1 year in the classroom...

Yesterday was my 1 year anniversary of teaching. My very first subbing job was at the school I am teaching at now for the amazing Barb Diehl. All the teachers I eat lunch with were talking about my anniversary at lunch yesterday. I did bring it up... but still! :) Every year they have a Halloween party for the teachers. They were all remembering me coming in a year ago and talking to everyone. I asked them if they had a spread like this everyday! :) It's kinda cool they remembered my first day.

1 year ago:

I woke up early and anxious! 8th graders... my first day.. what was I thinking? (I was thinking junior high starts the latest of all schools and I am NOT a morning person.) I wasn't due at the school until 8:40am. But I got to school earlier than the sheet said (8:15am) because I wanted to make sure I understood everything before the kids came in. All the doors to school were locked and only teachers and staff can get in before the first bell rings. I parked in the back and got lucky that someone was walking to the door at the same time I was.

I got into school and made my way to the office. It was locked. The office doesn't open until 8:30am. I sat on the bench and waited. My anxiety is starting to get bigger as I am wasting time on the bench instead of in the classroom figuring out what I am doing for the day. But I don't know where to go! So.. I wait.

8:25am... the front office lights turn on and I hear a clicking sound that tells me the door is unlocked. Oh thank GOD! I go in and sign all the forms and get a map of the school and make my way to the room. I find it pretty quickly. It's not a REALLY big school (when I subbed at Lamar, I got lost). I go to open the door and guess what... it's locked!

I make a note to self: Sure arriving early is smart... but too early just adds stress!

I am waiting patiently outside the door when at 8:35am our wonderful custodian opens it for me. She has a list in her hand and I realize that the school has a system for substitutes and I need to just learn it.

I walk into the room and Ms. Diehl has it all laid out for me. A movie! Fantastic. I go over to the TV and put the movie in the VCR. I turn on the TV and press all the buttons and.... snow. 8:40am the kids will be arriving in 8 minutes and the only thing I have for the day is not working... I start sweating.

I press a few more buttons and it still isn't working. I hear the door open and Ms. Young walks in. She tells me Ms. Diehl asked her to check in and see if I needed anything... Oh thank you thank you!! She gets the VCR to work and tells me she is just down the hall if I need anything. 8:45am, I take a deep breath. I look over the students names and see which ones I won't be able to pronounce. My stomach is in knots.

The bells rings and startles me. Showtime.

1st period went really well. I told them if they did as they were supposed to and paid attention and didn't talk, I would give them the last 5 minutes of class to talk. They seemed to be ok with that. I took roll and a student offered to take it down to the attendance office for me. I thought she was just trying to get out of class. I told her I'd take it down myself at the end of the day. She didn't argue with me... even though I was SO WRONG. You have to turn in attendance every period. Who knew?

2nd period was my conference period. Which was nice... I had time to breathe. I took the attendance sheet down to the office where they told me to just let a student do it. :)

I went back upstairs and looked around Ms. Dielh's room. She had a lot of pictures up. And... I noticed a picture of a blond haired girl I went to high school with... Corey Diehl-Miller. I guess she went here? No, this school was built when we were in high school. I called Kevin and asked him what Corey's mom's name is. (He and Corey were really close friends in junior high and high school.) He said Barb. Same as the name on my sheet. Really... small world. Kevin told me to write Barb a note saying Hi and to tell Corey Hi. I can't believe my first job was for Corey's mom. So cool.

The rest of the day was... fun. I didn't understand the bell schedule... or what advisory was. I was scared to leave the room because I wasn't sure when kids would be coming in. Every time the bell rang I'd look at the door and when kids didn't come in I would get worried. Was I in the right place... Are they out in the hall running around. Eventually I calmed down. But I was a ball of nerves all day.

By 7th period I was starting to relax. No major problems. I even really thought the kids were funny. One asked me if I was tired of watching the video yet... he said, "Isn't it boring to watch it over and over again?" I told him no... because I wasn't watching the video... I was watching them! :) He smiled at that. I made a kid smile.

When the dismissal bell rang at 3:55pm I was so tired. I wrote Barb a note about each period and introduced myself... I cleaned up the room... made sure it looked nice and then I packed up and went home.

I was asleep by 6pm!!! It's EXHAUSTING worrying about nothing! :)

I ended up becoming Barb's personal substitute and I think it was her high opinion of me that got me the job I have now, but that's another story....

THANKS BARB SO MUCH FOR EVERYTHING!