Subbing has been an up and down journey for me this week. Yesterday, I had decided I was never going back! My subbing assignment was for a full day as intervention specialist at the high school level. Since I had enjoyed this position at the elementary level, I thought high school would be fine too. Not so much!

Some of the kids were interested in doing their work and just needed a little guidance, or maybe some quiet and structure. Some were so interested in being cool that they didn’t get much done. They were probably afraid that the assertive kids would heckle them for wanting to do their work.

And then, there was that one kid who outright refused to do any work. When he told me he didn’t have a computer and I made a phone call so he could go get one, he said, I’m not doing it. Ok then. This is also the same kid who wanted to have a political discussion with me about who is the best presidential candidate. Not going there. And he managed to mention the word penis and get some of the other boys saying penis for three periods in a row. I finally asked him if he was having a problem since he kept making penis references. He did stop after that. This was about the time I decided I was never going back and that I wasn’t cut out for this teaching thing.

Then, this morning I kept getting notifications that the system needed subs. They had around seven teachers out. I’m not even sure they have that many subs. And I began to feel guilty. They needed me and here I was sitting at home. So I took a half day job. At least it was some help.

So, this afternoon I taught kindergarteners for the first time. They were awesome! You can probably tell that the photo above is from today with the kindergarteners. They are loud and talk a lot, but it’s because they don’t know any better. Some of the older grades I have taught are loud and talk a lot but it’s because they don’t care or are being belligerent.

We used scissors, glue, pencils, and crayons. We added, colored, read, and played games. Wow, most of it was fun. I always thought I did better with older kids, but I may have been wrong. I really enjoyed this age. They were innocent and at least tried to do what I asked.

I will definitely be teaching kindergarten again. In fact I am signed up for another class of them tomorrow!