Maintenance
Hopefully, at this point, I've proven that you can trust my qualifications and organization. I soon figured out I needed a tool kit to keep my bus moving. Let me be honest though, the first group of students I had could not be as trusting as you because I didn't have all of these tools completely figured out. Experience is the only thing in teaching that can prepare you for what is to come, and I had next to none. Let me paint a picture of my bus/classroom for the first few months...
We all know the seat at the back of the bus that is only big enough for the one student, right? And we have all seen the timid child who sits back there and never talks to anyone. Imagine that child one day gets up and starts trying to capture the buses attention. She tries everything. Waving her arms, raising her voice, making threats, and even jumping up and down, but the other students aren't paying her but glances of attention when they get annoyed by her almost constant nagging, that interrupts the things they are trying to do.
Okay, this may be a slight exaggeration from the truth, but there were days when this is exactly how I felt...except somehow the bus was moving!! I was supposed to be the driver and yet I was sitting at the back trying to get the student's attention and just letting the bus go on autopilot, hoping there were no potholes, deer, dogs, etc. in the road to completely overturn my plans.
Thankfully, I had tools that I soon realized I had to use. This back of the bus sitting didn't go on long. I had the items necessary to make sure I didn't stay at the back of the bus. First of all I had fuel to keep the bus moving and my lessons ongoing. I would check the fluids in my bus daily to ensure everything was up to par. And when things went really bad, I had a group of mechanics there to dust me and my bus off and get us back on track.
We all know the seat at the back of the bus that is only big enough for the one student, right? And we have all seen the timid child who sits back there and never talks to anyone. Imagine that child one day gets up and starts trying to capture the buses attention. She tries everything. Waving her arms, raising her voice, making threats, and even jumping up and down, but the other students aren't paying her but glances of attention when they get annoyed by her almost constant nagging, that interrupts the things they are trying to do.
Okay, this may be a slight exaggeration from the truth, but there were days when this is exactly how I felt...except somehow the bus was moving!! I was supposed to be the driver and yet I was sitting at the back trying to get the student's attention and just letting the bus go on autopilot, hoping there were no potholes, deer, dogs, etc. in the road to completely overturn my plans.
Thankfully, I had tools that I soon realized I had to use. This back of the bus sitting didn't go on long. I had the items necessary to make sure I didn't stay at the back of the bus. First of all I had fuel to keep the bus moving and my lessons ongoing. I would check the fluids in my bus daily to ensure everything was up to par. And when things went really bad, I had a group of mechanics there to dust me and my bus off and get us back on track.