Back in March, a random conversation at lunch with friends led to a fun new experience for me. The short version is that I ended up substituting for a 5th grade class at a local international school. Read on for the full length version. 😁
The regular teacher had a baby in February and was on maternity leave. The sub they had was an American woman. She had a preexisting heart condition and her cardiologist felt that she needed to return to the US immediately because of the lack of care available were she to get Covid-19 or have any other problems here. She found out on Saturday, March 14th and notified the school. They got flights for the following Wednesday, but as a mom of 4, there was a lot of packing and preparing to do.
That same evening, the government announced that all schools would be closing effective immediately.
That Sunday, Floyd and I were at lunch with our friends the Phifers. Ashley was sharing a bit about the extra stuff going on at work. She's the 4th grade teacher and lead elementary teacher at the school. When she shared about the sub having to leave, I said, "I'd offer to help but I don't teach elementary."
Of course, she didn't think that was a problem and was excited by the idea of someone to help. Just to clarify, I am certified to teach math as low as 4th grade, so it's not that I'm not qualified. I just don't prefer elementary and never taught it. As we left lunch, she asked me if I would be okay with her mentioning my name if they didn't have other ideas/options.
Three hours later and I received a phone call asking if I'd talk to the principal. He felt that God had put me in place with free time for such a time as this. If I'd agree to come the next morning, I'd be there for the planning process for changing to an online/remote learning situation. Also, for other reasons, they already had my background clearance and stuff like that, so there was no administrative problem preventing me from starting. I really felt like I didn't have a good reason to say no. I had the free time because of other things being on hold and I have more than enough qualifications. So, I agreed.
The following morning, I reported to Logos International School to sub 5th grade for the remainder of the school year. The community is amazing. The staff welcomed me right in. The kids and parents were so welcoming and appreciative that I was there. We never had class in person, so they only knew me from videos, emails, and Zoom sessions. The first email I sent was a short video saying hi, introducing myself, and offering encouragement.
As the Covid-19 situation progressed, we just stuck with our routine. I sent a daily email, prerecorded lessons for each subject, had a daily Zoom time, and answered lots of questions through emails. I feel like the kids did great at adapting! We did have lots of discussions about how to ask good questions to reduce the need for back and forth emails. Every Monday, the parents came to the school for packet pick-up. They dropped off stuff from the previous week and picked up the new stuff that couldn't be digitized. Thanks to the amazing teaching assistants at Logos, it went so smoothly.
As school went on, I had students in 5 different time zones because many families returned to their home countries. Being an international school, it is quite a mix. About one third of the school is Khmer (from Cambodia), one third is Korean, and the remaining third is a random array of nationalities. People were working from everywhere: the principal was in Alaska, the librarian in Canada, the art teacher in Australia, the PE teacher and swim coach in Ohio, the 4th grade teacher in Texas, one secondary teacher in Hawaii, the head of the school in England, and those are just the ones I know off the top of my head.
It was a great experience. I discovered that I really like the format of teaching online. Many parents and students gave me great compliments about how organized and helpful my method was, so it seems that I did alright. I had a great time being part of a new, bigger community and I absolutely loved being back in the classroom. I have always enjoyed teaching math, but since it was elementary, I had to branch out. I got to read a novel with the kids, which we all enjoyed (A Single Shard by Linda Sue Park, I recommend it). Even more, I had a great time teaching the Bible lessons. They were just starting the prophets in the Old Testament and I really enjoyed getting to walk through that together.
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