When was the last time you set foot in a high school? For me, I think it was May 2001, the day I graduated. I haven't really had a reason to go to one. I don't have siblings that play sports so I never really had the need to go back to my old stomping grounds. That was until this week. Unfortunately I still haven't been back to my good ole' alumni Alta high school, but I did go to a high school near where I live and not as just a passerby, but an actual teacher. I got a job this week subbing high school PE.
Niki, I know you are a high school PE teacher so no offense, but this was the easiest job alive! I'm sure she puts way more effort into the job than some teachers, but seriously, all you have to do is take roll, have them stretch (which you don't even have to do, you have a student lead), go have them run around the track for 15 minutes then think of a game for them to play, such a ultimate frisbee. You may have to blow your whistle a couple of times and maybe tell some kids to run instead of walk, but other than that the job is very simple. You get to wear comfy clothes, you get to go outside and have fresh air and if you are feeling inferior you do have a whistle you can blow at any given time. Also, the school has a block schedule, so they have only 4 long periods per day, and one of those every day is a prep period. So I only had to work 3 out of 4 classes. Seriously, not a bad break!
Its also funny to observe the kids. I was trying to think of what kid I would compare to. There were the "cool" kids; they were the one's that wore the latest Nike apparel and would run together in a huge group on the track. Of course there were the "jocks", which kind of mixed with the "cool" crowd. There were the "punks" who try everything in their power to look like anything but normal. There were the "loners" who try to act invisible and try to avoid any sort of conversation. Then there were the "suck-ups" who try to be your best friend as a teacher, I was definitely not one of those!
I did get tired of people trying to take advantage of the sub. In the beginning, I would listen to all sorts of reasons why they needed to use the hall pass, or why they couldn't participate in gym. Near the end, I turned into a hard "A" and didn't take any excuse. In a way, I think I learned a little about parenting. You have to be strong in your decisions and not let any excuse change your mind.
Some peculiar things I noticed in the school as I was aimlessly walking around during my hour in a half prep period:
1) Baby diaper changers in the student bathrooms. Um.... why do they need those? Am I being naive?
2) The lunch room had the worst possible diet you could think of. I looked in the vending machines and there was not one healthy thing. Even in the drink machines, they didn't sell diet and the drinks were 20 oz.
3) Another bathroom observation. The tampon and pad dispensers machines are still just 25 cents. I would think since the economy is hurting and inflation, they would have raised those prices!
4) Some kids had some major BO issues in gym. Man some of them stink!
It was a fun experience going back to high school. It brought back tons of memories of being back. I look back and I feel good about my role. I had good friends, I played sports, I got decent grades, but I also lived it up. Remember that one night we found old bagels in the dumpster and went to the Juice Tree (the cool hang out in high school) and chucked bagels at people? Or when we dragged State and ran into some boys and they thought we were cute and so they pulled over and Meagan (the cute cheerleader) walked up to their car and started acting like a dinosaur? Good times had by all of us!
