"Consider the lilies o' the goddamn field!" - Ulysses Everett McGill, O Brother Where Art Thou?
I've mentioned that my life is in a period of relatively rapid change. Change is proposed to me, I tend to say yes, and then perhaps even the next day I am in a slightly different life.
On the first day that I began to worry about the way substitute jobs have lately seemed sparse, I was called in the afternoon by Kaplan in Kansas City. I had been asked before by my boss in Lawrence if I were willing to commute at all to the KC center.. I said I was open to the possibility. I am open to a lot of possibilities, right? They do pay mileage in sitations like this, so it's actually kind of like getting paid to drive and listen to my CDs.
After a brief explanation, I shrugged and took the job, and promised to be at a high school in KC by 8am the next morning to proctor a diagnostic ACT in preparation to teach a shortened ACT course.
At this point, Wednesday, I was nervous and wondered if I'd made the right choice. With my life's sense of irony, I would probably get sweet sub calls for the next two days just because I now planned to be away (KC Thursday, and I was originally planning to take Friday off to drive to St. Louis for Vates' birthday celebration weekend).
But, as if to encourage me, I did not get sub calls for the rest of the week. And, one assignment that was scheduled for the future (which actually conflicted with my new job) notified me of its cancellation.
Thursday was predictably terrible. Commuting eastbound directly into the sun makes signs difficult to read, but I managed to only miss my exit one crucial time. When I got to administer the test, we had to move rooms, start late, and then go looking in other rooms for pencils and pencil sharpeners. Only about half the kids that were supposed to be taking the test had been notified, and out of that half, only about half showed up. The school gives me the impression that I, with my cutely-professional look revisited, my red hair up in a little bun, am distinctly out of place. It is a bit rough-and-tumble. I consider that Lawrence kids are wheat-bread eating happy hippie children in comparison. I am clearly not in Kansas anymore.
But to my delight, the administrator wants to make sure more kids get involved. I agree to come back the next morning to try again. This time, I bring a box of pencils, some erasers, sharpeners, and board markers. Friday is as much a success as it can be, given that our classroom is invaded during the reading test by a noisy group looking to use the computers we've left open. And I roll on to STL as planned, straight from KC.
So I feel very personally taken care of.
But, as if to encourage me, I did not get sub calls for the rest of the week. And, one assignment that was scheduled for the future (which actually conflicted with my new job) notified me of its cancellation.
Thursday was predictably terrible. Commuting eastbound directly into the sun makes signs difficult to read, but I managed to only miss my exit one crucial time. When I got to administer the test, we had to move rooms, start late, and then go looking in other rooms for pencils and pencil sharpeners. Only about half the kids that were supposed to be taking the test had been notified, and out of that half, only about half showed up. The school gives me the impression that I, with my cutely-professional look revisited, my red hair up in a little bun, am distinctly out of place. It is a bit rough-and-tumble. I consider that Lawrence kids are wheat-bread eating happy hippie children in comparison. I am clearly not in Kansas anymore.
But to my delight, the administrator wants to make sure more kids get involved. I agree to come back the next morning to try again. This time, I bring a box of pencils, some erasers, sharpeners, and board markers. Friday is as much a success as it can be, given that our classroom is invaded during the reading test by a noisy group looking to use the computers we've left open. And I roll on to STL as planned, straight from KC.
So I feel very personally taken care of.
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