Working Full Time....for just a week

So I finally found how to access my pictures on my phone, again.  Verizon Wireless moved things around.  I searched and finally found them so I decided I should really share some substituting experiences.  Clear back in December, I subbed a third grade class for a week.  It was interesting to see what my life would be like if I was working full time.  My life was a little chaotic because I was also in charge of a Christmas party for eighty children in my church that Saturday.  I am very blessed that my husband was able to get a new job when my son was born and that we can afford for me to stay home.  I would be an emotional roller coaster working full time.

Anyway, back to the week...this teacher is really organized.  She is super silly and fun.  Her students adore her.  She's not the type of teacher to get walked over by her students.  She knows how to balance it all. 

Here are a few amazing tips that I picked up from her:

I LOVE that she sends homework on Wednesdays and expects it back the next Wednesday.  She has explained to me that she knows families are busy and wants to give them the chance to work on it over the weekend.

She is very artistic and has her students do the coolest art projects!  She teaches them actual art skills.  She even grades them on how well they followed directions, which is really impressive for third graders.

She also has her students do unique reports.  While I was there, they were working on a president report.  She has taught them how to look up pictures, copy and paste them into Word, and to print.  I was in awe watching her students work on their reports independently in the computer lab.  It might be because I taught second grade and I was drooling over the fact that they were so independent or she just is super clear on her expectations for the reports.

The stars have adjectives to describe the president. 

 

Did I mention that she has her gifted endorsement?  She has high expectations for her kids and they raise to them.  I had a student who was a low reader.  I had to decide where I should place her for third grade.  (The rule is that gifted classes still have to have low readers.)  I knew she would be great in any of the classrooms.  I know that she is the type of kid that works hard and wants to please the teacher.  I knew that she would soar in this teacher's class AND SHE DID!

She's a great teacher, like all teachers that I sub for, I always learn new things from them.  I think that all student teachers should have to go to about twenty classrooms to observe.  I realize that being in a classroom for a long period of time to observe is also good, but after a while, I thought I had pretty much seen everything that I needed to see from each teacher in just a matter of weeks. Substituting is really helping to open my eyes to different ideas.  I'm loving it, but am happy to not have to work full time.