One of the hardest parts of being an ATR is the fact that I have to travel to a different place every week. Since I don't have a car, this often means standing at 6 in the morning waiting for my first of three bus transfers. Now, if I had a permanent position the long commute would be worth it, because I'd have my own group of students that I wanted to see through the school year. But one of the worst things about being an ATR is I travel two hours to arrive at a school, and usually the payroll secretary will give me my "program" for the day, whatever that might be.
I've tried to stay motivated and think that I'm fulfilling a role (subbing), but it's been very hard. There are so many days when that alarm sounds off early in the morning (I was never a morning person), and it's hard to drag myself out of bed, because I think "I'm just going to travel almost two hours to work for ... what?" And I ask myself that until I look at the alarm clock and realize that if I don't get up, I'll be docked for being late.
Well my feeling of pointlessness just reached a new high when I heard that schools will remain closed for the remainder of this week for children, but teachers must report to work on Friday. All week I've had an assignment in an unnamed high school, but due to inclement weather, I haven't had the opportunity to report to this high school. But now, on Friday, I guess I will make my way through several bus transfers to go there to ... sub for non-existent classes? It's going to be all sorts of meaningful.
Next week I'm supposed to be shuttled off to yet another school, but I haven't gotten my assignment yet. Again, because of the inclement weather they're a bit undecided about which schools would most need a week-long sub.
I guess this is Tweed's idea of really putting teachers to the best possible use. Don't you think?
Related: Mr. A. Talk discusses what teachers have in store tomorrow.
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