Substitute Teacher

I was called on to substitute teach a few classes while the regular teacher had to be away for an evening. I've supplied in private-teaching in the past, but not group.  So since it was my first try at it I was really looking forward to seeing some new faces and getting to know a bunch of new students even if it was temporary. 

I was given all the lesson plans a week in advance so I knew what needed to be covered.  The levels ranged from Junior 1 to 4 (similar to my own schedule) and again - students' personalities ranged from shy/quiet to extremely rowdy!  It was funny.  One boy broke out in the middle of a lesson and started jumping around doing high-kicks and chopping the air. It startled me!  I later learned from his mother that he also took Karate as an extra-curricular activity and he got excited and wanted to show off his moves!  I should've caught on to that... he was wearing a white uniform and a belt (I forget what colour) because he didn't have time to change.

One of the things I like to do when strarting off with a new class is to do a musical hot potato game to get to know names, students' interests etc. The last class of the day (JR1) was quite memorable.  There were 6 kids in total - 3 boys and 3 girls.  (On a side note: how perfect is that for breaking up into group activities. Boys vs. girls was exactly what we did and the lesson turned out to be really fun.) 

Anyway one of the questions I asked them was "What was one interesting thing you did this week?" for our hot potato game. More than half of the kids said they played sports at school or they had fun playing minor hockey with their team etc. I mentioned out loud that they were quite an athletic bunch!  This is in Vaughan.  I remember a 6 year-old boy told me his hockey team won a game and it was "the BEST thing that happened"...  Curious to know what position he played, I asked him and he answered "defense, forward and the coach says to do the opening face-offs". That's a lot on his plate!

Halfway through the class we got to playing the Aeolian scale using right hand only and even going UP the keyboard very slowly using the correct full-scale finger numbers can be quite stressful for these little 5 and 6 year old hands. The boy I spoke with earlier looked like he was about to stop and give up so I walked over and played it with him. I then realized the whole time he was at his piano he had a Toronto Maple Leafs NHL collectible player card on his piano stand next to his books.  It was his form of motivation/inspiration... his idol.  At the end of the day I remember his mother asked him "are you SURE you understand how to do this?" and he responded "Yes because the teacher taught me!".  Nice to see him so happy.

Every week I bring a stack of stickers as rewards for students who've practiced a certain number of days and they get to collect them on the front of their black binders.  As for hockey-themed & TML stickers... in two days my sheets are gone.  They sure go pretty fast!