Substitute Teaching

I know you all are dying to know about this and read on some subbing:)

So I finally finished school and I was ready for a classroom!! Can someone please give me a classroom? I am ready to decorate and help children grow. No? Yeah, I haven't had any luck so far. I visited a ton of schools, met principals, dropped off resumes....now I'm subbing.

I'm going to be honest. I didn't want to sub.  I really was unhappy it had come to substitute teaching BUT.......now I know the experience has been invaluable. I have learned so much! I have been at inner city schools where the teachers are moved around and have meetings all day. A lot of the students come into kindergarten not knowing their letters because their parents don't know to work with them at home. I have been in new schools and old schools. I have been in schools from nice areas and not so nice areas. I have been to schools with a loose uniform policy and schools with "structured recess." I have been in 3 different counties. I have done public and private. I have been to elementary, middle, and high schools.

I definitely know now what my "dream" schools are. I know what kind of questions to ask principals. I know the things about me that are good and the things I need to work on. I have seen great classrooms and horribly unorganized classrooms.....I have learned what I want my classroom to feel like. I have learned how schedules change the whole flow of the day...what to put first, what to put last, how to plan around special areas and lunch and recess and children going in and out of class.

I have learned about sub plans. I have had detailed plans and I have had no plans. I have had videos all day in high school to normal lessons in kindergarten. The format is never the same. Sometimes they tell me about difficult students....sometimes they don't. Sometimes they tell me which kids will be pulled out during the day....sometimes they don't.

Oh! And every school dismisses differently. That in and of itself is mind blowing to me. There are just so many different ways to dismiss school and goes from extremely structured to see ya later! I have to really read up on that part every morning though because that part is usually very structured and the part I'm expected to play is very precise.

I am thankful for the opportunity to substitute now. I am meeting principals and teachers and that was the original point, but I am growing in knowledge as a future educator. I now feel every teacher should have to spend a certain amount of time substituting before getting a classroom of their own. I learned a lot from student teaching but substituting has given me a completely different perspective.

So I guess this blog is me just saying....sometimes we don't understand God's plan....we grumble and complain....He always knows what he is doing though. This experience has definitely taught me to not worry so much and just trust in God.