Teacher Appreciation Week/My First Day Subbing

As many of you already know, last week was "Teacher Appreciation Week" here in the United States.  This is a time when teachers receive presents, cards and extra benefits to remind them of how loved they are by their students, parents and co-workers for all their hard work year round.  I'd say that a good third of my closest friends are full time teachers, as well as several family members and I know how hard they work and how dedicated they are to making this world a little better through educating our youth...so I would like to say a big THANK YOU myself!!!

And it just so happens that after 2+ months of paperwork, test taking, and fingerprinting, I officially became a substitute teacher in the Gwinnett County school system here in Georgia last week.  And although I received three separate phone calls/texts from schools Thursday & Friday saying they needed me, I had already been scheduled to sub Friday at the school where my Aunt teaches, North Gwinnett High School.  So I begrudgingly set my alarm Thursday night for 6:25 a.m.....

For those who know me well, mornings are not my "forte" I guess you could say.  Or...you could say I hate 'em.  With a passion.  And I've been lucky enough and spoiled over the past few months here in Georgia that I've been able to get evening work, which allowed me to get ample beauty sleep.  Needless to say, the first hour Friday morning was a bit of a blur, but I was confident knowing when I walked out the door that I at least had deodorant on and had brushed my teeth.  All other "must dos" were left to chance.

My Aunt and I zipped down the street and arrived at the high school around 6:40 a.m. (that's right folks...it doesn't take me long to get ready.  I value my sleep, remember?)  And after a stop at the Java Dog on campus to get coffee, I went to the sub office to get my teaching assignment for the day:  Advanced High School Math.  You might also wonder what my LEAST favorite subject in high school was.  The one that made me crawl under my kitchen counter and bury my knees in my chest while I cried from confusion....

ADVANCED HIGH SCHOOL MATH.

Yep.  So...a little nervous about manning a subject that I loathed but excited about my first shot at being a teacher, I hustled down the hallway to Mr. Moore's room, Room 718.  As I sat down at my desk and started flipping through the sub plan, I had a moment of disbelief.  Wait...I'm going to be teaching high school?!  Damn, am I really that old that I can do that now?  I decided that I would hope for the best and try to be one of those cool younger teachers we had when I went to Newport High...cool enough to be fun and hip and easy to relate to, but serious enough to be respected and listened to.

Math Teacher Miss Letherer.  A little sleepy...

Periods 1-3 went off without a hitch.  The students were on task, very knowledgeable about their assignments and respectful of me as a substitute. The afternoon was an entirely different story.  Somehow 5th period turned into a question & answer about my life history (the most interesting topic to the students being my recent travels in Africa), I was given the wrong room number to switch to by the full time teacher for 6th period and had to wander around until I found the right spot for advanced trig, and then by 7th period the students had given up all together.  They told me that they didn't understand their worksheets, and that their teacher had never taught them "that stuff" before.  Every other student needed to go to the bathroom, get a coat out of their locker, or go to the nurse because they had diabetes (yes, that was one of the excuses).  I did the best that I could to try to be fair and help the students, but I also tried not to let them walk all over me and take advantage of me not knowing what I'm doing.  In 5th period in fact, one student said "hey, are you new here?  I haven't seen you subbing around the school before".  And I decided that instead of saying "yeah, it's my first day ever subbing. Please feel free to walk all over me and take full advantage of my lack of experience and knowledge," to say "yeah...actually from Oregon but I'm just here for a while on my way back from Africa".  See...that's the way the Africa discussion got started in 5th period.  I diverted their attention.  Booya!

So while not much new was learned math-wise in room 718 on Friday, I was able to help a couple of students with their assignments, to my surprise.  And on top of that, I'm fairly certain that I inspired the entire 5th period class to travel abroad in their lifetime...which in my opinion is a more important subject and lesson than any math lesson would ever be.

So that concludes my first day subbing.  Would I do it again?  Yeah, sure...why not? And I might even consider being a full time teacher someday, but obviously in a subject that I am passionate and knowledgeable about. But subbing in Georgia probably won't happen again anytime soon...because I am leaving on a flight back to Oregon in just a few short days.   After weeks of negotiations, I accepted a job offer and a paid flight home that I simply couldn't refuse.  And while I'm leaving sooner than I had hoped, I'm really excited about the opportunity.  I'll be working for my good friend Bryan in Portland for his business, "Chopstick Art".  In sum, he imports recycled chopstick products from China that he has designed himself.  It's super cool, and he's a rad guy, so I'm pretty stoked to get started.  I'll be working in Portland and Seattle for him this summer, as well as teaching at a dance school in Portland, "Studio One Dance Academy"....and have interviews lined up at other dance schools as well.  Here are the websites for my new jobs, if you'd like to check 'em out:

www.chopstickart.com
www.studio1dance.net

The hardest part about this transition by far for me will be leaving my family down here in Atlanta.  My Aunt has bent over backwards to help me acquire work, make me feel welcome and ensure I have a good time.  And she has put me up in a time of transition when it really would have been extremely difficult otherwise to get back on my feet.  She really has given more than she should of or needed to, and no words or expressions of gratitude could ever repay her.  In addition, I have become best friends with my cousin Megan.  She & I are 7 years apart in age, and the age difference until now has been just enough that we couldn't relate to one another.  Nor did we ever spend enough time together to get to know one another.  Now we're like 2 peas in a pod.  And...the three of us...my Aunt, myself and my cousin, are all teaching dance together here in Atlanta, and I think we've really hit a rhythm, so it will be very hard to let that go.  This Saturday is the grand finale...our end of the year dance show, and then I fly out to Oregon the next morning at 10 a.m. and start working in Portland the same day.  It will be a whirlwind of people, celebrations and emotions, to say the least.

My Aunt, Cousin Megan & I

But what I've learned if anything from this year is to follow my heart and to do what feels best...and to be honest, the offers that I received in Portland were ones I couldn't pass up.  I just feel a pull of opportunity dragging me back to my home state.  That being said, I feel very blessed to have several back up options here in Atlanta if I chose to return.  And who knows?  I've been away from Oregon for 9 months.  Maybe I'll return home, take a deep sigh and say "oh yeah...I missed this. This is where I belong".  Or maybe I'll arrive and be reminded of why I left in the first place.  Who's to say?  But, one thing I do know is that I will never know if I don't go back home.  And....the great thing about life is that you always have the power to change your mind (and location), as long as you understand that wherever you go, there are endless possibilities and options that you can create for yourself.

OK loyal blog followers...this is it for a bit.  The next few weeks are going to be jam packed full of goodbyes and hellos.  So enjoy the close of Spring and the start of Summer, and I will try to write again when I feel so inspired :)  Take good care and see some of you near & dear Oregonians very soon! :)