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A List of Things I Learned While Subbing - or - Thank You

Teachers have fantastic taste in books.

Connecting with s difficult student will save a day's worth of arguing.

Colleagues genuinely want to help.

You all spend too much money on your classrooms. Case in point I remember subbing in a portable where the teacher had brought in table lamps, a few comfy chairs, and lots of cushions. It made the place glow with roomy warmth. 

Field trips are insanely stressful.

Teacher's aides are the most valuable ally, and really underpaid.

So are teachers.

Dismissal time is like a brief daily vacation.

PE should be done every day. 

There are many ways to format a discipline system, but without student buy-in the implementation of it is a waste of time. 

This is also true when there is not consistency. 

Kids want to learn.

I once taught in a first grade room where the students knew how to sing every poem in the book "Ride a Purple Pelican". I thought this pure cheese until I saw the enraptured faces of the kids. When they were done a starry-eyed little girl said "Our teacher taught us that." in the way you might inform your friends your are in love.

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