A Day in the Life

A record of my first day of UK Supply:

6:30am: Alarm rings. I am tired. VERY tired. I still have not fully adjusted to the time change, plus I was pretty ridden with anxiety last night over my first day ("will I get there on time? will the students be as difficult to manage as everyone says? what if it's crazy but they like me and I have to go back all week? what if they DON'T like me? what if my alarm doesn't go off in the morning? what if...? what if...? what if...?"). So it's an early morning. I still feel all of those insecurities and worries as I get ready to leave the house, but I also have the "I can do this" calm that I get every morning before tackling a new teaching assignment. Most of this anxiety isn't new - I felt it when I taught in Victoria too. But there are a few added stresses doing it for the first time here.

7:15...well, 7:20am (okay, I admit, I was running a tad late): Leave the house. And, for the first time since I arrived, it's raining. Of course it is. I'm carrying my shoulder bag, my lunch, my teaching bag, an A-Z map of London book and a tube map. Oh, and an umbrella. I look (and feel) ridiculous. And I'm getting wet. Of course, I'm also getting warm, because, for the third time in four days, I've worn too many layers before hoofing it to the tube station, and I'm sweating already. Now that's attractive.

8:40am: I'm lost. And late. The first few legs of my walk-tube-walk-train-walk-bus-walk trip (seriously, that's the easiest route to the school) go pretty well. But apparently there's a difference between Kentish Town West (on the Overground Line) and Kentish Town (on the National Rail Line). Who knew? I find myself at the wrong end of town, searching for a bus station that is nowhere to be found. I must look pretty distressed at this point, because a very nice man asks me if I need some help. He directs me to Kentish Town Road, where he says I'll find the station I'm looking for so that I can find the bus stop located outside of it. His directions aren't exactly correct, but miraculously, the bus I need goes up this street and I am able to get on it (after some more help from a couple of teenage girls who don't really know much more than I do). Phew, I'm on the bus. I check with the bus driver, and yes, I'm definitely on the right bus.
But wait, there's more. Because of the mix-up and all of my extra walking around, I'm now sure I'm going to be getting to the school JUST in the knick of time, if not late. I am feeling TERRIBLE about being late! I can deal with everything else, but I've NEVER been late to a school placement and I can't believe I'm starting now! I phone the Office so they can phone the school to let them know. He asks me if the stops are being announced, because that's the only way I'll know when to push the STOP button on the bus. And yes, that's right, I'm on the one bus in the city whose announcing mechanism STOPS working about halfway through my trip. So I have no idea when to get off the bus. Time to bug the bus driver... again. "This is the bus to Meadow Drive station, isn't it? The announcement will come on for Meadow Drive, won't it? I haven't missed Meadow Drive station, have I? This woman DEFINITELY knows where I'm going.
Finally, we get to the right bus stop (she announces it personally with her microphone, even though I'm sitting 2 rows from the front), and I get off (still carrying loads of things, trying to balance an umbrella and hitching up my pants so that I don't arrive looking completely like a drowned rat with wet pant-bottoms).

8:50am: School starts. Oh, and I arrive at the school at the same time. Awesome. As any of you teachers reading this will understand, this is pretty much stress-central right here: I'm walking in unprepared, every adult I speak to warns me that this class is "chatty" (which is universal code for "misbehaving"), and they've had 3 supply teachers (TOCs, for those of you in Canada!) in the last 3 weeks. Awesome. Luckily, I have a prep for the first 30min, so I'm able to get a handle on things (a bit, but not nearly enough, as my 9:30 lesson requires set-up).

12:00pm: Lunch. The kids leave the room and I embrace the sudden quiet. You don't realize how loud they are until they aren't there! I assess how I'm doing at this point. I've been a bit haggard this morning, running to keep up and not really feeling on top of my game (and no, I don't give myself any leeway for it being my first day - I'm a professional and I should always be my best!). I couldn't find some of the materials listed in the lesson plans I was given, so I just made do with what I could. The other Year 1 (Grade 1) teacher touched base with me in the morning and mentioned that it was okay for me to deviate from the lesson plan as long as I covered the topics in a similar way. So that's what I've been doing. They learned the right things, just not the same WAY they would have from their teacher. And that's okay.
I take full advantage of the 1h15min lunch break to get myself ready for the coming afternoon.

3:20pm: Dismissal. The afternoon has gone much smoother. We've all had a chance to get comfortable with each other, I was much more on-the-ball after that lunchtime cup of coffee, and the students were engaged and working hard. Aside from a lot of chatter (and I don't necessarily mean misbehaviour this time, just noisiness) and the two kids who decided to punch each other during the afternoon playtime (recess), things went well and I'm feeling a lot better about the day (and about myself as a teacher too!). And you know what, those cute little British accents made it all okay in the end :)  (How CUTE is it to hear "Miss, can I go to the toilet?" about 15 times while supervising the break?) And the kids and I are enjoying each other. One student walked straight up to me, gave me a big hug and said, with a huge grin, "Miss, I like you!". Another made me a card: "Miss Corni. I like you." Pretty darn adorable!

4:00pm: Call from my Agency. A woman from the agency calls to ask how my first day went (I have to say, they have been quite helpful and supportive today!), and to let me know that the school would like me back for the rest of the week (there's a couple of those anxiety points taken care of - they like me AND I want to go back!). So I spend another half hour in the classroom getting ready for tomorrow. There are a few things I'll need to get ready in the morning, but I'm pretty much ready to go and feeling much better.

4:30pm: On my way home. I've morphed back into a tourist (ugh!). Determined to figure out the CORRECT route between the school and my house, I take out the A-Z map (it's a book filled with all of the street maps in London) and follow the bus's route with my finger. Eventually (with a little texting help from my super roommate), I make it home unharmed (ah, so THAT'S where the Kentish Town station is!). Oh, besides the giant puddle I walked beside at the same time someone drove through it. Awesome. Now my feet are drenched with puddle water.

6:00pm: I'm home. A couple of Skype dates with Mom and Teci (yay!), and my day is officially over. I close my bedroom door, hibernate inside watching old episodes of The Big Bang Theory and work on crocheting a hat (and I think I'm actually going to keep this one for myself). This is my happy place. And hopefully I'll sleep better tonight!