A newfound appreciation for the profession

I had a very interesting assignment last week. I was filling in for a junior high science teacher for three days, but I had very little to do. The students were doing the teaching. The student groups had to research a topic on states of matter, then present a pretest, a short lecture or set of notes, a lab or demonstration, a worksheet, and a posttest—all in one class period. It was fascinating to watch all of the various techniques, and the huge range of success. Some were pretty good, but most, sad to say, were not. I recognized a lot of rookie teaching mistakes, and it gave me new insights as to just how tough it is to be a teacher. I think a lot of the students now have a better understanding of what teachers do, as well.

Thanks to the holiday, and the job interview tomorrow, this is going to be a very short week, but I already have one job lined up. The most interesting phenomenon, however, is that I already have jobs lined up for three of the five days of the last week of school, including one for that Friday. Already, I've been told that day will pretty much be the end-of-the-year assembly and field day. After that, a quiet week, then my tutoring jobs ratchets up for the summer. That ought to give me some breathing space, and a chance to squeeze out a few more applications if I need to.