Thursday, February 14, 2008

Rootin' Tootin' Substitutin'

I finally graduated from college in December. Probably the best thing about it is that I don't have any homework. When i get home, I'm free to live my life and do things that really need to be done, like spending time with my girls or watching Star Trek: Voyager. Anyway, a byproduct of all this is that I have to get a real job. Since I finally realized that I want to be a teacher, but I have no teaching license or money to go back to school and get one, I decided to become a substitute teacher.

Now you probably all remember the days when you knew you could goof off and get away with more because your regular teacher was gone. Well, those days haven't changed. Kids still do it. But I still enjoy it. Though I'll admit, it's kind of scary going into a classroom and having no idea what you're up against. Each class has it's own personality and some of them aren't that easy to get along with, but for the most part, kids are good.

I only substitute for Junior High and High Schools though. I know I wouldn't be able to handle the really little kids. Junior High kids are young enough and they act younger than they look. I've been lucky enough to get most of my jobs in the high school nearest my home and in subjects that I know something about Math and Science. But besides those, I've also had the opportunity to substitute for classes in Photography, English, Distance Learning, Computers, and -get this- Girls PE. That one was thrust upon me like an apple pie on Tuesday... or something like that. Anyway, I've also got a job lined up to sub in a Spanish class a couple of weeks from now. I'm really looking forward to that one.

Surprisingly, the classes I've enjoyed the most are the Math classes. I haven't really enjoyed Math since 7th grade but I've taken a bunch of Math since then and amazingly I can remember a lot of it, or at least re-learn it fast enough to help the kids. The best part about it is that the kids actually like me because for once they have a substitute who can help them with their Math. I guess struggling through years of Math has been beneficial because I can relate to these kids who are going through much the same stuff that I did.

Open up your head hole Slappy, and listen while I testify,

Dan

2 comments:

I am a mother! said...

The thing I like most about you being a teacher is that you get to wear your ties!!

Carterista said...

You two are so cute. Glad you are enjoying the sub jobs, Dan! When I subbed high school, the kids thought they had no teacher until I introduced myself. Apparently I looked much younger than I was. Kindergarten was also not fun, but the rest were okay. If you ever want to sub Elementary PE, let me know. Ü