sick day.

I HATE staying home sick. I don't know about any other teachers out there, but I have a hard time giving up control for a day. 

 I've been a sub before.

And I know it can go one of two ways.

1. The plans can be terrible and the kids can rule the room while you're gone.

or...

2. You can bust your butt leaving incredibly detailed plans so that things can be as consistent as possible.

I choose #2.

Always.

I knew yesterday that there was a strong possibility that I would be staying home today. So I sat down at 3:00pm to write plans. I wasn't done until 4:40. I made sure my plans were written to a tee so that anyone would be able to walk into my room and function for a day. Yes it took over an hour and a half. And I felt like poo while I was working on them. But my sub knows exactly where to go in the room to find things and what to do and say to get things done efficiently. (Side note: in order for a sub to have a smooth day, you must also have strict rules and procedures set in place. This is the first full day of school I've missed this year, but I've made sure that my students know what's expected of them. And I'm confident that those expectations will carry over to when I'm gone as well.)

I like to check my email periodically throughout the day if I'm sick to make sure nothing crazy is going on. I got an email from a member of administration this morning telling me that he looked over my plans and was impressed with how organized and detailed they were. He said he was confident a sub would have no problem implementing them. Which is good, because that's what I was going for.

I was also happy when I logged onto Facebook and found this little gem:

I miss them too.

And I'm really hoping I can get back to them tomorrow. 

Because I've officially watched 4 and a half hours of "Keeping Up with the Kardashians" today.

And the marathon continues until 7pm.

Eeek.

**If anyone would like a copy of my sub plans, email me and let me know!  lmiller@xaviersoe.org