized what was wrong. She came in and asked if we had had lunch. I said no, and then glanced once more at the sheet with her schedule on it...we had worked through lunch. The thing was, though, he was very engaged in learning about the endings of words and he seemed to be responding to me better than he did to others. That and our dedication to the task at hand apparently created a place in her heart for me. She has since spread the word to several other teachers. Saying nothing but good things. So, that is how a mistake on my part, and a pretty stupid one at that (could not tell time), has helped me get more jobs.

The new (for our district) computerized substitute program allows teachers to request specific subs. On the down side, it ties you to the computer, which, I suppose, I am not really complaining about. Apparently the fact that I also work as a custodian/maintenance guy for the district also helps, in that I have met many of the teachers and I never lost a chance to let them know I was working toward a teaching certificate. now many of them are requesting me. I worked at the high school at the beginning of February for a sophomore biology teacher. Apparently, there were kids in the hallway saying the "Cool" sub was there today. Well, another teacher walking by heard that. She decided she would ask if I would sub for her the next day. She told me the reason was that she wanted her kids to have a fun sub or someone they would like. Apparently I passed the test, because she has spread good things about me at the high school. I have been requested again to work tomorrow.

Now, why am I the "cool" sub? Probably because I interact with the kids like they are humans. If they give me a smart alleck remark, I am more than likely to retort in a similar way. My humor is something they seem to understand, and when they see that I genuinely care about them, they seem more forgiving of any missteps or mistakes.

I worked in the sped/lifeskills classroom the previous two Fridays. The Parapro who works in there told me on the way out for the day that she was looking forward to seeing my "water walking," after hearing all about me from others. I was apparently (I seem to use that word alot) good with the kids, because they asked me back.

So Cora found this cool site. It is a live cam of a couple African watering holes. The sounds are really cool. Here is the site: http://www.africam.com/wildlife/node

Well, that has to be plenty of post, especially since my bladder is now considerably more full than before.