Monday, March 28, 2016

SOLC 2016 28/31: Come Sub with Me!

Today I join my fellow bloggers in "serving up a slice" 
to the Slice of Life (SOL) community.
Thanks to Stacey, Tara, Betsy, Dana, Beth, and Anna
for hosting this meeting place each day in March
and for nurturing our writing lives.

Today's post about substitute teaching
was inspired by C. Crouch's post
about her water bottle who shared a
Best Thing Poem format from Joyce Sidman.
Joyce shared Tony Johnston's poem "My Overalls."  
C. Crouch's topic came from Natasha's poem
about her water bottle and so the inspiration
continues to roll forward (even as I traced it back).
  Thank you, writer friends!


Substitute Teaching

The best thing about substitute teaching is
returning to IMS where I used to teach.

No, the best thing is
subbing in 8th grade with my former 6th graders.

No, the best thing is
smiling faces from the administration.

No, the best thing is
greeting friends from the teaching staff.

No, the best thing is
bumping into Shelly in the copy room.

No, the best thing is
covering for Mills, Gaffney, Schaps, Meade, or Lucas
where I’ve been more than once and recognize familiar faces.

No, the best thing is
popping into the library to chat with Amy about
new books, citizen responsibilities, and Masterpiece.

No, the best thing is 
seeing my book friends from Books, Brownies, & Beyond.

No, the best thing is
visiting Melissa’s closet for  chocolate. 

No, the best thing is
starting and ending my day in Patty’s office.

No, the best thing is
strolling out of the building at 11:30
(it was a half-day sub job) with no work in my bag!

9 comments:

  1. Sounds like you had a fun day visiting old friends! What a fun poem- thanks for sharing.

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  2. sounds like you enjoy going back to your old school to sub. Especially the part about no work in the bag.

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  3. This is such a fun format! And yes, I can imagine the best thing would be leaving that early with no work in your bag!

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  4. Leaving at a half day IS the best thing about being retired, and the no work to take home is the added bonus. Fun format, but goodness there's quite a history to the origins.

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  5. I love this. It allows you to focus on the positive aspects of your day! And now I have another format for a future post. Thanks, Ramona!

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  6. This is a fun structure! I chuckled at the last line. :-)

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  7. Enjoyed finding out what the best thing was.

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  8. Love this a lot, Ramona, and I would also suspect that all those mentioned at school would say that a "best thing" of their day was seeing Ramona walk in! I'm glad you're having fun subbing, and like others, I agree that your final line is the 'best thing'.

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  9. You are a saint for subbing after having a teaching career. I will not sub when I retire--unless I'm threatened w/ homelessness.

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