Teaching
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New Beginnings
It was six forty-five am. Drum beats echoed across the dark parking lot packed with cars. Wobble baby, wobble baby, wobble baby, wobble! Students danced in the courtyard as the sun lit the sky. Giant hand-painted signs: Class of 2018! Class of 2019! decorated the lawn.
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Do Substitutes Matter?
Why I decided to become a substitute teacher I was a classroom teacher for five years. The principal of our school was a strong woman, a no-nonsense woman with a huge heart and high expectations. I trusted her and enjoyed working with her. It was what my young thirty-something-year-old self needed, a strong female example of a good leader. She helped me grow as a teacher, and she let me express my creativity in my lesson plans instead of following a cookie cutter template.
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Epic Teaching Fail
Never have I come home from a substitute teaching job and cried. Until this year… The phone rang for middle school. My inner voice said you know it’s going to be tough. Delving into a class full of hormonal teens trying to figure out their place in the world can be challenging. I’ve done it for the past three years, subbing in classes that can be difficult to find subs for because of behaviors. Slowly it’s taken its toll, and this year I had decided to sub only for high school. Then came the call for middle. I figured I had all summer to rest, an attitude of positivity and a…
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Saying Goodbye
The entire drive I stopped my mind from conjuring thoughts that brought tears to my eyes. I needed to hold it together yet the more I pushed my emotions down, the more they rebelled, bubbling up to the surface. Hospice. The last time someone I knew was in Hospice, she passed before I could get to her, hold her hand, and tell her much I loved her. She was my everything, my grandmother. I arrived and walked down the quiet halls carrying the hope that some people leave hospice and return home. Maybe I wouldn’t have to say goodbye.
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It’s Time To Get Rid Of Ability Grouping
“Every child deserves a champion … an adult who will never give up with them, who understands the power of connection and insists that they become the best that they can possibly be.” – Rita Pierson
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A Day In The Life Of A Substitute Teacher
When I said the class could work in groups a smile stretched across his face. He looked as if I had just told him we were taking a trip to Universal. He grabbed his backpack and darted over to two other boys.
