Close to perfection!

What a fantastic day. Dare I say I had about as close to a perfect day that you can have subbing. I actually spent the majority of my day teaching. I had such a well behaved group of students that there really was almost zero need for discipline. Sure I had kids talking at certain points, but if I asked them to stop talking they actually stopped talking. I think I raised my voice once today (its a humorous story described below), and it just barely counted as a voice raising. I didn't have to make any threats. I didn't have to write any names on the board. It was incredible. I really didn't think that I would want to teach again full time, but if I knew I would have a class like I did today I might actually consider it.

We made it through the teacher's plans, with time to spare. I really don't like it when I have to rush through plans. The teacher left sort of sparse plans, but that was ok, because I was subbing in a 4th grade class---which is the one that I have the easiest time of winging because of my past experience. I got to teach them my Maryland version of 7-up (no not heads up, 7-up) and they all seemed to have a good time doing it. I got to read to them for the last half hour of the class---and the class was reading Because of Winn-Dixie which is one of my favorites.

This is an especially good situation, because it is the school that is right around the corner from my house. The regular teacher came into the classroom at the very end of the day and said she would be glad to have me come back for her class again in the future. Also the office took my name also, especially excited since I was so close to the school.

I really did like this feeling of leaving a school with a smile on my face, instead of feeling completely broken down.

Oh, funny moment of the day. Somehow a big cockroach appeared in the middle of the classroom during the day. At first I thought it might belong to one of the many science experiments taking place in the class, the students assured me that it wasn't. So then it was a matter of disposing of the cockroach----this was a really big cockroach, so I didn't want to step on it because it would have made a big mess. So I gave it a little kick to try and flip its on its back. Of course I over-kicked the cockroach and it went flying to the side of the room that all the girls were sitting on. You should have heard the shrieks! So that explains where my one voice raising moment of the day came from. I did manage to get the cockroach to the garbage can without killing it, so it is probably having a feast in some dumpster as we speak.