Mrs. E?

Today I entered the rank of the “employed”.

Yes, I jumped through all the hoops required by Alpine School District and Kelly Services, and signed up to sub. I actually would prefer to work just at my kids’ elementary school, but I may have to branch out from that if I want to work more.

Today I did first grade.

It was exhausting. I didn’t even do the whole day, either. Just half day. Still exhausting. But kind of fun, as well. Reading, writer’s workshop, recess duty, spelling. And those kids go to the bathroom about a MILLION times a day. Seriously! Not sure if they were taking advantage of the sub, or if they really ALL need to go to the bathroom two times in a 3 hour period. I did remind them that recess is a really good time to go and use the bathroom, but who am I kidding? What kid wants to waste his 10 minutes of recess in the bathroom? I feel like I was talking constantly, repeating the same thing over and over and over. Some of these kids couldn’t even copy a sentence off the board, and others were fine writing the required three sentences about “I would walk my neighbor’s dog every day because…”

I remember why I wanted to go into teaching when the kids came up and gave me a hug at the end of the day. One cute little boy asked if he could call me Mrs. M. Mrs M? My name is Erickson. Oh, can I call you Mrs. E, then? I don’t have a problem with that. Mrs. E it is.

I already know a lot of the kids at the school, or I know their parents. They recognize me from PTA, and that helps. I also see a lot of kids from primary, and they say, “I know you from CHURCH!” It helps.

Tomorrow I signed up to teach at the Junior High. When the job came up, it was listed as “German”. Cool! I can teach German. But when I told my kids I was subbing for Mrs. Mapin, they said, “Doesn’t she teach History?” and “Yeah, I liked her. I had her for Geography.” History? Geography? Not what I was signing up for!!! But I’m committed now, so I’ll have to go and make the best of it.

No, I don’t want to make this a full time gig. I really am already WAY too busy to handle very much more on my plate. I have the big school walk-a-thon next Friday, and I’m writing the Primary Program, etc, etc. But I do think I would enjoy one or two days a week.

***Well, day two was ALSO exhausting, but good. I was pleased to be teaching German 3 classes of German and only one dreaded Geography class. The kids would walk in and say, “A SUB! Hey, do you speak German?” When I would answer “Ja,” they said conspiratorially, “the last sub didn’t speak German at ALL.” I was also pleasantly surprised that substitutes get free lunch from the cafeteria at this junior high, and teachers can jump the line. All in all, pretty good day.***