An observation; I had a wild ride in a classroom last Wednesday — a lot of 3rd grade kids who wanted to test the sub’s limits. I had to push back, and the whole day required considerably more effort than usual. Kids stood up and walked around without raising their hands. Kids talked while I was explaining new ideas. A few kids insulted each other and I forestalled at least one fight. They mostly did the work, but they ignored a set of rules they knew well, including “Make your dear teacher happy!” Love that rule, but that rule along with “raise your hand to talk” seemed to have gone out the window. On reflection, I believe I started out too nice with a tough crowd, one of the toughest of the last few years.

That said, they were also the crowd that kept coming up and hugging me. Kid after kid wanted a hug. Even kids who pushed limits wanted that hug. The most challenging groups can be the neediest groups. They wanted to have all sorts of conversations about shoes, phones and life, although math and English seemed to be off the table.

Eduhonesty: It is what it is. Every so often maybe we should stumble into a day that makes us reflect and reminds us not to run on auto-pilot. While many classrooms can be approached gently, a few require a sterner tone from the outset.

I blew that one.

I’ll blow another one, too. One great part of subbing is you can just pick yourself up, dust yourself off, review what went wrong and go out to do better next time  — without having to worry about next week or next month with the same group of kids. You don’t have to sweat administration much either. You don’t want me? Districts all over the area do.

But this post is for teachers who had a bad day last week or even a bad week. It’s for teachers having a rough year. Pick yourself up. Watch some funny YouTube. Have a glass of chardonnay or a caramel latte. All teachers have bad days. You can’t let them spook you. Just figure out your next plan. Whose seat should be moved? Whose mom will you call? How can you make a better version of the water-cycle lesson that went wrong? You can always improve.

And if you seem to have landed in a Twilight Zone episode, one in a post-apocalyptic world, remember that this episode too shall end. Another episode will begin. That episode may be filled with happy, twinkly spirits trying to make the world around them a better place, We never know the next episode. Part of the great adventure of life comes from the fact that we have no channel guide, no info buttons to push. We just go forward.

Eduhonesty: Trust yourself.