Greetings and welcome to my new website documenting my journey and experiences as a substitute teacher. I am rather fond of writing about life – so I figured why not create a new blog specifically about my teaching adventures. While I have only taught a handful of times during my first month in the trade, I have already gathered some fun stories and made some discoveries along the way.
I think that is what I have enjoyed the most the past few weeks – learning. I often begin my class by sharing some things about myself – and have print outs o my two favorite emojis… my spirit emojis if you will. One of these emojis is the thinking face one 🤔. In a band class I taught last week I asked the students how many years had their instructor been playing trumpet. The responses ranged between forty and forty-five years!
I would then ask them to imagine their normal conductor was in the chair at the front of the class, and then would say “What do you think Mr. Olson would say if we asked if he thought he was the best trumpet player, or if he knew everything about playing the trumpet?” A crescendo of noooooooo would be the response. Every. Time.
Never stop learning was a mantra at my old job. And I’m so thrilled to be living those words right now by learning alongside the students of Bend Oregon almost every day.
