Do you remember that glorious, white, undeniably beautiful, white stuff we call snow? Well, it’s back for another Canadian winter, though a little bit later than I would have liked. Who doesn’t like snow? Well, sure, I know some people who despise it for various reasons (i.e. driving, the frigid cold, having to dress warmly)... but I always brushed it off saying it was a lame reason to dislike the amazing form of precipitation. If you haven’t noticed, for me, snow is the gift from the Gods.
I have now experienced first-hand one group of individuals that DESERVE to dislike the snow: teachers. Personally, I believe that it takes a special type of person to be a teacher (i.e. one who can put up with 20 kids running around, tattling on their “best friend”, and later hiding under desks...but let’s not get into that bit of the profession). The kids themselves take on an entire dynamic that makes the career a neverending maze with new turns. Snow, however, is possibly the teacher’s worst nightmare.
We had our first bit of snow yesterday (Monday, December 7) while the students were learning about subtraction in math. Now, let’s do some critical thinking here: do you think the students actually learned about subtraction? Or did they possibly add up the amount of snowflakes coming down in the student-claimed ‘blizzard’ that was occurring outside? If you guessed the latter, you are correct, minus the adding up of snowflakes. It was more like, “Miss Harrison! Miss Harrison! Did you know that it is snowing? Did you know that there is a BLIZZARD going on outside? At recess I’m going to make a snowman!”
If I could have turned myself into a snowman, maybe, just MAYBE those students would have heard one single word that I said instead of staring out the window. I am going out on a pretty sturdy limb here, and am going to say that snow is the direct cause for students turning into complete unfocused, wall-climbing...students. It is like sugar that kids just have to see in order to feel the immediate effect.
This morning I was informed 15 minutes before the morning bell rang that my teacher was sick and was not coming in. Instead, a supply teacher would be in, but since I have been here for 2 weeks I was asked if I could teach the entire day. I had to teach the entire class today for the wholeeee day; not just the math and media lesson I had to have planned for the afternoon.
Snow covered the ground this morning. The kids were bonkers – you would have thought that Santa himself made himself visible on the school roof that very morning for all to see.
We’re supposed to get a huge snow storm tonight. There is rumour that my teacher will be away tomorrow, too. I may call in dead. FML
A very stressed Heidi
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