October 18, 2012

         Today was very different than the last three days. Mrs. Irvin called me at 8pm last night to inform me that her plane was delayed and that she called in another substitute teacher, which whom she was unfamiliar with. I knew that Mrs. Irvin had her plans done for the whole week, so I wasn’t nervous about teaching the class again. Once the substitute arrived I could immediately tell that her expertise was not working in Kindergarten. I had a very hard time keeping my comments to myself about her teaching (yelling) style. At one point in the day I had to go against what she said and explain to the students that they were not in trouble. I then nicely explained to the substitute how we handle “loud noises” in our classroom, and that we don’t send them all to their seats to put their heads down. Instead I put on our “Fit for Kids” video to have our students release some of their energy in a more efficient and positive way. The substitute spent a lot of her time sitting off in the corner, which I did not mind, and because of this I really felt like the only teacher in the room. I have really learned a lot about teaching and working with substitute teachers this week.

         My highlight of the day was hearing all of the laughter in my room today, not counting when the sub lost it. But today I noticed that all of my students were excited about learning, completing their work, making new friends, making good behavior choices, and encouraging their classmates. As a “teacher” this is the best feeling I think I could take away from this experience. I have truly had an amazing week.