Odds & Ends

Now that you're up to speed on how I spent my time in the computer lab and the responsibilities I was given as a teacher's aid, it's time to visit the miscellaneous tasks I was handed over the school year.

During the interview process I was told I'd had 2 additional responsibilities each day; work the car line in the morning and the intercom system in the afternoon. I will confess that this revelation did not exactly fill my heart with joy. I knew the winter months would be torturous in the car line. And, quite frankly, the intercom system terrified me. But I overcame my fears and persevered.

I probably learned as much working car line for 45 minutes every morning as I did working in the classroom. You can tell a lot about a person by the kind of trash they have in their car. Especially when the trash that was in the backseat in August has only moved to the floorboard by May. (And, just in case you are one of those people who thinks that your car is the only car in the world that is filthy and repulsive, let me assure you it is not.)

And now, as a means of educating those of you who may not be aware of the car-rider line protocol, allow me to explain a few things. It is not the responsibility of the teacher opening your car door to EVER:

Finish getting your child dressed for school.
Make sure they packed their lunch.
Wait for them to finish their homework before they exit the vehicle.
Wait for them to finish watching a movie before they exit the vehicle.
Help them find a shoe in the back of your minivan.

Now that we're clear on all that, I'll introduce you to my partner Cindy:


She was the aid in our preschool this year and we worked the car line each and every morning together. We worked in the pouring rain and flood waters. We worked in the frigid winter mornings. And we FINALLY worked in the sunny springtime. We kinda had our own "good cop/bad cop" scenario happening. Can you guess which one I was?

Cindy is by nature very friendly and outgoing. I am by nature very task oriented and not exactly what you would call a morning person. Those parents who had Cindy open their car door were greeted with a friendly smile and warm greeting, even those who had forgotten to finish dressing their kids or couldn't find their lunchboxes or wanted to let them finish watching Veggie Tales before they got out of the car while it was 20 below and raining outside. Even THEN she spoke sweetly to them. Me? Not so much.

Next, let's talk about the intercom. To understand the complexity of this task you must be aware of the system we have in place during our dismissal hour. At 2:30 our school secretary Donna takes a walkie talkie to the edge of our parking lot and greets parents as they come to pick up their children. Because she is a brilliant, efficient and all-around awesome girl, she recoginizes each parent, aunt, uncle, babysitter and grandparent that comes and can recollect the names of the kids they are picking up instantaneously. It is a wonder to behold.

Once she sees the car, she would radio in the children's names to me. I would then announce them over the intercom system. Now, that sounds pretty simple until you take into account that they have to be released according to grade level. That meant I had to remember the child's name, their grade and their classroom in order to get it right. And because our intercom is located at the front desk and our school secretary was outside calling names, guess who had to answer the phone, greet incoming guests, hand out medicine and band-aids to students and watch PTF members count petty cash from the drawer WHILE CALLING NAMES FOR DISMISSAL?????????? That would be me. The first few weeks were rocky to say the least but after a while I mastered it. I was complemented more than once on my outstanding intercom vocal performance. I hate there's not a Grammy category for that.
So, on top of the car line and the intercom I also got a lot of substitute teacher experience. I spent an unfortunate day in 5th grade, a couple of trying days in 2nd grade and a very loooooooonnnnnnnnnng day in kindergarten. I had a more positive experience as the librarian for an entire week and got to be the music teacher one week too.

I gained a lot of great experience and made a lot of fun memories. And now, it is summer and there is much rejoicing in the land.