Right now, in my teaching career, I am a building substitute teacher for a Montessori school for grades kindergarten to 9th grade. This school is in Ogden Utah. We have a diverse student body with from various economic and cultural backgrounds. We are a city of about 88,000, so not small but not huge either. We have an ELL program where our students who are still learning English can get additional support.
I have been in kindergarten classes, sped classes, 1-3rd grades, and junior high classes, including PE, where I took the photo below after the 6th grade gym class went into an uproar after someone hit a ball too hard and added yet another ball to the rafter collection. I have substituted one day for the junior high art teacher which included facilitating a one-day art page that the students could work on. As I am substituting wherever the school needs me on any given day, in any grade level they might need someone to cover in, I do not have a set classroom. One of the benefits of working as the building substitute is getting to know all of the students in all of the grades. I have kindergartners and first graders running to give me hugs and junior high students coming to eat lunch with me. It has been a unique experience that has been fantastic for building relationships throughout the entire school.
As I do not have my own classroom, I cannot describe what it looks like or how the layout determines practice space or how the students utilize the space. I can say that I have learned to always stock up on pencils, scrap paper, and have extra supplies for students who might not be able to afford supplies or just students who might need them sometimes. We are not here to judge our students but to make sure that all of our students have equal and equitable access to their education.
Every morning when I get to school, I check my messages to see if I am already needed in a specific classroom. If I have not gotten any messages, I check in with the office to double check there. If they do not need me, I would go help in sped, then tutoring ELA, then I would help out with the junior high lunch and then head to the library to help out there. Starting this next week, I will be assisting in a mixed age 1st- 3rd grade class for the foreseeable future as the assistant in that room found another job elsewhere and in the Montessori classes, they really do need a teacher and an assistant to have the classroom run effectively.
I do have two different interviews coming up this month which would be a permanent full time teaching position for the 26/27 school year. I am excited to see what happens and what will be my new classroom for next year. I will enjoy coming back to this post and updating you all on my new classroom environment.
This is such a fun video for substitutes! - https://youtu.be/B36gGAa83YQ?si=xdGPmyFPZlGfc9tV
Teach Your Class Off. (2025, February 8). Subbing Like a Pro: 11 Game-Changing Tips for Substitute Teachers [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=B36gGAa83YQ
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