<p>I’m thinking of starting a thread about my own experiences since September as a substitute teacher. I didn’t ask to sub in all K through 12 grades, but right now my district doesn’t have enough subs so tomorrow I could go anywhere. </p>
<p>I did one “team teaching” class where a teacher and I divided the class in half. Ten minutes later the teacher began yelling at a few kids and lost her temper. She said some very mean things to one of them. I could feel the stress coming from her. I had my hands full too and later on in the teachers lounge we talked about the kids.</p>
<p>One day I shadowed a high school student who was challenged, and sat in on every one of his classes. His 1st period was study hall and I thought this was a great idea…kids are half asleep and this gives them time to finish their homework and study for a test too. Teachers use that 1st period as a prep time. Our teachers will split classes into smaller groups, have them use Google Chrome on classroom computers to look up material and watch presentations, and they often finish the class five minutes early so kids can do their homework, talk to each other, or line up and wait for the bell to ring.</p>
<p>Some second graders are rewarded by getting to pick any popular kids dance song on certain internet sites, and they all get up and watch the characters on the giant screen and dance to the music for four or five minutes. The happy looks on their faces is what I’ll remember long after forgetting the name of the problem kid. </p>