Friday Two Cents: 150 Classes And Counting

With the start of a new month comes new opportunities, yet it is by reflecting that we allow ourselves to grow.  In the past few weeks, I have seen a milestone come and go with little celebration or reflection.  With testing positive for Covid and working every day as a supply teacher, I’ve had little time to take account of what has happened during my teaching career.  Today I hope to remedy that. 

Since starting work after graduating from Teachers College, I have kept track of how many different schools and classrooms I have been in, partly to help me with the taking of additional qualification course requirements, but also because when several students once asked me how many different classes I had taught, it gave me pause: I realized that I was not sure because I had been in so many classes, not only as a supply teacher, but also as an early childhood educator (ECE).  

To add some perspective, prior to starting as a supply teacher at my current school board, I worked in 62 different classes in 22 schools as a supply ECE.  During that time I earned my undergraduate degree and then my teaching qualifications before finally  being hired as an occasional/supply elementary teacher.  

This past month I hit a tremendous milestone: in early March, I worked in my 150th different class in over 30 different schools. 

I classify a different or new class as a group of students I have not taught that school year.  I may have seen them or supplied for the teacher in previous years, but the students’ personalities change from one year to the next and thereby alters the classroom dynamics.  In some cases, I have been in 14 to 18 different classes at the same school, and I have even had the good fortune of filling in for several French Immersion teachers. 

Below, I have created a logo of a blue silhouette male teacher holding the hands of two students.  Each of these silhouettes represent a different class I have worked with.  On the top left side, I placed the grade or subject I was teaching, and on the right side the calendar year I was in that class. The font is unique to a different school year: for example, Helvetica was exclusively used for 2018-2019.  The French immersion classes are represented with a white fleur-de-lis on the chest because the majority of the classes I work with are English.  Directly beneath the logo you can see a tally chart of all the 150 classes over the years.  The 25^th is shaded in silver and the 50^th is in gold, and other milestone numbers are also represented.  As well, the logos that have a black box around them is the first class I was in for that school year.

150 Different classes and counting.

Reflecting back on these past few years, I can safely say one thing for certain: kids are kids no matter where you go.  They are all very curious, love to ask questions on countless topics of interest, and they are not shy to ask about my life as well. They all enjoyed my drawings and other creative work, as well as doing art with me, and of course all love my puppet George and his other puppet friends.  There are classes I return where the first words out of the students’ mouths is to ask if I have brought George.  

The one thing I can truly say is that I enjoy helping them discover new and wonderful things, from basic subject matters like math and language to inquiry about numerous topics such as dinosaurs. Their curiosity is endless as is my joy in being with them.