This post is two days late since I spent the weekend enjoying an internetless reunion with some college friends. However, I wanted to mark this occasion even if it isn't exactly timely.
Friday was my one year anniversary of substitute teaching. That's right, February 24, 2011 I walked into a school for the first time, pored over the sub plans for some kindergarteners... and then failed miserably. Note to aspiring substitute teachers: I really recommend not starting with kindergarten. I had zero classroom management, minimal understanding of what five-year-olds are really capable of (don't be fooled by those tiny grins!), and no concept of what a kindergarten routine actually looks like these days. I think it was the first time in my life I ever identified with Arnold Schwarzenegger. Whenever I think back to that day, one conversation sticks out. We were doing the morning meeting, which consists of the calendar, weather, days of school, etc.:
Entire class: Noooooo. Now we're supposed to do (insert some routine here)!
Me: Guys, I'm not your teacher. Some things will be a bit different today. It's okay, it might be fun. We can go crazy a little!
Little boy: Really?!?!?!
Me: No, not what I meant!
Yup. I was that clueless. Not surprisingly, I did not wind up on that school's preferred list.
I like to think back to that class, particularly on rough days. In one year, I really had a crash course in education. I still have weekly internal debates about decisions I make in the classroom, I still wonder if I should have explained a concept differently, I still daydream about how a kid would have reacted if I had responded to him/her another way... Knowing my neurotic tendencies, that will never change. But every once in a while I take time to appreciate my teaching "growth spurt." I can't really say when it happened or how, but somewhere along the way I became significantly less of an idiot. So thanks to the teachers who I observed, the kids who unwittingly acted as guinea pigs, and the actors whose cheesy movies gave me hope. I appreciate all of you. (But mostly this guy.)
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