Substituting

Today was my first day as a substitute teacher in the district. My first assignment......HIGH SCHOOL. Now, you know I prefer the littles. But, I decided to give it a try and I'm glad I did.

I taught ESL to high schoolers in small groups. The kids were very eager to learn and tried very hard. I was impressed with their determination to learn the English language.

Even more importantly, I remembered why I love to teach. My past few years of teaching have been challenging. I started wondering if maybe I had reached that early burnout that a large percentage of teachers get by year 3. I've taught for 6 years, so maybe that was it.

I was wrong. Today, I got to spend time actually TEACHING. Not just classroom management or putting out fires or wishing for enough textbooks or administrative support. I got to help a kid learn. I helped them turn on that light bulb in their head.

It went so well, they asked me to sub again tomorrow since the same teacher is still sick. And, if it is high school, I'm still excited to go back. I've missed that feeling of WANTING to go to school each day.

It feels good.

YAY!

Betsy