If It's Friday...

I'll be giving up my prep to sub in another teacher's class.

That's what has been going down at my school for...well...a while, I guess.

At my last school, it was a teacher's last rite of passage to take 3-day weekends for the entire year before retiring. The last year I worked there, I covered in the business class almost every Friday. The teacher was a friend and mentor to me, so I didn't hold it against her too much--plus she told me from the beginning of the year that she planned to burn up her sick time. I guess I was prepared for it although it was a pain. Sometimes we would be so short on subs that I would absorb another teacher's classes into mine for the whole day! I couldn't get double pay like I deserved, but I would get the pay for giving up my prep, which was like $20. Wahoo!

I was so disappointed to come to the largest district in the state--one of the largest in the country--only to find that from time to time I would be asked to cover another teacher's class during my prep. So, I guess it's pretty typical. (Or is it? Chime in, please!) What's curious about the Friday situation at my current school is that the staff is pretty young. I can only think of a few teachers who might be nearing retirement, and honestly, a teacher like me, with about a decade of experience, is an old timer. So what gives? Is Friday golf day?

Golf day? Hang-over-recovery day? Heading-to-California day? Taking-sick-time-because-I hate-my-job day? Or, could it be a true illness has struck? You can't imagine what ill-feelings I have toward my fellow teachers when my Fridays are forced into a hectic pace because I have to work through my prep in another teacher's classroom.

(I know some of you are thinking that I do have time to spare these days, and that's true, but this irritation applies to all the other times!)

This morning, as I was rushing down the hallway to see if I could figure out the lesson in my colleague's classroom before the students showed up (1st hour prep, no less!), I decided I should just accept the Friday fate and wake up with a smile on my face. Wahoo! It's Friday! Today I will surely have the opportunity for extra money to make!

It's all in the spin, baby!

(In case you're worried, we make what our hourly rate would be, so it's much better than $20, or I wouldn't be finding the good in this!)