Thursday 4 September 2014

My life in August


Work

August has been a bumper of a month for me. At the start of the month, I experienced working in a childcare centre for the first time. I’m a newly qualified teacher and a friend of mine offered me a shift at her childcare centre. There are many childcare jobs available and I wanted to see if it is a field that I should explore.

I worked as a floater at the childcare centre, taking over for people so they could go on their lunch break. I looked after babies, toddlers and pre-school aged children. I fed them, played with them and changed them.

At first I felt overwhelmed with learning the routines but afterwards I got use to the pace. I wouldn’t mind working in childcare as a mean time job but I wouldn’t take it as a career. I’m not really into childrearing; I’m more interested in teaching. Maybe I could work in childcare during the school holidays. It would provide an extra income for me as I am a relief (substitute) teacher and don’t get paid during holiday periods.
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I also worked as a relief teacher in August. I mostly worked at two schools filling in for when teachers got sick or were away. I’ve had all kinds of experiences at both schools. I’ve had bad days where children would misbehave just because I was a relief teacher. They would refuse to follow instructions, back chat, run around the room and try to do as they pleased. I’ve also had really good days where the children were really friendly and polite. I had one perfect class where the children did as they were told, were very welcoming and helpful.

Life

My dad had a heart attack near the start of the year and is still being rehabilitated over it. During August, he had another health scare where he had to go to hospital again. He’s fine now and life has returned to normal. I felt a bit sad about it and it left me in a bit of funk during that month. It just made me contemplate what life would be without him.
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Another stressful moment I had was when I was accused of hitting a car while I was working at a school. I got a call from a person who worked at the school telling me that they had seen me reverse into their car. The person said that they had photos and a witness. I wasn’t entirely convinced that I had done because I didn’t remember hitting a car and there wasn’t a dent in my car. Fortunately, it turned out to be a case of mistaken identity. The other driver was looking for a driver of a red car and I own a white one so I'm off the hook. 


8 comments:

  1. Sorry to hear about your dad's heart attack, but glad to hear he is doing better. Will be praying he has good health.

    Working at a daycare sounds fun (for 1 day?). I do agree teaching would be a lot funner :)

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    1. Thanks for your concern Bethany. My dad is doing better but I think he will always be a little frail from now on. I worked for two days at childcare and it got better on day two as I knew the routine.

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  2. Sorry to hear about your dad, Carlyn. That has to be tough - I hope he's getting better. Yay for a case of mistaken identity - who needs that stress, right??

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    1. My dad is doing well and I hope next year he'll be in better health. I was so relieved that I wasn't responsible for damaging the other car. When the woman called me, I asked her about how the accident happened because I didn't recall bumping a car when I left the school. The school car park is pretty narrow so it was possible I could have hit something without knowing about it. The woman said that she saw a red car hit her car so that's when it became clear that I was not responsible.

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  3. I know it hasn't been the easiest month Carlyn, but I'm glad that the thing with the car worked out and you were able to get some good work experiences.

    I continue to pray for your dad's improving health and the health and happiness of the rest of your family too.

    As you know this month has been rather difficult and sad for me but also good (I did get to visit and get visited by my family which I always love and learned that my twin and his wife will be having another baby). Definitely one of the stranger months with surprises both good and bad that I've been through in a while.

    Hopefully both our Septembers are happy and a bit less eventful on the dramatic side of things. We have your birthday to look forward to and I also have the start of a new football season and hockey season. *Go Chargers and Islanders!*

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    1. I'm also hoping that September will be a much happier time. I think it will be on my part as it will be my birthday and the school holidays! I also wish that you have more happy than sad days as well. I hope your hockey and football seasons go well.

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  4. Hi Carlyn! It's so interesting to read about what's been going on in your life.

    Children do tend to take advantage of relief teachers to misbehave and not follow instructions, so I imagine it must be quite tough for you to have to fill in on so many classes you are unfamiliar with all the time. Glad to hear that you had one perfect class though! They sound like such a delight to teach.

    Very sorry to hear about your father's condition. It's good that his condition is stabilised now and I do hope he remains healthy! Best wishes to you and your family.

    Cheers to a great September ahead, Carlyn! I hope you've been well and I look foward to reading about more of your adventures :)

    Renae
    x

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    1. Hi Renae, I'm glad you enjoy reading my diary entries. Sometimes, I think I should write less about teaching but it is a big factor in my life and it is my diary after all. I liken relief teaching to that quote from Forest Gump that goes, "Life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what you are going to get". I never know what a class will be like until I'm in it.
      I'm really looking forward to this September because it's my favourite month! My birthday is on the 27th and it will be the school holidays. I hope you will have a good September as well.

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