Substitute teaching

Well, I wanted work for a while and I guess my wish became true this week. The first call was on Monday for Thursday 6 then I was called again on the same day to work on Tuesday 4. I of course accepted both days. I went to work on Tuesday then on that same day on the evening I received a phone call from the school district asking if I could work on Wednesday 5 for PE which surprised me since I thought the school district only called in the morning. I did not hesitated and accept it. Once there on Wednesday, I really came to the realization that I would be teaching PE. I got a bit nervous but I followed the instructions and got some help from another PE teacher (she was not very nice by the way, a little only). Anyways, on the following morning (Thursday 6) I got another call in the morning but I told the lady that is in charge of calling substitute teachers that I already had been called previously. I thought I knew where the school was but I got the the administration office instead, well, to not make the story too long I got to the school late about 35 minutes. I felt so embarrassed but I made it throughout the day. Again after school, I received another call around 6:00 p.m. to work the following day (Friday 7) for another PE classroom. Since this class was at another school, again I had to get the hang of were stuff goes on and thankfully I got some nice PE teachers that guided me through the work out and areas of school workout which varies from grade to grade.

Strangely, I feel that the week wasn't a bad experience but it was a learning experience as I learned new methods of handling students regardless of the environment setting or location. I mean in a classroom students can't go anywhere but their desks or around the classroom while outside students can run off or hide much easily. Well, luckily no students got missing or lost, but I felt in control in both classroom setting or outdoor setting.

I thought students from lower grade would be much tougher to get a handle on but funny enough it was not the case. The ones that were much harder to control or have them do their work are older students. Younger students get scare of teachers or at least are more intimidated by adults and that way I could controlled them better. Yet I feel that I'm also learning other ways of controlling the older students, I'm just learning what works and what does not. I guess this comes from experience and respect. Well, I can't say much since I use to take advantage of some substitutes myself when I was a students since it is easier than with the regular teacher. Substitutes don't know all the students by name so it is easier to loose sight of what is going on and who is really acting up.

All in all, my experience this week was excellent. I'm looking forward another week of work. For now, I'm trying to enjoy my two days off. I'm not complaining I do want to keep having more days to work but after a very busy week I think I need my rest ; )