Substitute Teaching: Mill Creek Middle School Part 1
I have decided to keep record of my substitute teaching experience here on LiveJournal. This is my, maybe, tenth time substituting at a public school. All that substituting consists of, unless it's a music class where I'm allowed to actually teach, is babysitting and making sure that the kids don't get too loud. I like to talk to the students and hold a normal conversation about their goals, what's going on in their life, etc. When I'm not talking to students because I can't or because I'm bored, I will record my insight here. Here we go:
Today I'm subbing at a Middle School for an Engineering Applications teacher. I am a music teacher for a living and I know nothing of engineering. Luckily the usual teacher expected this (because most substitutes are idiots) and gave me lesson plans. Unfortunately the lesson plans consist of watching the students do homework and read quietly. The current class right now only has 6 people and I'm able to monitor them easily. I let them talk as long as it doesn't get rowdy. A few of the students are sort of talking off and on to me while we each do our own things at our desks. One student asked if they knew anybody who bragged about being rich. I told the class I brag about being poor and a student high-fived me. That made me feel like I inspired some people today.
I'm extremely tired, but I feel a little sick because I'm trudging on. As a child, I was fearful about going to a new place and not knowing what was going to happen. My knees would be knocking every morning that I had to go to school. Not knowing what's going to happen is nerve-wracking to me still. I consider substituting good for me because it helps me overcome my worry and fear of the unknown. However, I tend to not sleep well the night before substituting. I had about 5 hours of sleep last night and I feel the same hungry, nauseated lethargy that I used to in elementary school.
I brought a book to read this time in case I couldn't make up anything to do for myself. Substituting is a lot like being on a seven hour flight. You have all this free time to do anything you want to get done, but you tend to get sleepy and then not want to do them. Watch out for turbulence!
It's sad because you don't need to know names until somebody is disruptive. This means you only remember the names of the disrespectful students and not the well-behaved ones. I've had to say, "Seth, stop that" a lot this hour.
Sometimes teachers leave notes in their lesson plans that I have no idea in hell about what they mean. He wrote "Black Week 6: Name, Event, and Progress." Do I do that for every student? I guess the students do that themselves, but why did I need to know that? He also wrote the wrong extension number for the secretary. I'm suppose to call the secretary every hour to tell her if anybody is missing. That's illogical. Why don't I only call if somebody is missing?
It's third hour and I'm tired and hungry. Half the kids are allowed to test their racecars in the hallway and it's giving me a headache trying to monitor 27 kids both inside and outside the classroom. They gave me 5th hour to plan, and then lunch duty for an hour. I really hope they don't make me do that. I want to go out and have lunch on my own.
Looking through the sub handbook, I found a business card of a previous substitute. It simply says,
"Kelly Smith
(Substitute Extraordinaire)
Morgan Hunter sub #1306"
This made me laugh really hard. It has a very blurry picture of her that is barely recognizable and a Microsoft word photo of kids jumping on a beach. It's especially funny that no contact information is given. I know that Morgan Hunter Education division doesn't assign specific people to subbing assignments, so she won't be able to be recommended for the same job. Why would she provide her card? I sometimes provide my music business card just in case the teacher happens to be a musician.
Today I'm subbing at a Middle School for an Engineering Applications teacher. I am a music teacher for a living and I know nothing of engineering. Luckily the usual teacher expected this (because most substitutes are idiots) and gave me lesson plans. Unfortunately the lesson plans consist of watching the students do homework and read quietly. The current class right now only has 6 people and I'm able to monitor them easily. I let them talk as long as it doesn't get rowdy. A few of the students are sort of talking off and on to me while we each do our own things at our desks. One student asked if they knew anybody who bragged about being rich. I told the class I brag about being poor and a student high-fived me. That made me feel like I inspired some people today.
I'm extremely tired, but I feel a little sick because I'm trudging on. As a child, I was fearful about going to a new place and not knowing what was going to happen. My knees would be knocking every morning that I had to go to school. Not knowing what's going to happen is nerve-wracking to me still. I consider substituting good for me because it helps me overcome my worry and fear of the unknown. However, I tend to not sleep well the night before substituting. I had about 5 hours of sleep last night and I feel the same hungry, nauseated lethargy that I used to in elementary school.
I brought a book to read this time in case I couldn't make up anything to do for myself. Substituting is a lot like being on a seven hour flight. You have all this free time to do anything you want to get done, but you tend to get sleepy and then not want to do them. Watch out for turbulence!
It's sad because you don't need to know names until somebody is disruptive. This means you only remember the names of the disrespectful students and not the well-behaved ones. I've had to say, "Seth, stop that" a lot this hour.
Sometimes teachers leave notes in their lesson plans that I have no idea in hell about what they mean. He wrote "Black Week 6: Name, Event, and Progress." Do I do that for every student? I guess the students do that themselves, but why did I need to know that? He also wrote the wrong extension number for the secretary. I'm suppose to call the secretary every hour to tell her if anybody is missing. That's illogical. Why don't I only call if somebody is missing?
It's third hour and I'm tired and hungry. Half the kids are allowed to test their racecars in the hallway and it's giving me a headache trying to monitor 27 kids both inside and outside the classroom. They gave me 5th hour to plan, and then lunch duty for an hour. I really hope they don't make me do that. I want to go out and have lunch on my own.
Looking through the sub handbook, I found a business card of a previous substitute. It simply says,
"Kelly Smith
(Substitute Extraordinaire)
Morgan Hunter sub #1306"
This made me laugh really hard. It has a very blurry picture of her that is barely recognizable and a Microsoft word photo of kids jumping on a beach. It's especially funny that no contact information is given. I know that Morgan Hunter Education division doesn't assign specific people to subbing assignments, so she won't be able to be recommended for the same job. Why would she provide her card? I sometimes provide my music business card just in case the teacher happens to be a musician.