Mr. Brown's Room
Adventures in Substituting

I’ve been on vacation for 2 weeks, exploring the Northeast. So far, I’ve gotten 7 new subbing jobs through AESOP, the substitute contact app. Two of them are teacher requests from teachers I’ve worked for in the past. I love this app! The vacation’s been great too.

I’ve only worked seven days so far this year, but today was the third third time I was invited back by a teacher who appreciates my work and trusts that I’ll take good care of her students. Pretty gratifying.

I had a couple of boys today who had some attitude issues about accepting my authority as someone who was not their “real” teacher. I was able to bring them around though by joking with them, by giving them some responsibility and by asking for their help or opinion.

I was also flattered today when a young teacher whose class I was in yesterday asked my advice on why her kids did so badly on a math test I’d given them.

Quote of the day: “Mr. Brown, was Albert Einstein a human or a robot?”

Mr. Brown: I remember learning this 100 years ago.
4th grader: Oh, you’re not that old.

After I retired at the end of the 2013-2014 school year, I found myself at loose ends. Not knowing what to do with myself, I thought I’d give substituting a try… maybe 3 or 4 days a week. I quickly found though, that I absolutely loved it! Although I don’t have the oportunity to really forge relationships with students, like a full time teacher, I still get to help them learn. I still get to joke around with them and help them enjoy being in class. I still have fun working with them. I decided early on that I’d be crazy to not work as often as possible. Why would I stay home when I could be getting paid for doing something I love? After all, I’m not going to be able to teach during the summer or before and after other vacations anyway.

I really enjoy my vacations, and I get tons of stuff done around the house and do some traveling. But, after a couple of months it gets kind of old. I start to miss working with children and going to school every day. My wife came home one day in August and excitedly told me that she saw cars parked in front of the elementary school in nearby Tonganoxie, Kansas. She thought I’d rejoice at the fact that I didn’t have to go to work like the teachers did. I actually found myself feeling a bit down at the news. I really missed teaching so much. Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy to miss out on parts of it. But, there’s so much I love about it.

School’s been in session for over a month now. I’ve only been able to work two days last week and three days the week before. Each of those days were magnificent. I was thoroughly jazzed by each group of children I got to help. I’m sure that any day, maybe this coming week, I’ll begin getting jobs every day. I have my new school shoes all ready to go.

I’ve only worked seven days so far this year, but today was the third third time I was invited back by a teacher who appreciates my work and trusts that I’ll take good care of her students. Pretty gratifying.

I had a couple of boys today who had some attitude issues about accepting my authority as someone who was not their “real” teacher. I was able to bring them around though by joking with them, by giving them some responsibility and by asking for their help or opinion.

I was also flattered today when a young teacher whose class I was in yesterday asked my advice on why her kids did so badly on a math test I’d given them.

Quote of the day: “Mr. Brown, was Albert Einstein a human or a robot?”

At this year’s Grandfriend’s Day, 4B kids had fun showing their Grandfriends a variety of educational games we play on computers and iPads and with dice and cards. Looks like fun, doesn’t it?

Fourth grade spent a wonderful Kansas Day exploring Lane University Museum and historic Constitution Hall. Our guide at Constitution Hall, historian Tim Rues, was very impressed with the depth of our students’ knowledge about Kansas history. One student who did his Famous Kansan project about Dwight Eisenhower was thrilled to find a ton of Eisenhower memorabilia at Lane U. A couple of girls were enchanted by a world of tiny details inside a giant doll house.

Well, the landform & water body islands are a reality and have been lovingly spread with green, brown and red paint (for all the volcanoes). They’re really looking good. The next step is to label them. Mount Brendan? The Miranda Ocean?