First Day

How to begin?  I'm not really the "blogging type".  The last time I wrote about my life on the internet I was a study abroad student writing about my daily adventures in Australia (remember xanga?).  This is different because I'm embarking on a trip into the wilds of elementary and middles schools as a substitute teacher.  How to sink a sub?  I hope I don't find out!

I've spent a lot of time researching tricks of the trade for substitute teaching and the blogs, forums, and articles were all fascinating to read.  I thought to myself, "Perhaps what I have to say can help other subs".  Maybe I'm wrong, but reading about other people's experiences really helped me wrap my head around substitute teaching so I've decided to put my proverbial pen to paper.

A little background on me: I graduated in May with my M.S. in Conservation Biology.  I applied to a million jobs and managed to win myself a position as an environmental educator on the coast of Massachusetts.  This position was wonderful - caring staff, beautiful place, wonderful experiences - but sadly, the position is seasonal.  So as of October 30th I needed a place to go.

I decided to try substitute teaching and I applied for a position in the neighboring city.  It's a flexible job that I won't feel bad quitting if I manage to a) get a full time position somewhere or b) return to my old position in April of 2011.  It doesn't pay well but the hours are short.  Maybe I'll tutor, or work at GAP, or hostess somewhere but hopefully I'll do something on the side.

That gets us to today.  After reading blog posts, forum exchanges, and articles galore I was (sort of) ready to begin my new profession.  Got my call at 6am - 2nd grade classroom.  I had my very tiny bag of tricks ready to go: a collection of small plastic animals as prizes, some ribbons to award for super helpers, a book to read at lunch, a notebook to write my sub notes in, and my lunch.  (I know I'm supposed to have a first aid kit, workbooks, games, and a business card or letterhead but GEEZ I just finished up my other job on Saturday!  I'll get to it.)  I probably over-thought my outfit and tried to do too many things this morning and ended up cramped for time, which was not helpful once I got ridiculously lost on my way there.  Swearing like a sailor I pulled into the first stop I could find and ran into the school.

Thankfully I thought I was coming in right as the bell rang but actually I had 10 minutes to prepare.  The various websites and posts all suggested writing a schedule on the board, writing discipline rules on the board, and writing incentives on the board.  I, of course, did none of these.  As it turns out the teacher already had a behavior board where I could change the kid's color from green to yellow to blue to red to purple depending on the incident.  Convenient!  The schedule was already on the board and I didn't need incentives because the teacher already had a helper at the ready.  Could it be any easier?

The teacher had excellent instructions and a co-teacher came in and walked me through the whole day.  My life was easy.  The kids were fairly well behaved, finished all of the assigned work, helped me get through their daily rituals (didn't lie to me about game times or anything!), and had a great day.  The only issue I had was noise control.  No complaints here!

Thanks to a well-prepared teacher I had a great first day.  I think I understand now the power of learning their names as quickly as possible and the attitude change I get if I call them "students" and not "boys and girls" (another thing I learned from a blog post).  They want to be treated like they are older so when they act appropriately I can do that!

Now on to the next challenge...