GinaFish.com

What’s a day like for a substitute? Different each and every time.

Last Monday, I substituted for an English class for 7th and 8th graders. The teacher came by first thing in the morning to let me know what her lesson plans for the day were. All of her classes were doing the same thing, so it was period after period of taking kids to the computer lab, or having them sit in their class working on

The back of Ben's head, Morgan has a white shirt on.

their research paper. A whole two pages typed that they whined about! This was the first time I had substituted in this building and I had two students that I know outside of the class. Ben goes to the same church I go to, so he knows me as “The Pastor’s Wife”. I didn’t want him to “out” me, so I didn’t “out” that I knew him. I also knew a girl in his class since she is the daughter of the 9-10 secretary who I’ve worked with quite a bit this year.

The day went well enough, and I decided that the 7th graders to 8th graders aren’t too hard to handle.

Then on Wednesday, I had substituted for a first grade teacher. Ay yi yi! I had been dreading this day ever since opening myself up to all grades. I was glad it wasn’t kindergarten or 2nd grade so I was sure I wouldn’t have my kids or any of their friends. I got to school a little early and was relieved to see pages of instructions left behind for me. You have the same set of kids all day and are constantly changing what you do, so of course, the teacher couldn’t leave instructions that said “Have them read pages 98-100 and write a paragraph”. I have dealt with groups of small kids, it’s been a long time since I was in a position to instruct them, or controlling a large group for more than four hours.  The pages of instructions should have been a clue as to the long day I was about to have. Including a note about a ’special needs’ child. Boy, he was bouncing off the walls all day long! And since we had indoors recess due to rainy cold weather, all the other kids were hyper as well! I was very glad to see 4:00 p.m. come around!

So I took Thursday off because I had something scheduled for Friday. I was relieved that it was for older kids again. I think they are easier to calm down. Just stare at them till they squirm! I substituted for a science teacher on Friday who left a seating chart (loved it!!!) and a bathroom chart (loved it so much I’m copying it!). The rest of this entry is just pictures of the class room for my own ’scrapbook’. I really like how he had his room set up, it was also the biggest room I had substituted in so far.