Blow your horn!

Well, as most all of you know, I have seen subbing at my local high school. I have already subbed for 12 days this semester. Since I did not get a teaching job this year, I have decided to share my experiences as a sub. Maybe this will help those of you that have never filled the role of a substitute teacher better understand what subs have to deal with.
Late Friday evening, September the 18th, I got a call from the middle school asking me to sub for the band director. I thought that it was someone playing a joke on me. My sister is a teacher and I thought that she had worked up a scheme to "punk me". You see, back in the day when I was in school, if the band director was absent, the music teacher looked in on us and the drum major ran the show. Well, those days are gone because the band director not only teaches band now but also has three music appreciation classes so it is a full day.
First, second and third periods were not much of an issue because those classes are experienced musicians. However, the afternoon was a different story.
Music appreciation for grades 7 and 8 was a nightmare. The instructor left me beginning music videos for the kids to watch. Problem was, the videos only lasted about 20 minutes and the class period lasts for 50 minutes. I had 30 minutes of music appreciation time to fill and I have absolutely ZERO musical skills. Now, I can sing like nobody's business in my truck but that is about as far as my music skills go.
I ended up finding another video on choreography for them to watch. The girls all wanted to dance and the boys all wanted to crawl in a hole (I would not have minded a quiet hiding place myself:). Needless to say I was so glad when the day was over.
The moral of the story is this: When you have a substitute coming in for you, make sure that you have enough to fill the ENTIRE class period. Too much idle time is tough for a sub to cover. Specifically a sub that has no clue about the subject matter that they are subbing for.

Maybe next year ...

I hope my first attempt at blogging goes a bit better than my first attempt at joining the teaching profession. However, I am not feeling too confident that it will. Having not obtained a teaching position, I have asked myself multiple times why I am still pursuing this career path. Each time I come up with the same answer ... I want to teach!

I signed up to substitute teach at Star City this fall and I have picked up a few days already. I have affirmed in my mind that I really enjoy being around kids ... I want to teach! Subbing so far has really seemed like nothing more than "babysitting". But at the same time I am learning about the students and how to better interact with them. I am getting my foot in the door at the school at which I hope to work next year. I will do my best to make that happen because I want to teach ... maybe next year!