The mysterious blogger returns!

[saena17]

It seems like every time I post here, I begin with "it's been almost a year since I last wrote" and a lot of catching up has to be done. Luckily not much has actually changed between the last update and this one. :) My long-term subbing job at the elementary school finished in November, and I went back to daily subbing- this time in both counties

Comments

[sammason]

That's really interesting to read about your experiences as a substitute teacher (over here, it's called 'supply teaching' or 'temping'.) Including the bit where you feel judgement, maybe condescension, from people who think you *should* have a 'real job'. I've never been a temp teacher but I've been a temp chef. It had pros and cons. A friend's husband teaches supply, making it his whole professional life and being much sought after.

[saena17]

Condescension! THAT'S the word I was trying to think of last night! (Sorry, that was bugging me all while I wrote the entry. It was on the tip of my tongue/fingers...)

I think people see supply teaching as glorified babysitting- which it is for a lot of people, judging by the surprise students sometimes have when I come in and actually take charge of the class. But for me, it is literally exactly the same as full-time teaching, except you go to different schools, and you don't know the kids (or sometimes, for me, the entire subject- I've taught things I barely know anything about), and you don't have to plan the lesson or grade the work. I like to half-jokingly call myself a "freelance teacher" sometimes, because that's really how it feels to me. And I still feel a bond with the students, even though we don't know one another. I think that just comes with loving to teach, though. All students become your students. It's kind of like a mothering instinct. :)

[sammason]

You've taught things you didn't really know yourself! Did the students realise? My teaching experience is undergrad, with a little Masters, but now I'm psyching myself towards teaching A level (age 16-18). With undergrads I'm an academic in my comfort zone, but with A level students I'll face my lack of a teaching qualification and my lack of knowledge about the current syllabuses.

When teaching undergrads I've mostly been successful in my choice of modules - the ones I myself understand! - but occasionally fell flat on my face. Nobody can be an expert on everything.

[saena17]

I have a different method of choosing jobs based on which county (of the two I teach in) it's located in. The one county is very suburban/borderline urban (it's right on the border with Washington D.C.) and absolutely enormous, so I tend to specialize there (only doing high school- grades 9-12, which is ages 14-18, and typically only taking English/literature jobs because that's my specialty). The other county is next to the first one, but much smaller and more rural. So in that county I do middle and high school (grades 6-12, ages 11-18) and I'll pretty much do anything they throw at me. Sometimes students notice, and sometimes they don't! Half the time I think it's more surprising for them to have a supply teacher who knows the material, rather than the other way around.

Still, though, even in my specialty area I frequently find them reading texts I never read in school. And sometimes I'm honest about that and tell them this is the first time I'm reading it too- but sometimes I fudge it a little, and that can be kind of fun. :)

[sammason]

I suppose that when you teach books you haven't previously read, that's a good opportunity to share the joy of reading! I do that when teaching science. 'That's something I'd never thought of!'