Sub-Sister: Adventures in Substitute Teaching

I very nearly cried...

Today was one of those sub-days that pulled at my heart strings, and reinforced my decision to teach full-time as soon as I can.

I had a third-grade class for the second half-day in a row, which means that I've gotten most of their names down... at least enough that I can look in the correct general direction when I call their names. They're good kids. I come off the elevator (What can I say? If I'm not with students, I'm taking the easy way out and saving my poor knees) and the class is lined up in the hallway on the way to lunch. Commence the squealing: "There she is!" and "Yay"s, and much reaching up of sticky hands for high-fives and hugging around my middle. I felt like a rock-star.

Later during reading time, one of the girls brings up an article about last year's American Idol winner, Carrie Underwood, and states in an awe-hushed voice: "She's even prettier than you!" Now, I take this as a grand compliment as I look absolutely NOTHING like Miss Underwood. And the thought that this student would find it awe-inspiring that anyone should be prettier than me is... well, ego-boosting, to say the least.

So the little dears have sufficiently softened me up.

What made me all teary (and I may still cry about it before the day is through) is what happened to a little boy in the class. We'll call him John. John has physical difficulties that make it necessary for him to use a walker most of the time, though he can walk without it... which is scary because he seems so much more unstable. The drill is: enter classroom, park walker in corner, and walk to desk. But something happened at the desk. I hear a noise, turn around and see John lying face down on the floor. The rest of the class is calm. They've seen this before. I walk (calmly, but with BIG strides) to John, kneel down and ask him quietly if he's OK. He looks at me with tears streaming, nods, and hides his face. I ask him if he needs to stay there for a second. Another nod. So, with a massive lump in my throat, I get the class to work quickly, and go back to John, who's gotten himself in a sitting position. He doesn't want the nurse, or the other teacher who helps him, and he has to tell me how to pick him up.

I know he was embarrassed. And I was shaken. But I was impressed with the rest of the class being so calm. If they had made a big deal, then the situation could have been so much worse.

But that's not all. John fell again at recess. This time it was just me, him, and another student with some physical difficulties, so it wasn't so bad. I was actually able to make him laugh. But I was still teary. You just want to take them home with you and stuff 'em full of chocolate milk and cookies to make it all better.

posted by Magpie Chick at 7:04 PM