Cross my heart and hope to die, I will never be absent again! -- Lizzie

Recently I was out because I had a job interview. While this should be something to celebrate and I should hope for more days like this in the coming future, I am absolutely dreading ever having to miss a day of school again. Who knew how much work it was putting plans together for a substitute?! Every little detail has to be explicitly stated and every minute occupied in an effort to lose as little time as possible. It takes lesson planning to a whole new level!

Usually I like to come home after school and take a little breather before jumping into planning for the next day, but when you are going to be absent, everything must be taken care of before you leave school for the day. Everything planned. Everything explained. Everything sequenced and paced. Everything copied. When I plan for myself, of course I take all of those things into consideration, but things don’t have to be so set in stone yet. Often times I even think of better ways to do things while I am in the middle of them and end up changing things around. Even just explaining all of my ideas for one class and explicating them on paper takes so much more time than I ever would have imagined!

Even though I’ve spent the last two paragraphs basically complaining, part of me is rather sad about missing school. It will be my first day away from my students since beginning my student teaching. While I know that they will all be fine in the capable hands of my cooperating teacher and probably will not falter at my absence, I will miss them. When I was putting together my plans, I couldn’t help but think how fun and engaging some of the activities were and how it really did sadden me a little that I was not going to be able to be there to see my students engaging in them. As much as this disappointed me, it also made me smile because I realized that even though I’ve known them for a short time, they are becoming a part of me. I am falling in love with teaching and with my students. I never thought that I would actually look forward to getting up at 5 am, but I truly do. I am eager for each new day with my students and never ceased to be both amazed and entertained by them. So for now, I might be away from them for a day, but I will be thinking of them and will be ready to get back and pick up where I left off on this crazy journey known as student teaching.