(I realize this is a long and sometimes rambling post but it's ended up being therapeutic for me). Here goes:
I'm a full-time permanent substitute teacher. What that means to me is I'm out of the career college arena I've been in for the majority of my career. For the most part, I've very much enjoyed my work because most of the schools where I've been were ethical and truly helped change young adults' lives by enabling them to have careers without the four-year college route.
I've been with career colleges where most of the programs were in I.T. and Health Care. I held upper-level management positions (within the schools). I've formed life-long friendships with my peers and boss (I've had an absolutely wonderful woman as my boss at several different schools for a majority of my career).
In 2018, I accepted a position as the Director of Graduate Services at a school where a former co-worker was. Working at that particular school was a very unpleasant experience (due, in part, to the owner being a two-faced a**hole and, of course, a big Trumpster).
The final straw was him asking me (in a round-about way) to falsify documents. I very graciously turned in my notice and said it was because I wanted to get back into the classroom with students.
I LOVE substitute teaching and have decided this will be my career until I'll be able to retire with my full Social Security benefits on 3/1/24.
I substitute for grades K-5th and 9th-12th (which is elementary school and high school). I WON'T substitute for middle-schoolers. I simply can NOT connect with this age-group and have had horrible experiences. I've taken all middle-schools off of my preference listings.
I normally teach at one high school that I love, and I'm their preferred sub. That's where I spend most of my time. Today was a professional development day for the teachers and there were no students so I didn't have an assignment.
Anyway, on to today.....I got an alert at around 5:30 a.m. this morning (which is "normal" for most subs) for an assignment at a school where I've been before. The alerts list the school, the teacher and the grade. It was clearly marked as a 5th grade class (and since I've taught there before I knew it to be an elementary school).
Well, due to COVID, they ended up adding a middle-school to their campus. When I arrived and showed the Assistant Principal my assignment, she said something like, "oh, that's not a 5th grade class those are 6th and 8th graders." My heart sank. and I explained to her that I don't sub for middle-schoolers. She pretty much blew me off, and I ended up taking the classes. IT WAS THE NIGHTMARE THAT I REMEBER MIDDLE-SCHOOLERS TO BE (I realize that some teachers are fine with these grades but no matter what I try to do it ends up just being a horrible experience).
I made it through the day but I got ready for bed as soon as I got home because my Fibromyalgia is through the roof right now (and I know it's due to the stress- I'm physically and psychologically effed up).
I realize this is a long post but it really helps me to get it down. Having said that, I have a question for my wise fellow DU'ers:
When I got to the site this morning and found out that the class was middle-schoolers, should I have left?
Should I have called the agency in which I work and tell them what was going on? The chances are very high that my representative would have told me I had to stay or it would be a mark against me.
The agency where I'm employed (and how I receive my assignments) has really been great and certainly none of this was any fault of theirs. In fact, I think the school may have intentionally marked the class as 5th grade because almost every sub I know WON'T take middle-school assignments!
I realize today was "just one day" but I'm actually laid up now (although my Fibromyalgia pain has diminished because I've taken my supplements and OTC pain meds). I'd just appreciate anyone who's interested in giving me their feed-back.
Thank you....