I'm a teacher... right??

So I'm a teacher-- or at least I can be.  I forget that sometimes.  I can teach English to anyone in 5th-12th grade.  I can teach English to those who would call it their second language (or third, etc...) and they can be in kindergarten through 12th grade.

And I can also teach anything to any age for a day or so at a time.  That's what I'm doing now. I am the cool young substitute teacher.  I've just had a few jobs so far, and none of them have been too horrific at all.  It's really easy to forget that I'm not a teacher until I get "back into it."

I also recently got hired as a lead teacher at an after school program for an elementary school that is just a few minutes away from my house. Seriously, I drove there and it was 2 mins and 47 seconds.  Then I walked there in like 13 minutes.  The job starts next week-- I've just had some training so far.  All this training is making me feel like I could get "back into it."

So every Monday, Wednesday, Friday from now until April-something I will teach four different 1/2 hour lessons to 1st, 2nd, and a few 3rd grade students.  They give you the curriculum and it's mostly straightforward, but I'm excited to search the internet for literacy lessons for kids.  While I'm working with a group of 6 students-- the other 6 of my students are with a paraprofessional in my room.  These students are not up to grade level in reading, and the goal is to get them there by spring.  I need to remember that and feel the weight of that responsibility.

That's what I've been up to.  Teaching can be a busy, stressful, and exhausting job.  Sometimes that's all I can remember when I think about teaching and it's the last thing I want to do.  But lately, I've been feeling like a teacher and I think I'm OK with it.