Turn, Turn, Turn…

In my short but varied career as a teacher, I have served a number of roles and am not new to the concept of being the new kid in town.  When I began as an on-call substitute almost four years ago, every day I was the newbie at the school:  new school, then new classroom, new students, and new procedures.  Every day was like an orientation session.  I was becoming accustomed of the routine of not having a day-to-day routine.

With that being said, while routine is something I gravitate towards naturally, there is a great deal to be said for the less-than-routine.  Firstly, being perpetually in the orientation mode lends to constant learning via immersion.  When subbing, I learned a new commute, a new parking situation, and a new route to the main office of that day’s particular school.  Once inside, I learned a new bell schedule, a new level of classroom technology, and a new set of policies.  On Monday morning, announcements were read over the public address system before first period.  On Wednesday, that particular school’s announcements were viewed on Channel 45 before third period.  On Tuesday, attendance was to be returned to the office after every period, while on Thursday attendance could be submitted after school.  These learning experiences always kept my brain active and exercised my cognitive facilities.  Some days I felt like I learned more than the students.

It was over a year ago that I left that setting for graduate school – where student teaching and classes reacquainted me with the long-departed routine to which my brain is accustomed.  The same classrooms, the same professors, and the same classmates three times a week entered my new life.  A year of set schedules returned to my life with great ease and comfort.  I learned a great deal from my graduate studies and student teaching internships, but there was not the same “trial by fire” to motivate me as I experienced as a substitute.  Rather, I needed to manufacture my own motivation – to gain as much (or as little) out of my education as I wanted.  No one was threatening me if I did not cross every T or dot every I; that was my responsibility, and I took it very seriously.  I wanted to be a better teacher, and I knew this ideology was how to achieve such a goal.

I find it ironic – not in a negative way at all – that after graduate school I returned to the routine of no routine.  Much of my

substituting this time around is at the same set of schools, so comparatively more routine has entered my teaching experience.  This work atmosphere allows my the benefit of being able to compare my teaching skills pre-graduate school and post-graduate school, using the same school district and school as benchmark for which to base my comparisons.

In closing, while my lifetime career goal is to attain full-time teaching status and the learning opportunities that accompany it, I am content where I currently am for this academic year.  Being a substitute in the same handful of schools allows the balance between routine and orientation that improve my cognition and bring comfort to my life at the same time.  Other education-related positions I currently hold accentuate this balance.  I see this time as my orientation to honing the teaching skills and strategies that will make me an even better classroom teacher when the time comes.  It also helps me to better relate to the learning framework in which students reside through building upon prior knowledge through the gradual introduction of new skills.  For students, this concept is called scaffolding instruction.  My professional life resembles a scaffolded professional development, and I highly value ever step of the process.

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