Classroom
By Patricia
Tags: children, money, photography, teaching, work
I arrived at the school with my mother shortly after 8 AM this morning (waking up at 6 was very difficult, considering it’s been quite a while since I woke up any time before 8, but I managed). Not long after my mother began preparing me to make the rounds as a substitute art teacher, we were notified by the office that, lo and behold, there was some sort of miscommunication and it was actually the following Tuesday that they needed me, not today. However, they would put me to work at 11:30, filling in for a first grade teacher who had to attend a meeting for the rest of the day.
From 8 to 11 I struggled to amuse myself in my mother’s office (a cold room in the basement that she shared with the other art teacher and the ESL teacher). Luckily the other art teacher (whom I was supposed to substitute for, and will next Tuesday) allowed me to use her computer. This was not as helpful as it may seem, given that the school’s internet network blocks any site of interest, including any web-based e-mail and instant messaging. It’s incredible how boring the internet can be when denied access to these things.
11:30 finally rolled around and I dragged myself down the hall to the first grade classroom. Along the way I was warned by two separate teachers that the class would be difficult to handle, which was really not something I was excited to hear. It ended up not being so bad; there were a few brats in the class but I am slowly learning how to be firm with students, which is increasingly beneficial. It also helps when you have some sort of negative punishment to threaten the students with – in this case, their teacher had devised a system of yellow, orange, and red cards (reminiscent of my days as a soccer player), where the naughty student would be given a card and, based on the severity of the offense, would be docked a certain number of minutes at recess. Luckily I did not have to use these, though I did threaten to several times, which quieted the students down quite fast.
The worst part of the day was when an uninvited guest made an appearance: a solitary bee, which, as expected, caused absolute mayhem until it finally flew out the door. During this episode, the cards were fairly useless, as I could not possibly tear the students’ attention away from the bee until it had exited. I now have sympathy for my grade school teachers who desperately tried to control their classroom when a bee appeared (a frequent occurrence in the spring) without much luck.
If substituting teaches me anything, it is that I do not want to be a teacher after college. This I have known for a long time – right now, I am only in it for the money. $60 a day is not too bad at all, and I will be substituting probably several more times before I head off to Maine for the summer.
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