If you like isolation, then being an elementary “specialist” may be just the ticket.  All you wannabe PE, Computer, Art and Music teachers, if you like having your own space, doing your own thing and just teaching whoever shows up, this is the job for you!  Of course, there are some drawbacks to not being in a “pod” or cluster of grade level classrooms when, oh let’s say, nature calls, but eventually you train your bladder into submission.

Then there are those other days or classes when you wish there were two of you and thank goodness I have a wonderful student teacher right now so there are two of us.  So, let me describe part of today’s events to you.  As my student teacher is doing all of the teaching right now, prompting my students to regularly ask me if I’m doing anything, I tend to work at my desk in the corner.  At one point, my student teacher, who was leading a musical rehearsal had a bit of a coughing fit, so I stepped in for a minute while she got a drink and she stepped right back in.  Easy Peasy. The class that followed was a bit more of a challenge.  One of the students was being particularly disruptive and when asked to move chose to throw a bit of a fit so I decided to walk him to another classroom to cool off.  On the way, when he realized where we were going (not sure what he thought before that), he laid on the floor of the hall, kicking and crying before I could convince him to walk to the other classroom rather than have to call the office to come and get him.

After walking the child to this other room, where I realized there was a substitute teacher, I changed my mind and we walked to another specialist’s room.  No sense in stressing out the sub, right? I walked back to my classroom, sat for the briefest of moments when I saw my student teacher walking over to a child who looked rather green.  I grabbed my trash can and took him out, but he didn’t want to go directly to the nurse, he wanted to run to the bathroom.  So there I was, standing in the hallway with a trashcan, listening to a child gagging in the bathroom.  When he was finished, the two of us and the trashcan, walked down the hall to the nurse.  Pretty sure I washed my hands several times after that.

A woodwind identification game was underway in my room as I re-entered, with most of the kids laughing and cheering.  Except for the child who cried because “it wasn’t fair” and the child who stomped as loudly as he could up the risers.  These two and the child who just didn’t understand that his stand-up routine was not appropriate during class, all had to hang out after for me to process with while the same incredible student teacher took the rest of the students to the bathroom before lunch.

The afternoon was actually relatively calm and we almost made it to the end and the beginning of a few days of Easter break.  Almost being the operative word.  One of our students who refused to participate and then decided to be disruptive became upset when asked to sit out of the activity.  By upset, I mean yelling as he ran out of the room, slamming the door and running into the boy’s bathroom across the hall.  Surprise for him when, after making sure there were no other boys in the bathroom, I told him I was walking in and I did.  You should have seen his face.  After some talking and him slamming the stall door several times, I talked him into walking down the hall with me, eventually walking him into the office where the principal, assistant principal and office staff were also having an interesting end of the day with a little gas leak in the neighborhood.  Just so you know I wasn’t the only one having a challenging day.

This day was not atypical.  Unexpected things happen every day, mostly good, some bad.  It’s part of the challenge of teaching school.  However, did you notice how much of my day was spent having to take care of individual students?  If I had been there alone, I would have had to either call an office staff already stretched to the max, send students down the hall to the other room and hope they actually go, or find a way to try and deal with the child in class and take time away from the rest of the students.  I would have sent the poor sick kid to the bathroom, had him check in with me afterward and probably send another student to walk with him or send my trashcan with him. While the isolation can be a nice thing, especially for an introvert, it can also be a challenge when the unexpected happens,  Seeing as I only see my students every 3-5 days, every disruption/distraction just takes away that much more instruction time.  It’s hard, but it’s the job.

It’s always interesting to me when those who are outside of education do not want to fund for more teachers or resources.  Because although I’m sitting at my desk, supervising, I’m also finding plenty to work on.  Things I would normally have to do after school hours, sometimes staying two or more hours late or coming in on weekends.  It really does take two to teach, except in real life, there’s just me.  So, the next time someone says something about how lucky teachers are to have their summers off, the truth is we work the equivalent of two jobs during the school year and we really earn whatever part of the summer we get.  And after that break, the most unbelievable part is that we’re ready to do it again.  Even thought it really takes two to teach.