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tagrynFinished another good week of subbing: jobs for 4 out of 5 days, and they were mostly routine video-and-worksheets or exam proctoring ones. Next week is the week before finals; I already have one job lined up subbing for a Chemistry teacher on Monday, but I don't think I'm going to be able to get much work the rest of the week. Most field trips were this week, and teachers want to be around to prep kids for finals, at least that's been my experience in the past.
Today I was subbing for a biology teacher at a local high school. First two periods were easy: exam proctoring for AP Biology. I always love covering for AP classes: the kids are smart and self-motivated, and having taking a couple of AP classes myself back in the day I can relate to the students pretty easily. The other three were 9th grade Bio: a little more "energenic" as one would expect, but pretty good overall.
I found one of the two videos I showed them pretty amusing, but probably not for the reasons the makers meant. It was sponsored by Chevron pesticides, circa 1982. First, the title of the movie ("The Insect Challenge") and tone of the whole thing (Us Vs. The Insects Who Give Us Diseases and Eat Our Food - hey, what do you expect from a pesticide company?) reminded me of one of the old movie parodies from "The Simpsons":
"Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You may remember me from such nature films as 'Earwigs: Ewwww' and 'Man vs. Nature: The Road to Victory!'."
Second, there was a part where the movie waxed eloquent about how scientists test all pesticides rigorously to make sure they pose no harm to man or the environment. I had to mutter under my breath "or at least so we hope," each time, and I say that as the son of a herbicide chemist. Finally, there's a scene where a farmer is walking in his field, trying to figure out whether to spray or not. He drives his pickup to a phone along the main road, and hooks it up to a teletype machine with an early modem - the kind you had to physically place the phone into. This way, he could talk to a pesticide lab at Michigan State to find out whether to use pesticides or not. Had to tell one class "Well guys, look closely, this is how we did things in the days before the Internet." Well, like I said, copyright 1982.
Tonight I was able to pick up a job on the last day of school. Its for a science teacher at a local junior high school, their 8th graders are on a field trip to Disneyland and I'm sure he's one of the chaperones. His instructions indicate it's a minimum day (out by noon) and also a "carnival day," so it should be a fun day, probably. I say probably, because one time I showed up for a JHS assignment and found out that my task was to do the videos-and-worksheet thing for a collection of students from 5 different classes, all of whom either had serious discipline problems or poor enough grades (usually both) that they weren't being allowed to go on the trip. Not Fun.
I got a call from the Census recruiter a couple of days back, he wanted to tell me that I was "reachable" on certificate (i.e. the Office of Personnel Management for the gov't is allowing them to hire me) and they were definitely going to make a job offer. That's good news, but I want to see what the details of the offer are before getting too excited. The ups-and-downs of the process have left me suspicious of what looks like obvious Good News until I actually have the thing in my hands on paper. I would be working for the manager I really liked during my Census visit, so that's good. We'll see.
Today I was subbing for a biology teacher at a local high school. First two periods were easy: exam proctoring for AP Biology. I always love covering for AP classes: the kids are smart and self-motivated, and having taking a couple of AP classes myself back in the day I can relate to the students pretty easily. The other three were 9th grade Bio: a little more "energenic" as one would expect, but pretty good overall.
I found one of the two videos I showed them pretty amusing, but probably not for the reasons the makers meant. It was sponsored by Chevron pesticides, circa 1982. First, the title of the movie ("The Insect Challenge") and tone of the whole thing (Us Vs. The Insects Who Give Us Diseases and Eat Our Food - hey, what do you expect from a pesticide company?) reminded me of one of the old movie parodies from "The Simpsons":
"Hi, I'm Troy McClure. You may remember me from such nature films as 'Earwigs: Ewwww' and 'Man vs. Nature: The Road to Victory!'."
Second, there was a part where the movie waxed eloquent about how scientists test all pesticides rigorously to make sure they pose no harm to man or the environment. I had to mutter under my breath "or at least so we hope," each time, and I say that as the son of a herbicide chemist. Finally, there's a scene where a farmer is walking in his field, trying to figure out whether to spray or not. He drives his pickup to a phone along the main road, and hooks it up to a teletype machine with an early modem - the kind you had to physically place the phone into. This way, he could talk to a pesticide lab at Michigan State to find out whether to use pesticides or not. Had to tell one class "Well guys, look closely, this is how we did things in the days before the Internet." Well, like I said, copyright 1982.
Tonight I was able to pick up a job on the last day of school. Its for a science teacher at a local junior high school, their 8th graders are on a field trip to Disneyland and I'm sure he's one of the chaperones. His instructions indicate it's a minimum day (out by noon) and also a "carnival day," so it should be a fun day, probably. I say probably, because one time I showed up for a JHS assignment and found out that my task was to do the videos-and-worksheet thing for a collection of students from 5 different classes, all of whom either had serious discipline problems or poor enough grades (usually both) that they weren't being allowed to go on the trip. Not Fun.
I got a call from the Census recruiter a couple of days back, he wanted to tell me that I was "reachable" on certificate (i.e. the Office of Personnel Management for the gov't is allowing them to hire me) and they were definitely going to make a job offer. That's good news, but I want to see what the details of the offer are before getting too excited. The ups-and-downs of the process have left me suspicious of what looks like obvious Good News until I actually have the thing in my hands on paper. I would be working for the manager I really liked during my Census visit, so that's good. We'll see.
