Tuesday, October 26, 2010

"No, I am pretty sure your clasroom teacher does NOT let you do that!"

So I FINALLY got a sub job today. It was only half a day, but it was better than nothing. Well, actually, I had been called twice before, but was not able to take the jobs. I was called a long time ago, but I had scheduled an appointment that I could not back out of so I couldn't take it. Then I got a call to sub at the high school and I really wasn't comfortable with that idea yet...maybe with a bit more experience, but not the first time! But today I was called to sub in the afternoon for a third grade teacher who my cousins had when they were in Kindergarten!!

It was great! The kids and I had a lot of fun! I think they liked me! I had this poster that I put up about me and the kids were looking at the pictures on it and they were very excited that I know how to fence and had been to Italy! I only had to enforce the discipline program with the one kid who just would not stop talking. Most of the other non-intrusive methods we learn about in college worked just fine. For example, saying their name or just stopping all teaching when they were talking over me....I also am partial to "Clap once if you can hear me, clap twice if you can hear me..." It's something I use at camp and it is very effective. I also used the "quiet sign" and "one two three eyes on me" which I despise, but I used it anyway.

I used a smart board which was pretty exciting. And the teacher was in the room for the first hour of my experience so it was so much less nerve racking. Then I was all alone....which I was SO excited about it! In the past, I had always had my cooperating teacher or a superviser with me, but for a while I was alone. We did have an aid come in for science, but other than that it was just me and the kids! It was great.

Math class was different than what I am used to though. At the school where I student taught, they used a program called "Everyday Mathematics." It was designed very differently than anything I had ever seen, but I got pretty comfortable using it. The program outlines the lesson very carefully and very strictly. Though it seemed to move very fast, it also seemed like everything in the lesson was tied together. But in this school, the teacher had me reading a story to them about bargain hunting and then the lesson was on patterns. I did not really see how they had anything to do with each other and many of the kids had a really hard time with the pattern thing. We spent a lot more time on it than I expected.

But we had a very interesting science class and the kids ended up suckering me into playing heads up seven up during dismissal. There was one thing in math we did not get done, but other than that we did everything the teacher asked me to do!

Overall, I think it was a great first experience subbing. I hadn't been in a classroom for so long that I was starting to get really comfortable at the nursing home. But this experience made me very excited for what I hope is in store for me in January. I am working towards getting my teaching certificate for spanish and when I called the department of education to ask about how to do that, the lady there told me about a school in my area that is hoping to start a spanish program in January. I'd be running the program and teaching the whole school spanish AND writing my own curriculum. I really really hope it works out for me! I'm hoping that now that I am in good with this lady, dropping her name will land me the job, but she and I haven't talked to the school yet. I've been working 37 hours at the nursing home all week and havent had a chance to call her to talk more about it. So we'll have to see how that works.

But something that did pan out for me is the reading program that I will be starting in February. I will be hosting a program at the local library where kids who are struggling in reading can be paired up with a reading tutor to practice reading once a week. The program was approved so I just have to put up flyers at the library and talk to the superintendent at the school district by the library. I am hoping the teachers at the school will recruit struggling readers!

No comments:

Post a Comment