Re: What's the worst thing you have ever forgotten?

[Babyjo]

At first I asked this of yahoo Answers but it occurred to me that you guys would get this better than any of them.

I’m a substitute teacher, and I forgot to go to work today. Just…forgot. I’m pretty open about the ADHD, and the district I work for is well aware of it. I get these one-day assignments day by day and I write them in my day planner, which I have been trying to train myself to use more regularly. Well, at some point last night I convinced myself that I didn’t have an assignment today. (I scheduled this assignment over two weeks ago.) So today I slept in, thinking the computer scheduling program that gives me assignments (www.aesopeducation.com) would alert me if something became available. One of the schools called me at about 8:30 but I ignored it since I had decided to spend the day doing chores. I don’t know how long it would have taken me to realize it, butat about 9:45 I saw an email notification saying my assignment had been cancelled for today! I was supposed to be there at 7:30. I immediately called the secretary and, despite having been advised to lie after the fact, told her the truth about simply having forgotten that I had a job assigned today. I know I completely screwed their morning. They have IED meetings (for parents of kids with various emotional or learning disabilities) and I was to supervise the lessons while the teacher was in the meeting. I don’t know if they had to cancel meetings, or… or what they had to do to compensate for my not showing up or even calling to let them know I wouldn’t be there. They found a replacement for me finally, but I feel just awful. To make matters worse, I came down with a bad cold Monday morning and had to call off that day, at the same school! So, I’ve stood them up twice in one week, although I was at least able to give them three hours’ warning the first time.

I would love some advice from professionals out there, especially anyone in education. If you were a principal, would you totally lose respect for me? I’m pretty sure they know I have ADHD, I’m pretty open about it. I’ve done other silly stuff like forget which teacher I came to sub for, showing up at the wrong school or on the wrong day (before now, a day early instead of late), and they’ve rolled with it and I’ve understood myself to have a pretty positive reputation. I don’t “hide behind the desk”, I’m not afraid to get out there and teach, the kids know and respect me and generally a good time is had by all, and the work gets done. I leave detailed behavior reports to hold the kids accountable (I usually sub for grades 5 and up. plenty old enough to understand and respect consequences) and let the teachers know what happened when they were gone. I just feel like I would want to know. Plus I make copies for myself and it’s kind of like a journal. In fact, I am in grad school to get my teaching license. That’s the other part of this dilemma: I’ve been cultivating a relationship with this district for years, I did my FEEP there, I’ve subbed there for two years, ideally I’ll do my student teaching there and the best thing would be if I could eventually teach there. It’s a low-income district and I love the staff and the kids and consider many among the staff mentors. I feel so awful for letting them down.

What can I do now? Damage control ideas? I thought of literally sending a fruit basket with a note of apology to the principal and office staff, or even to the asst superintendent, who is essentially my supervisor and in charge of substitutes. I’m sure she’ll hear of it. Or, I just shut up and let it blow over and resolve to NEVER EVER do it again.

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