Substitute teaching definitely has had its ups and downs - as many of you have heard about in the past year, but overall I am so glad that I did this. The experience has been invaluable to my educational career and I consider it one of the ways I have learned the MOST about education. Hands-on experience is always best for me!
In the year that I have started subbing, I have collected quite a few good stories. Enough to definitely start a new weekly feature! We'll see how this does, so let me know what you think!
One of my favorite stories is when I subbed in my own high school for the first time. My high school is my moms school, my grandpa's school and great grandpa's school - it's OLD. Through those four generations we have seen a lot of changes and renovations to the building.
The school is pretty big, with 2,000+ students and growing and in the 12 years I graduated from high school (eeep!) the school has added on a new addition and made many changes to the interior. I had not been in the school for several years and had only seen the changes from the outside when I drove by.
The day I was scheduled to work there, the job description specified a certain building I was supposed to work in. I didn't pay much attention to it, and on the day I was scheduled to work I parked in the staff parking lot (which felt weird) and headed in the main doors to the registrar. When I checked in with her, she said I was in the wrong building. I blankly stared at her and then she repeated herself again and said you're in _____ Building.
Umm, what?
I looked at her and said, "I went to this school and I have no clue what you're talking about."
She proceeded to give me driving directions to the building I was in. Technically, it was within walking distance, and since I sort of knew where she was talking about, I decided to walk.
Bad idea.
There's something to be said about getting lost in your own high school 12 years after graduating.
I felt really old ....
Then the hall monitor asked me for my "pass" as I was outside. I laughed a little and then showed him my staff badge. Luckily, by this time I have embraced my young looking face and can laugh it off. ;)
Did you go to a big or little school? What do you consider big or small? In Iowa we have lots of small towns so there are many definitions of big and small!
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I graduated with a class of about 85 and the year i left 2005 they remolded everything. I do not recognize the place. I haven't even been back, being an only child and all I don't have a real reason. I consider my HS wicked small!
Ha! If your alma mater has BUILDINGS then I imagine it is one of four possible high schools in Iowa. You're giving yourself away! :)
My metric for determining big vs. small is based on my understanding of Iowa schools. If "North", "East", or "West" (or "Dowling") is in the title = HUGE; school with the same name as town = MIDDLE (and/or 2A, ha); school with name of county or hyphenated name = BITTY
As as rule, I generally assume that most people in the country who claim they went to a "small school" aren't aware that there are many, many high schools in Iowa with 100 kids (and not because they are elite and/or private).
Haha too funny about the 'pass'! My first year teaching I did get the student rate at lunch...I didn't know the difference at first! Props to you for being such a trooper with subbing. I can only imagine!
I went to what I considered an average sized school. I graduated with 525 people. We have 2 Public High Schools in my home town. And of course, not long after I left, they decided to remodel the arts portion of the school and then a few years after that, all the Athletics areas were renovated again (they renovated while I was there too). Several years ago, I had to go back to my High School to return some costumes to the Drama department (about 10 years later than they needed to be returned...ooops...even worse, my Drama teacher remembered everything I brought back..haha) I got lost trying to figure out how to find the Drama department because of the above mentioned changes. (I didn't want to walk straight through the auditorium). On that same day, I noticed that my Choir Director was no longer there either and there was a strange lady that looked somewhat familiar. I went in to see who she was, and it turned out to be my former Junior High Choir Director. Strange indeed. :)
Oh no! Sounds like something I would do!
Glad that right after you felt "old" you were able to feel young again as well :0)
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I'm sure if I subbed at a high school, I would be mistaken for a student, too! I'm always mistaken as it is, ha.
I can totally relate to this story... only a YEAR after I graduated high school I took my sister to show her around because she was going to be a freshman. WELL in that year they changed around ALL the building names and my attempt to show her where her classes would be TOTALLY failed- I had NO idea where anything was! I recently had to go back to my hs to see a basketball game that Eric's students were playing in- it was weird haha
That's crazy! My high school was a whopping 400 and my graduating class was 99 people. The building is in SERIOUS need of remodeling but the town won't pass the budget to get it done. Great, right?
At least you look young! Better than the opposite! My HS is so tiny; I don't think I could get lost! It's only a few buildings!
Oh we had about....750 kids total. I think that counts as a small school! And yet when it came time to take the ACTs (which is mandatory in the state of Illinois) I still walked into the gym and didn't know some of the kids in my class!
I went to a big school, although it was normal sized for my city. There were about 4,000 kids at my high school, and since it was only 4 years each class had around 1,000 students. On the other hand there were only 1,000 undergrads at my college, so for college I instead went to a really tiny school.
Ha, that is funny that you got mistaken for a student. I think I would take that as a compliment!! :)
I went to a tiny, tiny school. There were 28 kids in my class, and K-12 all went to the same school. I HATED it. I actually asked my parents to send me away to a boarding school or something like that. Didn't happen, obviously.
So funny! I went to a similar sized high school (about 2,000.) Now I live outside of Texas and the high school is the same size but its only for 11-12 grades!! Everything is bigger in Texas!
Haha! That is too funny! I haven't been back to my high school in about 10 years so I can understand the getting lost part. My high school was around the same size and had about that many kids.
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