Spring Break: Substitute Teaching [First of a two part series]

Hélène Rainville

While many of you escaped or relaxed during Spring Break, I stayed in Fayetteville working.  If you have kids in school and they are not on break, then you are out of luck taking a trip.  Having a family means less flexibility, unlike my son who enjoyed his Spring Break hanging out and taking a ski trip up to Whiteface, Lake Placid, New York.

This week gave me the opportunity to earn some extra cash and give back to the community by substitute teaching for Cumberland County Schools.  Monday, I was with 9^th graders at Douglas Bird High School going over consecutive integers in Math I.  The next day, I worked the afternoon at E.E. Smith in a Special Education class for English.  Two teacher assistant were there with the students and me worked on grammar and writing.  We watched some of The Color Purple.  On Wednesday, I split the day up as a music teacher with two schools.

First, at Lake Rim Elementary I was not needed for music so I supported another teacher in 4^th grade working one-on-one with math.  In the afternoon, I drove over to Owen Elementary where I sang along with Dr. Seuss videos; we made animal sounds; and sang from The Lorax with kindergarten and second grades.  Thursday, I found myself at New Century Middle School where 8^th grade English was the focus.  At the library, the students received a lesson on copyrights.  Video examples of a parody and a mash-up were discussed.  The case of Blurred Lines versus Marvin Gaye’s Got to Give it Up was actively debated.
Finally, on Friday, a 5^th grade class at Montclair Elementary rounded out the week.  Then, there’s that editorial deadline on Friday the 13^th I had to meet.  The weekend ended like the previous one:  catching up on Math and Physics homework.  Please look for the second part of this two-part series where an analysis of the state of our education system will be examined.