I know this may sound a little self-serving, but I'm giving myself the Gold Star of the Week award. Surviving the week before Christmas break as a substitute is an amazing feat! My week constited of self-contained elementary special education, second grade, fourth grade, second grade again, and eigth grade humanities. Let me tell you, students are ready for break! They are very ready for break!! Every day this week has been a management struggle. Students have a hard enough time paying attention in the last days before a two week break, but you add onto that a new temporary teacher who doesn't know what she's doing and it's a disaster waiting to happen. I have never been so grateful for elementary teacher's management systems. I gave students checks and "color-changes" more than I ever have in all my substitute work combined. I think I am equally grateful for the upcoming break and the much needed rest that will accompany it.
In other news, today I am back at the junior high school where I completed my student teaching one year ago today. I started my day at the starbucks down the street from the school, just like I did a year ago. In that moment, I realized just how much I've grown in the year since my student teaching. I am a much more confident teacher. You have to be as a substitute. I have learned so much patience. I smile and tell eight year olds to return to their seats for the sixteenth time that day. I painstakingly describe how to write a well-developed paragraph to junior high students. I laugh and ignore the high school students trying to embarrass my with their inuendo. Very little phases me now. So readers, this is me, signing off for 2010, grateful for the experiences I've had and looking forward to the new stories to tell in 2011.
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