Day Two

On day two of substituting, I substituted for a language arts class. The students had a mini test to do and then the teacher didn't leave anything else for them. I was lucky enough that my sister had given me some Scholastics Scope magazine to keep them busy. I decided that whoever finished the test first, I would give them the magazine and they would choose which article we were going to do together as a class. Of course I didn't tell them this.

The Scholastics Scopes magazines had several different articles; one was called You Danger and it was about the dangerous things that young people are doing, recording and posting on YouTube. During the discussion with the students in regards to this article, they shared the dangerous things they have witnessed and the not so dangerous things they have done. All in all, it is quite interesting what kids are doing now. Things not so dangerous but simply dumb. One of the things they mentioned was the cinnamon challenge. The cinnamon challenge is a viral internet food challenge. The objective of the challenge is to film oneself swallowing a spoonful of ground cinnamon in under 60 seconds without drinking anything, then upload the video to the Internet. Another thing mentioned was setting a basketball on fire. Why would anyone want to do this? What satisfaction do they receive from doing this? I really, really don't know, but nonetheless, kids are doing this.

Another article was a play: A classic Sherlock Holmes story. It was fun to assign kids to be the casting manager, the stage manager and the theatrical manager. In the few minutes we had to put the play together,  we were able to go through Act I and Act II. It was fun to see how the students will be so involved and so enthusiastic. They really wanted to act.  

This teacher only had six periods so during the seventh period, I went to substitute for the teacher I will substituting for the next 12 days; intensive reading.

Day One

After a long career as an accountant (22+ years) I decided to try teaching in hopes to make sure that this was the career change that I wanted. I went through the normal channels, had my background checked, fingerprints taken, took the orientation and within a week I was substituting. My first day I was called the same day to substitute. Not knowing a thing about teaching, I was told not to worry for I was only substituting. My first assignment was at a middle school science class. Remember, I am an accountant therefore I know nothing about Science, nevertheless, I went into my first assignment with excitement and, yes, fear.
My first class was already in session and they were working on their assignment. The teacher had left an assignment regarding the human body...THE HUMAN BODY!!!! The students had to complete a cover page, an index and answer questions regarding the human body. Did you know that muscles are organs? Well, I didn't. I am sorry to say that some of the students on my first periods had the questions incorrect(thanks to me). During my first period, I noticed that students were not coming in. I opened the door and they were all outside. I didn't know I had to open the door for them; I assumed that they would just walk in. This is one of the small details that they forgot to tell us during training. LOL! As the day went by, it was finally time to go to lunch. A whole twenty five minutes of lunch. WHAT!!! 25 minutes. Oh well; I swallowed that sandwich in two bites, ran to the bathroom and then drank my water in one gulp. By the time I did those three things, it was time for my next class. The students walked in and were louder than the ones before them. One of them even confronted me. My first day and I thought I was going to get hit by a student already. Wow, how times have changed. Another detail that substitutes should probably know is if students have a stress ball or any other item that they are allowed to use for their frustration. A student walked in with a ball, tossing it up and down and I took it away from him. Needless to say, he was not too happy about it and acted out. I had to call administration and when the dean came, he said that that was his stress ball. Wish I had known this - I wouldn't have taken it away from him. Well, that was my first day as a substitute. Did I return? Well, yes, of course. I always think that I will make a difference and that everyone has something good in them.