Subbing

So, I started substitute teaching in February, well because I had no internship, no specific job lined up, and I knew that some experience in the education field would be better than none; since one of my slightly unorganized dreams is to get my Ph.D. and teach at a university level. 

Funny thing is, I never knew I would like it as much as I do now. It is hands down the most interesting job I have had thus far. Kids these days are hilarious, annoying, and just really interesting. I think I’ve only had a few boring days. When I first started, I would write a quick overview of the day for the teacher and leave it on their desk. This included absences, the names of kids that acted a little psychotic, and the names of kids who helped my day go by smoothly. 

On one particular day, I got slightly bored. This period of 6th graders were doing their assignments quietly (much to my joy), and so I began to write out everything I was seeing. I started with the far left corner by the door. Three kids were playing Uno with Yu-Gi-Oh! cards and spades simultaneously,  I remember thinking they looked stupid but I didn’t realize my face was saying that for me. As soon as they looked up and saw me giving them the side-eye they stopped. It was then when I heard one girl whisper to the group of boys she was with, “Put the cards away y’ all … look at the sub. She thinks we’re crazy.” Man, I felt so bad, so I quit staring and tried to smile… but then I think that same girl started looking at me as if I was crazy. LOL MAN. I think my attitude is normally good. It’s my face that needs deliverance sometimes. 

The class period after that, a tall girl walked in wearing a plain white tee, with a onesie on, she wore it as her pants (looking downright silly if you ask me). The onesie’s sleeves were wrapped around her and then she tied the sleeves around her waist like people do with hoodies. Interestingly enough, it was the same exact onesie I once owned (I got rid of it as soon as I got home that afternoon). It was very soft and was yellow and red in the style of Winnie the Pooh. I was literally Winnie the Pooh when I would wear it, super cute. Until it wasn’t because it reminded me of Ms. Fashionista who also kept calling me Miss Blake instead of Miss Fley. 

Lastly, near the end of the day, per the teacher’s instructions, I put on a movie called The Sound of Music. I don’t know if any OG’s out there have heard of it, but this has always been an important sing-along/ nostalgic/ wholesome movie to me. So honestly I was kind of excited to watch it, even if I wouldn’t get to watch the entire movie. I handed out some handouts to the students, played the movie and sat back down. Now, I knew the intro to the movie is a bit slow, so I told them to just wait for it…. but no, they kept talking, twerking, and hitting the “Woah”.  Then they would try and pause the movie and ask me for the answers to the questions on their sheets. It was kind of disappointing to see how a classic movie in “my time” was such a boring relic to these 8th graders. After a few unknowing glares, (on my end) the 45 minutes went by quickly and one by one the kids left for their homes. 

As they turn in their papers to me, I quickly glanced at the last question. It read, “list three songs from the movie if you don’t know the name then try your best.” These kids wrote down “7 Rings (the original version).” 

*The song my favorite things didn’t even appear in the movie yet.  

So, honestly, these kids were actually more funny than annoying that day.