Back to school... kind of

Again, it's been a while. However, this time I make my comeback having conquered some new territory. I have been substituing teachers in my former primary school and junior high and I am so excited to have gained these new experiences. The best way to desrcribe the job of a substitute is challenging, yet rewarding.

Yesterday was my very first day as a teacher, the very first time in a loooong time that I had to get up and go to work and though I needed coffee really badly so early in the morning, it was very refreshing to actually do something for a change. The tricky thing with substituing teachers is that you don't really have that much time to prepare. Yeah I knew about it a few days before, but I didn't get the instructions until in the morning. And well, luckily I adapt pretty easily since though I had been informed about the arts and handicraft lessons, I had a nice surprise of having to be a math teacher for one lesson. When I read it on the board for the first time, all I thought was "oh shit!" But as it turned out, it was a piece of cake. It was so much easier now than when I was a 9th-grader... Now I thank god that I chose advanced math in high school. They always said I'd need it in life and now I am happy about those countless hours calculating and calculating. The challenging part also included being unfamiliar to the students and what they are like. I am really glad I have had to boss people around in the past, since that was pretty much what I did on those more artistic lessons.

Today and tomorrow I am at primary school teaching the second grade. And I love it! Yeah there is noise around me all the time and kids won't shut up or stay still but what makes a difference is that in their eyes they still have the sparkle of enjoying carefree life. And they liked me, I even got a few pictures saying I am the best teacher ever. Funny that high school seems to be enough of an education for the kids but all the employees I have contacted this fall don't always agree...  It is also nicer to have the same class the whole day so I get to know the kids better. It felt like I was a real teacher! I even got to use my skills in playing the piano since we started practising a Christmas song performance. 

I have always had the job of a teacher in the back of my mind but I haven't had a realization of wanting to start studying it yet. I can't deny that it sounds nice when a kid calls me the teacher, though. And really, nothing compares to the feeling when you explain something to a child or a youngster and they have that moment of understanding.