Wednesday, September 24, 2008

Substitute Teaching

My interent was down for a few weeks so, I'm behind in my uneventful life. Well, Chris is a state employee and Governor Huntsman decided that all Utah State employees should do a test trial of working 4/10s a week instead of 5/8s a week to see if it will cut down on many costs in our incredibly expensive economy. It's a one year idea. Who's to say whether it becomes permanent or not. I would say not since I don't think our state will end up saving that much dinero. Anyway, Chris and I are both now usually home on Friday, Saturday and Sunday. As nice as it is to have so much time together after the first 4 exhausting days, I decided that I should get some kind of a job for Fridays since Chris can stay home with the kids. Waitressing came to mind and then I decided that I'd rather punch out all my teeth with a power drill rather than waitress again! I've done that for 4 years of our 8 1/2 year marriage. I decided to look into substitute teaching. I went down to apply and found out that the training they have just once a year was going to be held just 2 days after I applied. It gave a $5 per work day bonus if you attend. Well, I am all certified now and I had my first teaching experience today. I guess you can't really call it "teaching". I was called in for just one hour today to watch a Senior Class Sports Medicine course while they took a test. They were able to study an additional 1/2 hour at the beginning of class and then had a 1/2 hour to take their test. It was actually quite humorous. I decided that during the test, instead of sitting down behind the desk, I would stay standing in front of the class the whole time just watching the students. I could see a few eyes just dying to creep over to their neighbors, but then they'd look up and see me and their eyes would get big, followed by them focused back down on their own paper. Kinda funny, but all and all it was a great bunch of kids. I had to remind them to be quiet numerous times during study time, but that's not too bad. The real challenge will be this Friday when I take care of a 4th grade class from 8:15-1:30. There are two Elementary schools here in Price. Unfortunately, I will not be at the same school as my daughter. One of these times I'm sure. I'm a little nervous so, wish me luck!