How Being a Second Grade Teacher for a Week Changed How I Look at Education

Kids are Still Kids and the Curriculum Has Gotten Better

This is the path I walk down each day to get to my portable.

With “more than 75% of school principals and district leaders having trouble finding enough substitutes to cover teacher absences this year,” I wasn’t surprised when ,on the first day back after Winter Break, I received an email stating that instead of meeting with my usual groups, I would be a second grade substitute teacher for the next five days.

By Friday, I was grateful.

It had been over five years since I had been a classroom teacher, and this is what I learned.

KIDS STILL LOVE BOOKS

One of the three tables students visited during their visit to my room.

It warmed my heart to see how happy these second graders were to visit my classroom and spend time with my most beloved picture books.

Before heading off to read, they sat on the carpet; I book talked my bin of favorites. I had a story for each one.

“Booktalks not only help your class become strong, capable readers, they instill a lifelong love of reading.”