Easy Substitute Teaching

Mr. Yoshida, the Grades One and Two teacher was in Japan, so the school asked me to sub for him. It was the easiest substitute teaching I have EVER done. The Grade One's were working on their fictional solar system books and worked so diligently and quietly that halfway through I had to insist they get up and take a break. The first set of Grade Ones decided to play "Simon Says." I haven't played Simon Says for at least fifteen years and was the first one out. Actually the only one out. The rest of them were experts, but I didn't mind as they were getting quite the workout, while I just sat on the sidelines and watched. The second group of Grade One's refused to take a break. They just wanted to keep on working. Why didn't I have Grade One's like that during my two years here before?

I only had the Grade Two's for an hour. Mr. Yoshida had told me of some of the social problems they were having in the class, so I had them choose the name of a classmate and by the end of class, they had to come up with three nice things to say about that person. So, they were all on their best behaviour so that the secret person who had their name would write good things about them.

If only substituting the Grade Five's had been so easy!