Friday Two Cents: The Big 50

‘Without continual growth and progress, such words as improvement, achievement, and success have no meaning.’ Benjamin Franklin

Since the beginning of my teaching career, I have kept track of how many different schools and classrooms I have been in.  Partly to help me with taking additional qualification course requirements.  But mostly because several teachers asked me, “How many different classes I have taught in.”  My response was, ‘I was not sure.’  

Since then I have kept track of all the different classes I taught.  I classify a different or new class as a group of students I have not taught that school year.  In some cases I have been in 10 – 18 different classes in a single school.  I even have had the good fortune to supply in several French immersion classes. 

This past week I hit a tremendous milestone.  For this school year 2023-24, I worked in 50 different classes.  You may think, no big deal. However, in a single school year with 194 teaching days, 50 different classes is a big deal.  

My previous record was 42 different classes in a school year.  Reaching this  milestone mark is like a hockey player scoring 50 goals, or a baseball player hitting 50 homers in one season.  Something to be proud of. 

Additionally, when you add up the total number of different classes I taught over my seven years as a supply teacher, they total 240 classes in over 30 different schools.  Just saying it out loud makes me think about what I have seen and experienced in all those schools and classes.  Things like, learning new ways of doing lessons.  Thinking of different ways of organizing your daily routine, or learning what strategies work and what failed miserably, is of immense value to me.  

Yet the one thing I have observed are the students themselves.  They are a host of different personalities and insights. I have learned new ways of communicating with them or more importantly, how to listen to them.  Each has their own unique perspective on the world, and it is glorious when they learn something new and wonderful to add to that uniqueness.  

With about a month and a half left to go in the school year, I am booked on an almost daily basis.  During these last few weeks I know that I will probably get a few more opportunities to increase my totals past the 50 mark.  But  there is one thing I do know for certain; that no matter what new classroom I go into, the experience and knowledge I learn from those new classes, will only enhance my abilities to become a better teacher.