i still function

Well, my first day as a sub has come and gone. I was broken in easily, methinks. Much of what I read regarding being a sub seemed eerily similar to what a convicted criminal might read before his first day in prison. I was essentially supposed to walk in, stab a few students in the eyes with a fork, and tell the others to behave lest the same happen to them. Smiles? Not until you have established yourself as OverLord.

Those of you that know me know that I'm many things and a hard-ass is not one of them, so I wondered how I was going to fare. As it turned out my first class was stellar, I was able to gel with them pretty well. It was an english class and they had to do a couple assignments - I let them work in groups and talk, but they never got too loud and did the work. They chatted with me a bit, laughed at my attempted humor, and didn't try to pull anything too nutty on me. There was a steady stream of students to the bathroom, but that was it. A good start to the day.

It was pretty nifty to see some people I knew at the school, like Alecia and some of her friends. I thought I might have some trouble connecting with students I didn't know from church but I was able to gel with the students pretty well in all the classes. The department head warned me about my last class, because it was basically a remedial reading course and the kids were low-scorers that might cause trouble. Well, they acted like angels for me, keeping quiet for all 20 minutes of silent reading, and the 20 minutes of busywork after that, and not getting up till I said they could talk and move around till the end of school.

So end result...no kids were stabbed by forks, the most stress I experienced was the result of trying to escape that travesty of a parking lot, and I look forward to my next chance to sub. I like to think God was watchin' my back, since I asked Him to have the kids take it easy on me today. Hopefully He's not lulling me into a false sense of security.