Goodbye, little blog!

It is time for me to retire this blog!  I started at my summer job this past Monday and I'm calling it quits as a substitute teacher.

For the record, this subbing gig wasn't the worst thing in the world.  Yes, a substitute teacher is constantly being taken advantage of by students.  Yes, a substitute teacher leads a lonely life surrounded by teachers and staff s/he barely knows.  Yes, a substitute teacher does very little teaching and a lot of babysitting.  And yes, the job has very few rewards and the lowest pay imaginable.

What, then, did I get out my six months of subbing?  The ability to manage a classroom of unruly, hormonal teenagers.  The appropriate language to encourage children to follow rules and respect authority without any anger or frustration on both the teacher and the student's part.  The quiet confidence that allowed me to sit in the lunchroom with a bunch of strangers and have a decent conversation.  The ability to know when a student has crossed the line and when a student just needs to be ignored or given a task.  And finally, six months of experience in a classroom setting.  This experience will be of use later in life when I return to the possibility of classroom teaching (as I predict I will).

I do not recommend this course of employment for anyone who wants to make ends meet.  People who lack self-confidence, or are over-confident, should steer clear of subbing (the kids will tear apart the weak sub and will retaliate against a sub with too many rules/too much confidence).  Anyone who will take what the kids say personally should never, ever, be in a classroom.

I have grown a lot as an educator and I'm a much more confident group leader.  This shows when I teach for my part-time job and this will show when I start teaching programs for my summer position.  I'm moving on to a position that allows me to contribute to the world in a more concrete way.  I get to plan programs, deal with visitor complaints, design advertisements, and be outside every day at a beautiful site.

So long, public school system!  Maybe we'll be together again in the future.