NEXT AVENUE SPECIAL SECTION
3 Reasons I Love Substitute Teaching By Amy Nicholson
1. Helping in an important way. Teachers are in demand. News of America's teacher shortage is often in the headlines. This shortage of classroom teachers consequently leads to a shortage of substitute teachers. Administrators often have to step in to cover classes or students will be split among other classes or teachers will substitute for absent teachers during their regular prep periods. It puts a strain on the entire system. That trickles down to the children. 2. It is interesting and fun. As a substitute, every day is different. In the 10 years I've been subbing in elementary schools, I have worked as a classroom teacher and an instructional assistant at every grade level from preschool to grade 6. 3. We all have something unique to offer. If you think you're not qualified to substitute teach because you haven't taught before, think again. Everyone has something to offer. You have life experiences unique to you. Whether it's what you've done, where you've gone, or who you've known, your experiences alone make you one-of- a-kind and, therefore, provide something only you can give to others.
Twenty-one typically chatty fifth graders sit at their desks in front of me, and yet, it's absolutely silent. I stand by the teacher's desk at the front of the room, slowly reading the last lines of the chapter as they read along. One of the main characters has just died. I lower the book and look up. The students look at me. They sit there and I stand there in silence for what seems like quite a while, shaken. Then they start talking. They're angry, they're sad, they feel cheated that the author has taken away one of the characters that they had grown to love over the last 12 chapters and several days. For me, that day was a testimony not only to the power of good books but also an example of one of the ways working as a substitute teacher has blessed me over the past decade.
There are myriad reasons I love my job. Here are just three:
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