Well, I didn’t get back to it quite as quickly as I wanted to. Life happens though! So I subbed on Wednesday for the first time ever and it was fantastic! My mentor teacher wasn’t feeling well so I was able to convince her to let me sub since I could. It was during full time teaching anyways so it wasn’t any different.
The kids quickly realized she wasn’t there and I had to reign things in before they got out of control. I told them that she wasn’t here today because she wasn’t feeling well but it didn’t mean things were different because I had been teaching all day anyways. (Background: Up to this point, I had been struggling with most students being disruptive and talking while I was talking constantly.) I also explained that their disrespectful behavior needed to stop today. I was done with them talking while I was talking, not paying attention, and being disruptive. I told them that that behavior was rude and I would not tolerate it any longer. I also mentioned that there were a handful of students in class who were respectful, polite, always do what they’re supposed to, and that those kids make coming to school everyday very enjoyable. I ended by telling them I don’t like punishing any of them and I want them all to be in class and for us to be able to have fun and learn at the same time.
That was the end of my “speech” for the day and I had no idea what it would lead to. I have to say, the rest of the day, they were absolutely wonderful!! The morning went smoothly and no one was in trouble. They all did what they were supposed to do and this was a first. I’ve never had them behave this well for me. I was thrilled.
Then the chaos began. I took them to Related Arts, came back, and had a few minutes to get myself together for the rest of the afternoon. They came back from Related Arts and had 20 minutes before going to lunch. In the course of those 20 minutes, I got my “introduction to public school.” The kids came back in and I was trying to get them back to work for the short time we had. I was working with a guided reading group in the back of the room and one of the boys refused to come over. I finally got him to come over and as he turns around, there are tears streaming down his face. Now, you have to remember how 5th graders react when a boy cries. Not well. I asked him to go into the hall and got every one back to work. I stepped into the hallway and tried to figure out what was wrong. Long story short, something had happened in his related arts class and he was upset about the note the teacher had written home to his parents. Finding this out took about 5 or 6 minutes because he was crying so hard that he started having trouble breathing. I had to get him to calm down and then play 20 questions because he wouldn’t tell me what was wrong. Once I had pried that out of him, I told him to take a minute and get himself together while I went back to my guided reading group (who was supposed to be reading during this time).
As soon I was walk back in, I almost trip over a little girl who is standing there waiting for me. She looks upset too and kind of pale. I ask her what’s wrong and she says that she doesn’t feel good. I look around for the trashcan b/c I think it’s her stomach. But I ask her what doesn’t feel good and she says her heart hurts. I was like, your heart hurts? And asked her if she could breathe. She said her heart and her chest hurt and it hurt to breathe. In my head, I went, “Oh crap!” I told her to come with me and ran across the hall to get that teacher. I asked her to come here and I must have looked panicked because her eyes got big and she basically ran out of the room. This little girl was having trouble breathing, getting pale, and all I could think was there’s no nurse here. What are we gonna do? She went into the other teacher’s room to call her mom and I went back to my class. Thankfully I walked in and they were all quiet and doing their work! I was thrilled!
As soon as I sat down with my guided reading group, the phone rang. One of the boys asked if I wanted him to answer it and I said yes, This is what I heard next: “No, she’s not here today. Ms. Shilling is though. Umm… ok.” I thought, great, now I’m gonna have to over there instead of them just telling him what they need. He said, with a big grin on his face, (b/c all of the kids had busted out laughing when I sat down and the phone rang), “Ms. Shilling, they want to talk to you.” “Of course they do,” I said. I asked who it was and he didn’t know. So I climb out from behind the guided reading table and went across the room to get the phone. It was one of the ladies from the office calling to tell me she had one of my girls there with her b/c she needed a change of clothes. “Of course she did. Thanks for letting me know,” I said.
With that, I had about 3 or 4 minutes to wrap up with my guided reading group before we went to lunch. I did it somehow though! Then sent them to line up for lunch. The little girl who was having trouble breathing came back in as everyone was going to line up and I asked her how she was. She said her mom didn’t answer and it was getting harder to breathe. The other teacher came in and said we should call the emergency contact on her card. I didn’t know where that was so I took the kids to lunch while she looked for that. As I’m coming back down the hall, I hear her talking loudly on the phone about how this little girl can’t breathe and needs to be picked up. There was some dispute about who could or couldn’t pick her up and if they needed ID or not… Long story short- we got her to the office and the assistant principal was in charge from there. We had 10 minutes of lunch left
The rest of the day went pretty smoothly and at 3:45 I looked at the clock again. The silent bell had rung to begin dismissal and as I looked at the 25 kids in my room sitting silently with their stuff ready to go home, I thought, ” We made it. We survived today and we made it.” At the same time I was also thinking, “I can do this. I really can do this. And I like this!” It was a breakthrough day for all of us and I finally realized that I really can do this (teaching) and I enjoy it. I didn’t realize when I cam to school that being the teacher for the day would mean I would be uniform enforcer, counselor, paramedic, instructor, advocate, and the millions of other things that teachers become everyday. But I enjoyed the challenge and enjoyed my kids and had a wonderful day
My teachers that I work with smiled and said “Welcome to public education.”
Let the journey continue.
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