Subbing in the 1st grade

"Teacher...this. Teacher...that!"  Fitz is kind of hard to pronounce I guess.

A faculty child was sick with high fever since last Thursday and it was the mom's turn to stay home with her daughter. I was called on to cover Monday and quite possibly Tuesday. I received the message late Sunday night so I didn't have a lot of time to prepare Monday morning. Considering every teacher has a different routine, I was not the least bit prepared to teach first graders. Although I live with one, having 15 of them in one room is quite the eye-opener.

First they come in with these confused looks on their faces asking "Where is Mrs. Randall?" I answered each and every child as they asked. They looked so sad to be missing their teacher. That first day was a whirl wind but we got through it and the students were somewhat used to their routine so they filled in the gaps. I was very impressed with the reading level of these students. I would say they are at a second to third grade level overall. Some were at a fifth grade reading level. Writing and math was the same. They don't have the experiences to go with this but nonetheless, their knowledge and quickness was impressive. All the students love to draw. Boys are obsessed with Pokemon. Almost all of the students have great drawing skills.

Lunch was wild! I did get to eat with Ethan though. Ethan also ate half of my lunch because it was SO good! Pork cutlets breaded and fried covered with some kind of brown gravy over white rice.

I enjoyed the experience and now have a better idea of what goes on in Ethan's classroom. I didn't sub for his class but I was in his hallway. He stopped to say hi several times. We had a talk about that too. He was so proud to have his mom there and all of his friends call me "Ethan's mom." I love it!!

The few things about Korean children who attend our school are:
1. many are very spoiled, to the point that their drivers carry their school bags and walk them into school. Many don't know how to tie their shoes because they have people to do this for them.

2. They are under LOTS of pressure to perform academically which means sometimes they make bad choices.

3. Some students have parents that are VPs, CEOs, and Presidents of major companies. Their fathers may talk down to their employees and so the students believe it is acceptable to talk down to teachers sometimes. It doesn't happen often but it does happen more often to the Korean staff.

Overall, we have great students who are vibrant, creative, and enthusiastic about all things they do. We feel very fortunate to be able to send Ethan to such an amazing school.