Substitute Teaching

Now that John has started Kindergarten and is going to school full day, I have a little more time on my hands.  I thought about going back to work and teaching again, but there are a couple of problems with that. 

First of all, I am only certified to teach PE.  If I teach Junior High or High School PE, I would also have to coach, and I just don't have time for that anymore.  So I would only be able to teach Elementary PE, and well, those jobs don't come available very often.  Secondly, John still has a lot of Dr. appointments and occasions where he is home sick from school for one reason or another.  I would rather not have a job that ties me down and doesn't allow me to get away as often as I need to.  So I decided to be a substitute teacher.

I've taken a few jobs since October.  So far, I haven't had a class run me off.  They have all been pretty easy to manage and haven't caused me many problems.  I've subbed in Junior High a few times, and High School a few times.  But I have come to realize that subbing in Elementary is my favorite.

I have subbed in Elementary 3 times, and they have all been at the same school.  It just happens to be the school that John attended for two years of PPCD (Preschool Program for Children with Disabilities). 

The first day was a 2nd grade class.  I was nervous to sub in a normal elementary classroom since I had never done it.  But the teacher was very well organized and left detailed lesson plans.  The students were well behaved (more or less) and I found that I really enjoyed it.  It's kind of nice to have the same group of kiddos all day, and just switch up activities every 30 minutes to an hour.  It makes the day go much faster than it does in Junior High or High School when you have a different group of kids every hour and do the same thing every class period.  And the kids are a lot more fun in Elementary.

The second day was for a PE teacher.  This was right up my alley.  I really enjoy watching the younger kids enjoying PE.  The older kids that I'm used to will do anything to get out of PE for the day.  The little kids, love it so much and have a great time.  And the two teachers that I worked with were a lot of fun too.  I hope I get to go back to that class more often.

But today was a special day for me.  I was able to sub for the teacher who taught John in PPCD for the last two years.  I was really looking forward to today.  I truly enjoyed working with these sweet kiddos.  Several of them were in John's class last year, so I knew them already.  And it was fun to get to know the ones I didn't know.  These are some of the cutest kids.

The other part of the day that I really enjoyed was getting to spend time with a couple of the ladies that had John.  These ladies are very important to us.  Until John started PPCD, he had never spent time away from us.  We were very nervous about sending him to school for even 3 hours and letting someone who wasn't one of us care for him during that time.  There is a lot that goes into caring for John, and we didn't know how it was going to go without us there.  But from the very first day, they were able to ease our fears.  They took excellent care of him and every day I got a full report on how he did.  They were very patient with us and answered any questions we may have had.  Never once did I have to worry about him while he was in their care.  They gave me something I hadn't had before, and that was peace of mind.  I will always be very grateful to them for that.  They are very sweet ladies and are incredible at their job.

Today, I was able to get a better understanding and appreciation of everything these ladies do everyday to care for and teach these precious children.  All of these kids have different abilities and learn in different ways, and these teachers are able to accommodate all of them.  They know the kids abilities and personalities and they genuinely care for each one of them.  I am very appreciative for the opportunity to get a first hand look at how this classroom works, and I truly hope I am able to work there again.