tales of substitute teaching.

Two weeks ago yesterday marked my first day as a substitute teacher. Since then, I have worked a whopping total of 3 full days and 4 half days. I'll blog more about my feelings toward subbing later, but first, let's get to the stories.


I was assigned to sub in a Kindergarten class my first two days. I arrived Tuesday morning, bright and early, and learned that the class I was subbing for had a student teacher. Unsure of where she was in the program, I did not want to assume that I did not have to teach. Upon meeting her, though, I learned that she was teaching full time and I was merely there for legal purposes as a supervisor. So, my first day of substitute teaching, and I've already had my first student teacher! The morning went by uneventfully, and I was actually a little bored of just roaming around the class and helping as needed. Lunch came and I went to the teacher's lounge to eat. There were a number of teachers and staff members in there, but I spoke to only a few teachers near me. Another Kindergarten teacher (who had been a big help to me when I first arrived and there was question of whether the student teacher was going to be there) sat next to me. With about 10 minutes left of lunch, I was just getting ready to head back to the classroom. All of a sudden the teacher next to me began choking on a piece of orange, quietly at first, then quickly turning into a violent choking and she could no longer breathe. Thankfully, there was another person standing right next to her, who then began to do the Heimlich Manuever on her. After what felt like about 5 minutes, but in reality was about 20 seconds, the orange dislodged from her throat and she was able to breathe again. Everyone was slightly in shock of what had just happened. I went back to the classroom just as the student teacher was bringing in the students. About 5 minutes later, the school secretary came into the classroom and asked me to take over the other Kindergarten class so the teacher could go home. I was given about 10 minutes while the class was entertained by the third Kindergarten teacher to figure out what on earth I was going to do with the class for the next 2 hours and 15 minutes. I found what I thought was the math worksheet for that day, as well as a few other worksheet activities that would keep them occupied for awhile. The class was interesting, to say the least, but I made it through without killing any children. ;) I was thankful to have one of the moms come into the class that normally volunteers in the morning to help me out. She especially helped when it came to dismissal time and helping me to know where each student was supposed to go.

Wednesday I was back in the same Kindergarten class (the original one) and the day was entirely uneventful. The student teacher and I were both surprised to find out we had an assembly to go to that no one had told us about that afternoon. It was nice, though, since it was a whole hour with which we didn't have to do much except make sure the kids stayed in their seats. The funny story of the day: The student teacher was having the kids write answers on their whiteboards and show them to her to check. One little boy held his up at a 45 degree angle and, with a serious expression on his face, said, "Look! It's a solar panel!" Oh, man. The things kids know...

Friday was a different experience, as I was asked to sub in a pre-K class. These kids are adorable, hilarious, and sometimes little brats, which you could probably say about most kids their age, right? Anyway, it was Fun Friday, which meant that after nap time (a whole 1.5 hours in which I get to sit and do nothing), we would have snack, play outside, and watch a movie until it was time to go home. Pretty uneventful, not so much work. This is my kind of subbing. Oh, may I just mention that I am not a huge fan of cartoons and having to sit through a cartoon movie (non-Disney, of course...I like those) for an hour and 15 minutes was a little like torture. Thank goodness for my iPhone...which I may or may not have been using. The atmosphere is really low-key, by the way. My "helper", who was more like the teacher that day, was looking at used cars online during nap time. And I should also mention that there were only 6 kids, instead of the usual 10. And all of the troublemakers were absent.

The following Monday afternoon found me again in the Pre-K class. Today the "troublemakers" were there, bringing the count up to 9 students. As I arrived, the morning teacher informed me that a nurse was going to be coming in while I was there because one of the students have been having seizures in the previous weeks. Awesome. I was thankful that the nurse was there, because I didn't want that kind of responsibility. But I was even more thankful that we didn't need the nurse. No longer Fun Friday, we had to "work" after playing outside. Only our work consisted of making the letter X with craft sticks, gluing them on a piece of construction paper, and covering them with Trix. Not so much work, more like a mess and a snack. Then I just had to supervise the kids while they played. It's funny to me that there are two (plus 1) adults there while they are napping, eating a snack, etc., but when it comes to watching the kids play, cleaning up messes, and sending them home, I'm the only one there. I am glad that I'm not the only one there the whole time, though. Anyhow, another good day, with really nothing of significance to report. Funny story of the day: We were outside playing for about 30 minutes. The other teacher was telling some of the kids to not play over by the building. As they were running back to the grass, one little girl says, "You better come back or you'll get fired." Wait, what? So the teacher asks her what she means. The girl responds, "When you do things you are not supposed to do, you get fired like my mom." Oops. You can find out all kinds of things from these kids. Things I'm pretty sure their parents would not be thrilled with their sharing.

Ok, more to come. I've already spent to much time writing today, so I'll have to share the rest soon.