By Guest Blogger Ashley McDowell

I began substitute teaching to help fill my time between being a realtor. In addition, this is when our almost 2-year-old son is in half day pre-school at church. I have no formal education in the education field but am just a mom who wanted to help make a difference in our local school. Plus, make some extra cash. However, I did take the substitute teacher online course that my county required and applied for the position and was accepted quickly!

I started this school year and have kept an open mind. So far, I have accepted jobs at every age level. I’ve heard some subs only accept jobs at certain schools. In contrast, I wanted to be able to help everywhere, since many schools are desperate for help.

So far, I have substituted from pre-school, to elementary, Middle and High school plus several EC and behavioral classes. My favorite so far is probably middle school because they are semi self-sufficient. Yet, you still need to help them. So, it’s a good balance throughout the day to not feel so overwhelmed.

I felt it was important as a new mom to be involved in the local school system. I could see first-hand what life is like now in schools’ verses when I was in school. Boy, have I found some things out.

The first notable difference I have found was all the doors are LOCKED! Yes, this may sound so silly, but no, none of the school doors were locked when I was in school. I am thankful this is a safety measure! But wow, what did we do “back then”?

Another noticeable difference is all the students have Chromebooks. This is so new to me as I remember we only had a dedicated computer lab time to use computers. So, it’s amazing for me to see that they do all their learning online now. Even in the classroom. I am glad to see that they know how to use computers early on. Though it makes me concerned about screen time as a new mom. Especially, if they are on their computers and phones all day long at school and probably at home.

It is sweet to get nice compliments from the littles and the hugs, that makes it worth it. I would say pre-school is by far the hardest and I really praise those teachers who do this every day. The class sizes are large, even with 3 adults to a class.

I’m still learning as a mom myself. Plus, now interacting with these kids that crave attention at school when they are not getting it at home. I’m seeing first-hand it is imperative from a young age that they get the love and attention not only at school, but at home. I am a true believer that diet also plays a big part in children behavior. As well as a solid routine, family time and more. A teacher can’t possibly give them all these things at school. So, I’ve seen how important it is for me to make sure I am doing my part at home with our son.

I also got to work with an EC contained class recently and experienced the classroom with “the padded room”. I had no idea this existed until now and got to see how it in use first-hand. It was an unfortunate day for me, and I left crying when I got in my car at the end of the day. Never had I ever in my life seen a 4^th grader so out of control, so violent, and the language that came out of his mouth absolutely baffled me. I may live in a bubble, I’m not sure, but I do assure you when I was in 4^th grade, we did not use that language! I thought to myself, how did it get to this point? What is his home life like? What is the root of these issues? I had so many questions that I’ll never get answered, and that’s ok, it’s not my business. But I left feeling so sad because I feel like maybe someone has failed him somewhere somehow and just needed a hug. It was hard not knowing how to help.

Throughout this time substitute teaching so far, I’ve had fantastic classes and students. Plus, I’ve also had some classes where they said they didn’t have to listen to me because I was the sub. I don’t take anything personal at all and just keep on doing my best. While I’ve been a substitute teacher a few months now, I still feel a little nervous at the beginning of each class. That is, until I get my groove and that’s ok! I may be “just a sub”, but I assure you I take care of these kids and watch them and love them as if they were my own. Therefore, I vow to protect them while they are in my class!

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