Today, there were certain mix-ups and scheduling and that we weren’t allowed to use the gymnasium because someone else had taken our time. So everyone was saying, “just take the kids outside”. Granted, today was a beautiful day and now that winter is now finished, we were able to go outside. We did end up going outside and it worked out fine.
The kids had a chance to play. However, I said that they needed to be active and moving during the hour long period. The kids chose three different activities: touch football, basketball and tag. The kids cooperated very well with one another. They included one another and regardless of the varying skill levels, everyone was active and playing the whole time. Basketball and football were continuous activity and the students playing tag also ended up playing on the playground.
It was good to see the kids play. I was supervising the groups but I got to take a step back and observe the kids. Sometimes the school day can be so busy with many things to do and learn. How often do the older kids get to play?
Over the past two years since graduating from the University of Regina in the Spring of 2012, I have been a substitute teacher in various elementary schools in Yorkton, Saskatchewan. Also through that time, I was fortunate to have a 3 month full-time contract in a grade 4 classroom. One of the many things I like about being a substitute teacher is that I get to go into numerous different classrooms and see many different students. Over these past 2 years, and even before that when I completed my internship, I have been fortunate to develop positive teacher-student relationships with many kids.
One of the greatest feelings is walking into a school and having a student you’ve taught maybe once, or having kids who know that you’re a teacher say hi and get excited to see you. It has been great to see my internship class (grade 5 students) grow into mature, responsible, smart and caring 7th graders. It is great that they still say hi and that I get to see them every once in a while and to see how they have progressed as learners.
Sometimes, walking into a school can feel unwelcoming and that I don’t belong there. Some days, the staff are busy and doing their own thing and the kids are as well. On days like that, I don’t feel like being there. The school environment is not welcoming and I can’t imagine how a parent would feel in the same situation. Schools should be inviting and where parents and staff and the students feel safe, comfortable and willing to talk and engage with one another.
There is one school where no matter what is happening, I feel like I just don’t fit in. I am currently there this week for one of my friends, who teaches grade 5 and 6. I like being in her classroom because when I am with her kids and we are working and learning together, we have a great time together. The students are good together. They are welcoming and work together well. They are accepting of one another and inclusive of all, especially of those who don’t learn the ways that they do. The kids are energetic, talkative, and can have their crazy moments, just like all students and classes. So yesterday, the students truly made the learning environment. I must admit that this is one of my favourite classrooms to be in and groups of students to work with. Even though the school might not be the most welcoming, the students are.
A few months ago, I compiled and submitted an application to the Master’s of Education Program at the University of Regina.. A few days ago, I found out that I have been accepted.
So this fall, I will be going back to school full-time.
I love working with students and being in the classroom. It’s not that I don’t see myself as a classroom teacher, or that I don’t want to continue being a substitute teacher, but I feel that something is missing.
Hopefully going back to the classroom and learning as a student again will help me find what it is. I also hope that having chosen to complete my degree in the thesis route will be a rewarding experience.
Being a substitute teacher, I have the luxury lets say, of not having to plan lessons the night before I go into a classroom to fill in for a teacher. This is often a good thing, as I am not normally given lesson plans or knowledge of what the students are learning until I walk into the classroom the morning when I am to be there. I miss this part sometimes though because I enjoy coming up with lesson ideas and I often think, this would also have been a good idea for a particular lesson that I see that a teacher has left for me.
I have been lucky to work in Kindergarten through Grade 8 classrooms and have seen numerous lessons in the subject areas of the curriculum. I am most comfortable with the grade 4 and grade 5 curriculums having taught them specifically during my full-time teaching position last year and during my internship. It is great to be able to see that the language skills students are learning in grade 1 are the foundations and skills that will help them in the higher grades. I can’t imagine having to learn each grade level and all of subjects in detail enough to be able to adequately plan lessons each time I would fill in for a teacher, as there is so much, and I am not a grade specific substitute.
Having said all of this, I often find myself in a classroom and with a group of students where all we are left with for the day is busy work. Assignments that the students need to finish, reading sections that need to be completed, short worksheet assignments and other similar tasks. When the students finish these assignments early, sometimes the spend most of their day reading or simply getting caught up on other work.
Some students really benefit form this extra work time, or time when they are able to ask me for assistance and support in their learning. But for other kids and sometimes the substitute teacher, this can make the day really long and boring. Or it can leaving them longing for recess, they day to be over, or even for their physical education class so that they can get up from their desks and be active.
I understand possible reasons for planning like this: you may want a lesson taught the certain way, you don’t know if the substitute teacher will have the background knowledge, there might not be enough time to complete the lesson, will the students understand, or maybe you just did not have enough time to prepare a lesson for the substitute to teach. I don’t know for sure, and these are only possible ideas I have come up with.
This is why I am happy when I am able to go into a classroom and the teacher has left me lessons where I actually get to teach! I am after all a certified teacher, I have knowledge of the curriculums and what the students are relating, if not in exact detail, then I can draw from my own knowledge or do a bit of research at recess to catch myself up on the content.
I have a few friends that I am fortunate to sub for when they are away. They give me the chance to teach. They give me the lessons and materials that I will use and I am able to read through them and teach the lessons to the kids. Sometimes I make minor adaptations if something is not working. I also provide comments for the teacher for each lesson we did that day. Not every subject I teach for them has a full lesson, sometimes it is a prompt and then a work period, and other times it is simply a work period / catch-up on assignments period. The lessons may not be taught exactly how the classroom teacher would have taught them, but they are taught. The students are learning. You are not falling days behind because you weren’t at school for a few days throughout the year.
Still Learning 