New Job

So in February I was fortunate enough to have a wonderful opportunity fall in my lap. I was asked to take a semi-long term sub job for a teacher out on maternity leave. Because of the type of credential I have, I could only sub in the same classroom for 6 weeks at a time, but that worked out perfect since that was how much longer I had until the baby was due. The kids thought it was pretty funny that they were replacing one pregnant teacher with another.

This job could not have been more perfect if I had hand picked exactly what I wanted. It was at the nicest school in the East Side District, the only school I liked working at, because it actually has good kids. And by good kids I mean more like a normal school, where in general the kids care about school, or their parents care, and there are only 1 or 2 kids in a class of 35 who don't care and don't try, unlike the other schools where the entire class of 35 kids didn't care and didn't try, and I had to deal with 5 classes of rude, disrespectful, unmotivated kids. These kids were good, they put forth effort, and they were actually fun, respectful, and kind to me. It was a huge change from regular subbing, and I loved it!

Also I got to teach 3 classes of Biology and 2 classes of Chemistry which I absolutely loved! It was exactly what I would want to teach when I become a real teacher some day, and I loved that I actually got to really teach! Plus as it turns out, I am actually really good at it! Regular subbing was pretty disheartening, and I had pretty much given up on the idea of teaching because I hated subbing so much. The kids were awful, I didn't feel like I was any good at it, I couldn't get the kids to do anything, and it was really boring. I was also really sad that it felt like I had never had a real job before I was going to stop working and stay at home to be a mom. I felt like I hadn't accomplished anything, and I hadn't done anything with my degree that I worked so hard on.

This job totally changed that for me. I found out that if I am at a good school, and I am really teaching, that I actually love it, and I am actually really good at it. The kids loved me, they told me the learned more with me than they had the whole year, and they begged me not to leave. It was a lot of work for sure, and I definitely didn't get paid fairly for the kind of work that I did, but it was well worth it. Having this job for only a month erased a year and a half of bad experiences with subbing. It made me feel good about myself, I felt like I had accomplished something before I had to stop working, and I realized that I do still want to be a teacher some day, and when I do, I know I will be a good one!