A Surreal Week

I have the very unique position of substitute teaching in the school district where I received my own K-12 education; the same district where my mom taught for most of her career.  I have been using this second fact to network as much as I can, dropping my mom's name left and right, as many people know and respect her work.

Just recently, I have been coming up against the first fact, and it's been wigging me out more than a little.

Last week, I was in a K room, and one of the moms dropping off her kid was a classmate of mine.  A second mom came up to greet me, as her kid was in a different class.  The next day, I was in my mom's classroom.  The kids were perfect.  I attribute this to their dispositions, to the work and expectations of their regular teacher, and, to the room itself.  This same day, the kids did an Earth Day activity with some of the older kids, which meant I worked with my own first grade teacher, who now teaches fifth grade at mom's school. 

It gets even weirder.

This week, I broke the high school barrier.  I've been fearing high school, but it turns out to be a world easier than middle school, and actually quite easy.  You see, I've had this notion for a long time now that middle school students feel the need to assert their superiority, and that high school students already know that they're better than you, and no longer need to prove it.

I started off at my rival high school, over on the rougher end of town.  I confess, I was nervous.  I had three English classes and two Drama classes.  Aside from a little too much talking (particularly from the supposedly better disciplined ROTC kids), most of the students buckled down and did their assigned in-class essay.  I had fun telling them I'd attended the other high school, receiving jeers while the walls were coming down.  I'd prepared for the Drama classes with a long list of improv rules and games, and the kids actually listened to what I was saying.  The advanced kids did a great job on short solo pieces describing the significance of a single object from different points of view, and the very best part came at the end of the day, with time for just one more, as they all said, "Now YOU do one!"

*sniff!*

But the wiggiest experience of all came yesterday, when I subbed at my high school.  I walked into the building and discovered that it still smells the same.  Not an offensive smell, just a distinctive smell that transported me back in time.  I mentioned to the kids that I'd attended their school, and added that I'd attended at the same time as another present teacher (but left out the bit about him being my first boyfriend - that's pulling in the big guns).  The office manager was in my class, and one of the attendance staff was the omnipresent PTA mom while I was growing up.  Very, very strange.

I spoke with Mr. Classmate (who is teaching in the room where I basically lived, doing Yearbook for all four years) as well as my favorite teacher (still there), and they agreed that high school subbing isn't so scary after all, and that people who sub for middle school are indeed out of their minds.

I didn't particularly like high school, yet as I walked around campus, I remembered tiny things that had transpired here and there, and I'm actually looking forward to going back.  At the same time, playing "This is Your Life" every single day is seriously weirding me out.