Some stories from my new job

Some recent substitute experiences:

I got up at 5:45 to go sub. I was at a different school than my mom- another middle school. My mom had to be at school at 7 and I had to be there at 7:30, so I let her off and took the car. I had a half day assignment. I was subbing for PE. I was told to go out to the locker room and just hang out. The first thing I noticed walking in was a sign on the door that said "No Shoes, No Shirt, No Problem" in reference to the Kenny Chesney song. The teacher was playing country music and signing along. It was pretty funny. We talked about how we both like country music and KKGO (GoCountry 105). Then I told him about going the college I go to. When the other PE teacher came, he said now it was time for breakfast and they brought out cereal bowls, cereal, and milk and offered me breakfast.

After the 1st period, the guy asked me if I want to be the regular PE male sub whenever they need a sub in PE. The district requires if it is a male PE teacher or male PE class that there is a male teacher. He said they have a hard time finding guys to sub for PE. I find that somewhat hard to believe- it was easy!

Overall subbing was very easy. I had duty outside every period to make sure the kids get into the locker room. The kids had to run 3 laps around the field and I marked their names down each time they went around. Easy day. I was done at 10:30.

A recent Thursday:
I had just about the worst day of substituting thus far. I had really small classes, but the lowest performing kids at the middle school. They were a handful. I had a class of 8 with 4 troublemakers, a class of 12 with 6 troublemakers. I ended up separating the kids and giving them new seats for the day. I had to walk around constantly to remind them to be quiet or to work on their assignment. I subbed for a language arts class. I had most of these kids 2 periods because they have a double block of English because they need extra help in it. It was a LONG day!!! Let's leave it at that!!! I had a bad headache by the middle of the day and no Tylenol. I drove my mom's car. I let her off at school and continued on to the school I was subbing at. My mom doesn't keep Tylenol in her car; but I do mine. I have dental floss, Tylenol, lotion, hand sanitizer, and just about everything else I'd need.

Subbing for PE again at that same school I mentioned above:

I subbed for PE again today. It went well and I met a lot of other subs- one of my mom's former students about 15 years ago and a former home economics teacher from Texas/Arkansas. One sub had subbed for my mom many times before and she was nice to talk to- she was also a PE sub today. The PE teachers were very friendly again. The only problem was I had 2 terrible classes. The first was just bad 7th graders. The 2nd class was 50 special ed students. My dad teaches special ed and says 1 regular student is the equivalent to 3 in special ed. It was wild. It was like there were 150 of them. Just telling them to run around the field they took off in 10 different directions and I was a lot more visual in my directions this time telling them to go in a circle and motioning the direction and walking in that direction.

I love subbing for PE- make me mad and run a lap. No, I don't care you just ran 3; you aren't behaving, so take a lap.