Running

We are officially off and running, literally running.  It all started on Tuesday when the long term substitute began having heart issues about mid-morning.  We decided I could go up to the classroom and cover until a substitute could show up.  Before I knew it I was jumping right back into the classroom into my strong suite with teaching the students how to use technology.  To be honest it was probably the best case scenario for the students as an additional substitute would not have had access to student accounts for log-in information.  After my jaunt back in the classroom we began discussing a plan for the following day as there were no substitutes available until the afternoon.

On Wednesday I started the morning off back in the classroom teaching math, my favorite, and then whole group language arts.  Throughout the morning two students were pushing each others buttons.  For some reason they had been left together since the beginning of the year, and things have been escalating.  I was able to move and discussed the concerns with the substitute upon her arrival.  As soon as I left the classroom I realized the school social worker, a paraprofessional, and the principal were out in the community looking for a student who ran.  I found the counselor who had stayed behind and was monitoring the situation from the building to give me an update.  At that moment we witnessed the student walking back into the building while over the radio we heard that they had lost a visual of the student. I followed the student back to the classroom before he left to put on deodorant and then walked around the hallways before ending up in the social workers room.

Immediately following we had a paraprofessional interview to fill the last opening for the resource room.  We had already conducted about five interviews and none were a good fit.  From the beginning we could tell this individual would be a good fit.  During the interview the candidate had the opportunity to ask questions and I loved that the candidate asked us what is the best and worst thing about the school.  It showed me that they wanted to know the good and bad about working at the school.  After checking references we notified the candidate that we would love to have them at McCandless and they accepted the job.

The rest of the school day went well until we received a phone call from the busing service about a missing student around 3:30, thirty minutes after dismissal.  We were at first confused as we were unaware of any missing student.  After talking with the busing service it became clear that a parent had notified the busing service and requested busing for their student without enrolling the student in our school or the school that they had last attended in the district.  We were able to contact the parent and get them enrolled in the school, but it appears that they have missed the bus on the first day that they were to be here.

It’s only the first week and a few opportunities to continue learning.  I look forward to each additional opportunity as I become more comfortable in the role as an assistant.