The third-grade teacher was out sick for the second day in a row. Having had another commitment yesterday, I was unable to fill in for her. Today I was free, and happily accepted the assignment. When I poked my head out of her classroom at the start of the morning to greet her students, lined up in the corridor outside her door, I was met with an enthusiastic response.
Later that morning, two gentlemen from the Park Ridge Rotary Club, at the invitation of the school and the third-grade teachers, came into the classroom to speak to the students. They explained the origin and background of the organization and its philanthropic efforts in the community.
In appreciation for the reception given them, the representatives gave each student a children’s paperback encyclopedia. After the men left, the students eagerly examined their new books. I overhead them excitedly comparing what they were discovering in their reading about science, languages, history, and other entries.
Soon it was time to turn back to the day’s lesson plan. After instructing the children to put away their new books, I noticed that one little girl in the rear of the room remained at the teacher’s whiteboard easel, the back of which faced me.
“Come on, Katelyn,” I said. “We’re waiting for you. Please erase what you were drawing and come join us.”
“I’m jealous,” said the school’s band teacher, who happened to be walking by and observed the scene.
“No, I think the students see a substitute teacher and take that as a license to goof off,” I told her. “Nobody ever cheered the arrival of a journalist in his office.”
The students filed in.
“We had a monster sub yesterday,” Andreas said.
“A monster sub?”
“She’s very strict.”
“So, when you saw her coming yesterday, did you not cheer?” I asked.
“No, we sighed,” said Andreas.
Later that morning, two gentlemen from the Park Ridge Rotary Club, at the invitation of the school and the third-grade teachers, came into the classroom to speak to the students. They explained the origin and background of the organization and its philanthropic efforts in the community.
In appreciation for the reception given them, the representatives gave each student a children’s paperback encyclopedia. After the men left, the students eagerly examined their new books. I overhead them excitedly comparing what they were discovering in their reading about science, languages, history, and other entries.
Soon it was time to turn back to the day’s lesson plan. After instructing the children to put away their new books, I noticed that one little girl in the rear of the room remained at the teacher’s whiteboard easel, the back of which faced me.
“Come on, Katelyn,” I said. “We’re waiting for you. Please erase what you were drawing and come join us.”
Rather than erase the board, Katelyn turned it around for me to see. What she had written, thanks to her newfound discovery in the encyclopedia, was in braille notation. She translated: “Mr. K is the best sub.”
