As Told By a Substitute 004

Olá everyone! (That’s hello in Portuguese for those of you not familiar) How is everyone doing today? Please let me know how you’re doing and how this month has treated you in the comment section below. Today, I want to share with you more of my substitute stories because for some reason, many of you seem to enjoy these.

Crying Over Animals:

So this one time I was subbing as a floater; basically, I was called because teachers were going to be in and out of meetings all day and therefore I was the one to go and stand in the teachers place while they were at meetings. Well, one of the classes I had to watch over was kindergarten. I walked into the brightly designed and fun kindergarten room, told the teacher she had a meeting and she politely replied that she would try to make the meeting quick and she also told me that all the students were to work on was the worksheet they had. I looked over the worksheet and all the kids had to do was name the animals on the paper (a word bank was given with a list of animals) and they also had to color in the animals. Now, this worksheet couldn’t be more clear and the animals were VERY different from each other for example there would be a dog, cat, lion, elephant, rat…all animals very easy to identify no? Okay, well one girl was having some trouble so i went over to her and asked her if she needed help, to which she replied “I just don’t get this it doesn’t make sense.” I explained the assignment to her and she only became more frustrated. Seeing that she didn’t understand the instructions, I tried to help her with the first one. I pointed to the lion and said “do you think this is an elephant?” to which she rapidly shook her head no. I asked her if she thought it was a rat and she said ” I don’t know.” I asked her if she had a dog and if it looked like that to which she became very very angry and said “I JUST DON’T GET THIS!! I DON’T WANT TO DO IT!” I was like okay, well I’m trying to help you by asking what you think the animal is and isn’t like. Seeing she was so frustrated, I told her to just color in the animals and then we would come back to trying to figure out what each animal was. Well her reply to that? She threw her paper and crayons on the floor then began to scream and cry with her head on the desk. I, confused, puzzled, and definitely not knowing what to do because I thought I was being as helpful as I could decided to let her have her temper tantrum and walked away from her to help other kids. By the way, the teacher took 40 minutes to return. 

The Attention Seeker:

Another time I was subbing for little kids, which proves to be much more difficult than subbing for high school. We were gathered around the carpet for reading time. I was reading a book and showing students the pictures and of course asking students questions about the reading to check for understanding and to make sure they were paying attention. I called on one girl for one question…minutes later I ask another question this time calling on another person (because you know, I can’t always be picking on the same kid) well, she didn’t seem to understand the fact that I had to let EVERYONE have a chance…she wanted me to ALWAYS pick on her….I mean ALWAYS. Safe to say she started crying and then said I didn’t like her because I wasn’t calling on her…I…had…just…called…on…her…She cried for a few minutes, I explained that everyone needs a chance to answer, she didn’t like my answer and then she was being pouty for the full day. Oh well.

 

Hope you enjoyed these two stories on the little tiny children that I have substituted for. Let me tell you, a lot of crying goes on with those little kids. Props to every elementary school teacher out there.

 

 

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44 thoughts on “As Told By a Substitute 004”

      1. Pre med students get really competitive about their grades-so ya, some tears here and there, but over 20+ years. Actually, come to think of it, I probably cried more than my students did in that time frame!

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      2. Hahaha, ohhh noo! I could only imagine how stressful med school is and how competitive it really must be. Truthfully, if I were a med school student I would be crying my eyes out! Even as a math major I cried a few times!

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  8. I love that you started your post with Olá! Represent!! Anyway, I though we would only become neurotic in high school or a little after, when life starts to become more difficult. Apparently, you can have plenty of issues in kindergarten lol

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    1. Oh my goodness, far too many issues in Kindergarten! It’s so strange because I love to play with little kids and like run around with them but I could NEVER be their teacher, I would get far too frustrated.

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  11. I love this series! And yes, tiny kids can be a handful, take that from someone who works with them everyday XD
    Crying is just par for the course a lot of the times, and hey, sometimes the best course of action is to just ignore it.

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      1. It has hard moments, but I love it so much! I’ve been doing it for two years now, so I have lots of strategies and tactics in play when I work with them 😀
        I used to sub before I worked at my current centre, and it was a lot more difficult when I didn’t know the kids as well.

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  13. I’ve always thought that an anecdotal book of classroom stories would be an awfully entertaining read (not to mention cathartic to teacher writing it!). I wish I had written down some of the doozies from my first years of teaching. Oh well. But keep up the stories for the rest of us–they are always fun to read (especially when it is not happening to me 😉 )

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    1. Hahaha, I too always thought that was such an amazing idea. I will definitely keep writing for looking back I laugh but in the moment I’m stunned and maybe even mad sometimes. Have a lovely day!

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  16. Hello. Your post made me laugh because I taught 5-6 year olds for many many years and I just love the unpredictability of this age group. It’s so much fun but exhausting. I love that they love you no matter what and they are still young enough to think you are the Queen of the World. Children give us some unexpected rewards like their funny reactions to things, their hilarious sayings and the zestful life. I agree with Angela though-Sometimes if they are really uncooperative or in a bad mood, it’s best to ignore and continue on with the lesson. They usually will comply at some point.

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    1. I completely agree with everything you said! It really is great that they look up to you and they think you’re amazing and at the top but man can they be a handful! I give huge props to teachers that teach the younger children because it really is tough but very rewarding and funny I bet.

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