I begin substituting

Got my first substitute teaching gig today.

God is good. He knew I needed an easy simple class. English I (Advanced) -- 9th grade -- at the kids' high school. YES!!!! Only one block in the afternoon. Time to get dressed, get my hair washed and dried, time to breath and make a little intro speech in my mind. Time to find a place to park. Very happy.

I got called by the automated system at 7:15 this morning at the exact same time that Keva's bus came roaring up. So quickly, I accepted the assignment and put Keva on the bus, and then went back in to review the assignment over the phone again. Usually subbing is for a half or full day, but mine was just for the one class, so it was just two hours (after all was said and done) of pay. That part wasn't great, but it at least gave me a feel for subbing without being thrown to the wolves right off the bat.

The kids were great. Typical ninth grade fairly high achievers, so they all behaved relatively well. I did not mention anything about it being my first time as a substitute and I tried to be pretty strict, at least at first, not letting anyone go to the bathroom or get a drink of water, until they were in their discussion groups.

I did have one "issue" when it came to dismissal time. I had had about five minutes to go over the lesson plan the teacher had left before students started filing in, and I spent a few more minutes getting it organized in my little brain, so that when it came time to figure out how to space out the projects the teacher had assigned them, I had decided that the school would be out at 3:00 even though the schedule did in fact say 3:30. The students (bless their hearts) informed me that they didn't get out until 3:30, and then quickly shushed themselves, "No, no! We get out at 3:00! You're right!" I ended up having a whole extra half hour to kill in my schedule. This was where my experience as a homeschool teacher came in handy. I went over work they had not had time to finish (Gee, I wonder why!) and then I read through the assigned story with them. It worked out fine. I was actually thankful for the extra time to help them get their work done. And then, before I knew it, the bell had rung. First class OVER!

When I got home a while later, Kathleen, the oldest one home, was in the bathroom with Konner who had hurt himself. He had scraped off a good portion of skin from a place right above his ankle. All the rest of the little kids were looking in on the mess of blood and bandages. Poor Kathleen was looking a little peaked and was glad to see me home. I'm still not sure if Konner actually needs stitches. I'm going to have Keith look at it when he gets home and help me decide. I think he may have just skinned a good portion off, but not enough to get stitches. We shall see. When I called the pediatrician, he reminded me that I've got about a six hour window before needed to get the stitches. I do not want to take Konner to urgent care again. Sigh.

Time to go make dinner.