What's this?

Lookie here! And you might ask what it is you are looking at...Well, since you asked, it is my first teaching paycheck. Yup, the first time I've received money from a school district in exchange for performing some sort of teaching duty. Yeah, it is only for subbing, and yeah, it is only for two days, but still it is a check for money in exchange for teaching. I'm pretty excited about that.

Subbing has been going good. Last week, I spent Wednesday and Thursday subbing for my former cooperating teacher. Essentially, I was getting paid to do an easier version of what I did for free (okay, actually, I paid a pretty hefty fee) while student teaching. I was actually surprised by how much I missed this place. And not just the lunch and the prep times.

I actually was greeted with hugs from a couple of my former students, which is an even rarer event in a middle school. Other students vocalized that they missed me. It made me feel that I might actually have actually made a teeny tiny difference to a student or two.

One of the highlights of the days was catching up on one fo the students, J's progress in the Harry Potter books. He is reading them for the first time, and has managed to avoid learning what happened in the series. When I started student teaching at the middle school, J. was just starting book two. Now, he is in the middle of book 5. Watching him read the books has been so much fun.

None of the students questioned my return to the school, we just feel back into our old routines. Almost all of them, in 2 days, I lost 3 pencils, due to the ever charming habit of middle schoolers to show up to class without a pen or pencil and need to borrow one. I would have to guess that at the end of the year, when everyone cleans out their locker, about 750,000 pencils must be discovered. I've had students lose the pencil I gave them and need another between 1st and 2nd hour. I'm not even sure how that is possible.

Pencil thievery aside, it was good to be back, and even better to get paid for it.