April 28, 2025 • 18 mins
Breaking my own rule of "never below third grade," I recently stepped into a first-grade classroom as a substitute teacher and discovered a whole new world of teaching challenges and rewards. The experience was so transformative that I couldn't wait to share what makes seven-year-olds uniquely different from other elementary grades.
First graders operate in a heightened emotional state that manifests in three primary ways. First, there's the crying – whether from playground injuries, perceived slights from classmates, or frustration with classroom tasks. I quickly learned to crouch down to eye level, acknowledge their feelings, and gently guide them forward without dismissing their emotions. Then comes the "creative storytelling" when they make mistakes. While my high school technique of "you'll get in less trouble for telling the truth" works with teenagers, first graders haven't developed that level of maturity yet. Finally, there's the constant neediness – a forest of raised hands, endless questions, and students hovering around your desk from the moment they arrive until dismissal.
What surprised me most wasn't these challenges but how much I enjoyed navigating them. There's something refreshingly authentic about working with children who haven't yet learned to mask their feelings or needs. The connections formed are different than with older students – more immediate and unfiltered. Walking through the cafeteria to find students from various classes excitedly waving created a special kind of joy that made the challenges worthwhile. So much so that I immediately scheduled more first-grade assignments in the coming weeks.
For substitute teachers who typically stick with older grades, I encourage you to step outside your comfort zone. You might discover, as I did, that the youngest learners offer unique rewards that change your entire perspective on teaching. And who knows? Maybe my upcoming kindergarten assignment (in my grandson's class, no less!) will provide even more insights for next week's episode.
Mark as Played
Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Greg (00:00):
Greg Collins Substitute Teachers Lounge.
I taught first grade for thefirst time this week and there's
so many things to talk about it.
They were great.
The teachers were great.
It almost didn't happen becauseI told myself I would never go
below third grade.
But then I enjoy this school somuch I'm taking everything they
(00:23):
offer.
And about two weeks ago thispopped up the day before I got
canceled and I said, oh no, I'mnot going to be able to try
first grade after all.
It's because the lady wasactually going to be there.
After all, she's on a jury dutykick and sometimes you don't
get called in.
So I was disappointed.
I was relieved, sort of, anddisappointed at the same time.
(00:45):
But then within a half an hourI hate to say it like this, but
one of the other first gradeteachers apparently got sick and
I took her job and, man, it wasa memorable day and I'm going
to tell you how first grade ofcourse, I've only done it once
and a lot of you out there havemore experience I'm going to
tell you how first grade isdifferent from the others.
(01:07):
They were really well-behaved.
It really has nothing to doabout that, but it's their age
and their personalities and justthe fact that they're seven
years old.
I joked with the teachers that,well, first graders are great
but they would be better insmall doses.
(01:28):
And so we're going to talkabout first grade Substitute
teachers loud, all right, youknow it's funny.
I enjoyed first grade so muchthat I couldn't wait to record
(01:49):
this episode.
I actually had a differenttopic in mind, but after I did
first grade I wanted to tell youthis.
It's on the way in to schoolthat day I just happened to be
walking down the sidewalk withanother substitute teacher and
he said who you got, what gradeyou got today?
And I said first, and he goesoh, he said I don't think I
(02:10):
could do first.
And I told him my whole storyabout how I used to do middle
school and high school only.
And now it's hard to me for meto go back to that because
elementary school has kind ofspoiled me.
Spoiled me and I told myselfthat I like third grade best.
I still think that I had thirdgrade my last day this week and
(02:31):
it was one of my favoriteclasses and I enjoyed it a lot.
But I got to do first grade andthey were a lot of fun, but
they were different, in fact Iguess more so in elementary
school than any other thanmiddle school and high school.
I'll say it like that.
There's so much differencebetween each and every
(02:55):
individual grade.
In fact the day after thisepisode drops, oh man, here we
go.
Oh man, here we go.
I'm subbing my first day ofkindergarten and it just happens
to be the class that mygrandson is in, so that will be
interesting.
I've already subbed mygranddaughter.
She's in fifth grade.
I've subbed her class a coupleof times and one little misnomer
(03:20):
about me saying that I've neversubbed first grade before is
that I actually had two dayssubbing music last week, and
when you're in music or I guessit's any related arts you hit on
just about all of the gradesevery day, especially if you're
(03:41):
there for two days.
I was kind of blessed in thathe let me prepare some things on
my own.
I'm a big Mario guy, so I founda nice Mario tutorial about how
to sing Mario words but learn16th notes and eighth notes and
(04:02):
quarter notes and all that goodstuff as you're doing it, and I
was able to teach that in halfhour slots all day for different
classes and I met the firstgrade.
They were fine.
I actually taught a couple ofkindergarten class and I
actually think thekindergartners were the best
behaved class of all of them.
(04:24):
So I'm kind of looking forwardto my kindergarten gig tomorrow.
But let's go back to firstgrade.
So it was a very busy day forthem.
They were actually practicingsome things in music that took
them out of their normal routine, so I was dealing with that.
But here's what I suspect istrue now that I've had
(04:47):
experience with it, is true ofevery first grade everywhere.
I can just guess that this justgoes on everywhere because
there's seven.
They are still highly emotionaland it's funny.
Every elementary school classyou'll have students hovering
(05:09):
around your desk all the time.
With first grade it's reallyintense because they're hovering
around a lot.
They do things that every otherclass does, every other grade
does, but they do them moreoften.
Class does, every other gradedoes, but they do them more
(05:30):
often.
My first example of this andsometimes they choke me up a
little bit first graders.
Well, they're going to cry alittle bit more than the other
grades and I saw crying on theplayground because they got hurt
.
I saw crying.
I saw crying on the playgroundbecause they got hurt.
I saw crying when they thoughtsomebody did something to them
out on the playground or in theclassroom, and you know you just
(05:54):
have to deal with it.
What I try to do with cryingand I mentioned if another
classmate did something to themI'll talk more about that here
in a moment, because that's aseparate issue from crying,
because they don't always crywhen that happens.
But the crying part I try to,you know, kind of crouch down,
(06:16):
get my face on the level ortheir face, so I'm not looking
down at them, and then I'll justsay, all right, let's see First
of all down at them and thenI'll just say, all right, let's
see First of all, it's over,there's nothing we can do about
it now.
I'm sure it was an accident.
One kid was even crying becausesomeone had spilled water on
(06:36):
part of a costume that he wassupposed to wear, the part of it
that was paper.
So he was upset about thatbecause he wanted his costume to
be perfect.
That's fair enough and Iunderstood that and you go for
what can.
If they act like they're hurt,here's what I would say to them.
First I'll just ask them areyou hurt?
(06:56):
Sometimes they will nod theirhead, yes, and then I'll say,
all right, show me where ithurts.
And if they take too long toshow you, well, they're probably
just kind of making it up.
If they finally point tosomething and it's an arm, if
(07:18):
it's an arm especially, I'lljust kind of, all right, rub
your arm a little bit and I said, look, your arm's working.
It's going to be okay.
I said I don't want you to ruinthe rest of your recess, so
let's get over it.
Let's see if we can dry upthese tears.
I might even have you got to becareful with this.
(07:39):
I might even have a JollyRancher inside, but then they
might force cry just to get aJolly Rancher.
It's amazing how much they'lldo for a Jolly Rancher.
As a side note, I went to aplay a couple of nights ago at a
high school that I haven'tsubbed at for two months.
One of those students came upto me and said hey, mr Collins,
(07:59):
good to see you.
Do you remember you still oweme a Jolly Rancher high school
junior from two months ago?
So it is amazing, the jollyrancher effect.
So that's crying.
That's the first thing you'llhave to deal with.
They'll do it in the classroom,sometimes, when I've had to
come down on a student becausethey're repeatedly doing the
(08:22):
same wrong thing.
Well, they don't like to hearmy more serious voice.
They like my friendly voice.
Sometimes I will tell them donot take advantage of me,
because I'm a nice guy, becauseyou don't want to see me when I
don't get to be as friendly.
And this young man, I think,has actually cried twice when I
(08:46):
had to get serious with them.
But he also wanted to sit nextto me in the classroom.
So it happened.
So deal with the crying.
Try to be diplomatic, one thingthat I personally wouldn't do.
You can do it if you want.
If that's who you are and yousay I'm just going to tell them
to get over it and move on.
(09:07):
Well, it's not what they needto hear at the moment, but if
that's who you are, that's whoyou are, I try to be as
diplomatic as possible.
So, first thing is crying.
Next thing rhymes with it it'slying.
Now, all kids are going tostretch the truth.
(09:28):
All kids are worried aboutgetting in trouble and, let's
face it, adults are the same way.
If you get caught doingsomething wrong, you may not lie
, but you are definitely goingto stretch the truth to the
point that you are trying to getout of something.
Well, if you call up a studenthere's what I normally do,
(09:49):
normally in high school I cansay this and it works.
I can say all right, you willget in less trouble with me if
you tell the truth.
And remember, I've got someresources I can use to determine
whether you're lying to me ornot.
Maybe I actually just saw whatyou did.
(10:11):
Maybe I've got students in herethat they're going to tell me
what you did.
So you'll get in less troublewith me by telling the truth
than lying Now, that's true.
If they didn't tell the truth,than lying Now, that's true.
If they didn't tell the truth,well, I'll say, okay, what
should we do about it now?
(10:31):
And I'll let them assign theirown punishment If they lie to me
.
Well then I get to assign thepunishment and it's going to be
I'll say it like this seriousenough to be a learning lesson.
It's worse with first grade.
It's worse as you progress downthe ladder.
Maybe fifth grade I can talksome of them into telling me the
(10:55):
truth.
First grade, I'm not sure Icould, because they're still in
the mode Just like home.
I got to cover up for what Ijust did.
So I don't get in trouble.
I will and I have not very often, but I will share notes with
the teacher.
They know and I start with thisthe students know that I would
(11:17):
rather share good notes aboutthe things they did well and
good, not bad notes, unless Iabsolutely have to, unless they
force me to.
I had third grade last week,and I told them.
I said you know, you're one ofmy favorite classes.
I don't think you're quite assharp today, behavior-wise, as
(11:38):
you were the last time, though,so I said here's what I'm going
to do.
I picked two of the students.
I said here's what I'm going todo.
The students I said here's whatI'm going to do.
I'm going to let these studentswrite notes for me to leave for
the regular teacher, and if Iagree with them, I will sign my
name.
I want them to be honest.
They said they would, and it'sfunny, when they were putting it
(12:01):
together, at the end of the day, they actually asked me Mr
Collins, can I be specific andcall out students by name?
And I said no, I don't want toget into that, because your
teacher might think that it wasworse than I actually thought it
was.
So be general.
And they did.
(12:21):
They said at times they got toonoisy.
At times some of the studentswere trying to hide the fact
that they were on tabs playing asports game or something like
that while they were doing theirwork.
They would do it like inbetween questions, but still not
what they were supposed to bedoing.
So they did a good job.
So you've got crying and lyingand let's now say maybe I'll
(12:47):
just call it neediness.
Now, I don't mean thatfinancially.
I mean first graders, more sothan any other.
They need everything.
They want you to help them witheverything.
When I walk in, they are askingme questions.
From the time I get in the doorthey're lined up, they have
their hands, so they're doing itproperly, and all the way to my
(13:11):
desk it's to the point where Ialso this is related to that,
but it's not Now I try toaddress every need in there.
If I don't know, I'll tell them.
I don't know, but I might findout for them.
If it's something, I won't tellthem.
I'm Googling it.
But if something, I feel like Ican help their knowledge if I
(13:32):
Google something, not on a testquestion, of course, but just
something we can learn together,like who was the 18th president
, things like that.
That maybe the question justcame up in class.
It did, by the way, I had onegentleman in a class that was
very good with presidents.
So first graders will ask youfor a lot of things.
Be prepared to help them a lot.
(13:54):
You know how I love to sharestories.
I can't share as many storieswith them and I've said this
about elementary school ingeneral.
Every hand in the place goes upwhen you share a story because
they've got a similar story andif we share them all, I had one
student third grade student thisweek said Mr Collins, we
probably should get back to whatwe're doing and we were sharing
(14:15):
stories and we were having sucha good time and we did in fact
get back to what we were doingand I'm glad she pointed that
out.
First graders, you'll have moreof that and I'll say it like
this I enjoyed first grade.
I've got in fact it's kind offunny this coming week I start
with it's more of a teachercoverage thing, it's teacher
(14:38):
appreciation week.
So I think my first day it'sall at the same school.
I will have done two weeks atthe same elementary school
because I love it that much,love the students that much,
love the teachers.
A lot of teachers that know me,maybe through my wife because
they knew her as a teacher, orthey knew me through sports
(15:00):
programs because maybe they'rethe age that my kids were.
They're now in their 30s andthey're teaching and I love this
school.
And this week I'm teaching acoverage day while various
different teachers go to teacherappreciation at different times
, and I've got two days of firstgrade and I got that day of
kindergarten and I've got oneday open for now.
(15:22):
But last week was the first weekthat I subbed every single day
for a little while.
It wasn't by choice, it's justthat I didn't find my.
You know what I really like todo.
So if any of you from thatschool are listening, you know
who I'm talking about.
Thanks so much for giving methe opportunity and I'll say it
(15:43):
in a weird way Thanks for beingabsent.
I hope you're getting better ifyou were sick, but thanks for
posting your job so I could pickit up.
I'm getting more now asking meto.
I had one teacher.
The office asked me to subMonday and I said, well, I'm
actually already subbing here,so that's a good feeling when
(16:07):
they get used to seeing youthere so much that they want you
in the building.
I love it so much when Ipurposely walk in the cafeteria
at the beginning of lunch for myclass and the end of lunch for
my class a few minutes extra,because I know there's going to
be another grade in there.
(16:27):
And I love it when I walk inand some of them are waving at
me and they want to talk to me.
They try to wave me over.
We get to talk a little bitsocially, and some of them are
my granddaughter's friends.
I'll talk to them.
So first graders are different.
I love to teach their class.
So first graders are different.
(16:48):
I love to teach their class.
It's just kind of a differentchallenge and one that I'm going
to continue to work on and getbetter and better.
Who knows, maybe next week I'vegot an idea for the episode
next week Maybe after I teachkindergarten I'm going to have
to talk about that too.
I'll close quickly with one lastthing that I almost forgot to
(17:08):
mention.
In fact, I'll be honest, I justedited the whole show and
forgot that I hadn't mentionedthis, but you will find more
every grade in elementary school.
Sometimes in all the levels,they will snitch on each other.
I'm not going to use that wordin front of first graders, but
it intensifies with firstgraders all day long.
(17:29):
Maybe every 15 minutes somestudent will say so-and-so, just
did this to me, so be preparedhow you're going to deal with
that.
And I tell them well, just doyour best to make things better,
do your best to make thingsbetter.
Since I didn't see them do that, I can't really punish them for
(17:50):
anything.
No-transcript.
Greg Collins Substitute Teachers Lounge.
I taught first grade for thefirst time this week and there's
so many things to talk about it.
They were great.
The teachers were great.
It almost didn't happen becauseI told myself I would never go
below third grade.
But then I enjoy this school somuch I'm taking everything they
(00:23):
offer.
And about two weeks ago thispopped up the day before I got
canceled and I said, oh no, I'mnot going to be able to try
first grade after all.
It's because the lady wasactually going to be there.
After all, she's on a jury dutykick and sometimes you don't
get called in.
So I was disappointed.
I was relieved, sort of, anddisappointed at the same time.
(00:45):
But then within a half an hourI hate to say it like this, but
one of the other first gradeteachers apparently got sick and
I took her job and, man, it wasa memorable day and I'm going
to tell you how first grade ofcourse, I've only done it once
and a lot of you out there havemore experience I'm going to
tell you how first grade isdifferent from the others.
(01:07):
They were really well-behaved.
It really has nothing to doabout that, but it's their age
and their personalities and justthe fact that they're seven
years old.
I joked with the teachers that,well, first graders are great
but they would be better insmall doses.
(01:28):
And so we're going to talkabout first grade Substitute
teachers loud, all right, youknow it's funny.
I enjoyed first grade so muchthat I couldn't wait to record
(01:49):
this episode.
I actually had a differenttopic in mind, but after I did
first grade I wanted to tell youthis.
It's on the way in to schoolthat day I just happened to be
walking down the sidewalk withanother substitute teacher and
he said who you got, what gradeyou got today?
And I said first, and he goesoh, he said I don't think I
(02:10):
could do first.
And I told him my whole storyabout how I used to do middle
school and high school only.
And now it's hard to me for meto go back to that because
elementary school has kind ofspoiled me.
Spoiled me and I told myselfthat I like third grade best.
I still think that I had thirdgrade my last day this week and
(02:31):
it was one of my favoriteclasses and I enjoyed it a lot.
But I got to do first grade andthey were a lot of fun, but
they were different, in fact Iguess more so in elementary
school than any other thanmiddle school and high school.
I'll say it like that.
There's so much differencebetween each and every
(02:55):
individual grade.
In fact the day after thisepisode drops, oh man, here we
go.
Oh man, here we go.
I'm subbing my first day ofkindergarten and it just happens
to be the class that mygrandson is in, so that will be
interesting.
I've already subbed mygranddaughter.
She's in fifth grade.
I've subbed her class a coupleof times and one little misnomer
(03:20):
about me saying that I've neversubbed first grade before is
that I actually had two dayssubbing music last week, and
when you're in music or I guessit's any related arts you hit on
just about all of the gradesevery day, especially if you're
(03:41):
there for two days.
I was kind of blessed in thathe let me prepare some things on
my own.
I'm a big Mario guy, so I founda nice Mario tutorial about how
to sing Mario words but learn16th notes and eighth notes and
(04:02):
quarter notes and all that goodstuff as you're doing it, and I
was able to teach that in halfhour slots all day for different
classes and I met the firstgrade.
They were fine.
I actually taught a couple ofkindergarten class and I
actually think thekindergartners were the best
behaved class of all of them.
(04:24):
So I'm kind of looking forwardto my kindergarten gig tomorrow.
But let's go back to firstgrade.
So it was a very busy day forthem.
They were actually practicingsome things in music that took
them out of their normal routine, so I was dealing with that.
But here's what I suspect istrue now that I've had
(04:47):
experience with it, is true ofevery first grade everywhere.
I can just guess that this justgoes on everywhere because
there's seven.
They are still highly emotionaland it's funny.
Every elementary school classyou'll have students hovering
(05:09):
around your desk all the time.
With first grade it's reallyintense because they're hovering
around a lot.
They do things that every otherclass does, every other grade
does, but they do them moreoften.
Class does, every other gradedoes, but they do them more
(05:30):
often.
My first example of this andsometimes they choke me up a
little bit first graders.
Well, they're going to cry alittle bit more than the other
grades and I saw crying on theplayground because they got hurt
.
I saw crying.
I saw crying on the playgroundbecause they got hurt.
I saw crying when they thoughtsomebody did something to them
out on the playground or in theclassroom, and you know you just
(05:54):
have to deal with it.
What I try to do with cryingand I mentioned if another
classmate did something to themI'll talk more about that here
in a moment, because that's aseparate issue from crying,
because they don't always crywhen that happens.
But the crying part I try to,you know, kind of crouch down,
(06:16):
get my face on the level ortheir face, so I'm not looking
down at them, and then I'll justsay, all right, let's see First
of all down at them and thenI'll just say, all right, let's
see First of all, it's over,there's nothing we can do about
it now.
I'm sure it was an accident.
One kid was even crying becausesomeone had spilled water on
(06:36):
part of a costume that he wassupposed to wear, the part of it
that was paper.
So he was upset about thatbecause he wanted his costume to
be perfect.
That's fair enough and Iunderstood that and you go for
what can.
If they act like they're hurt,here's what I would say to them.
First I'll just ask them areyou hurt?
(06:56):
Sometimes they will nod theirhead, yes, and then I'll say,
all right, show me where ithurts.
And if they take too long toshow you, well, they're probably
just kind of making it up.
If they finally point tosomething and it's an arm, if
(07:18):
it's an arm especially, I'lljust kind of, all right, rub
your arm a little bit and I said, look, your arm's working.
It's going to be okay.
I said I don't want you to ruinthe rest of your recess, so
let's get over it.
Let's see if we can dry upthese tears.
I might even have you got to becareful with this.
(07:39):
I might even have a JollyRancher inside, but then they
might force cry just to get aJolly Rancher.
It's amazing how much they'lldo for a Jolly Rancher.
As a side note, I went to aplay a couple of nights ago at a
high school that I haven'tsubbed at for two months.
One of those students came upto me and said hey, mr Collins,
(07:59):
good to see you.
Do you remember you still oweme a Jolly Rancher high school
junior from two months ago?
So it is amazing, the jollyrancher effect.
So that's crying.
That's the first thing you'llhave to deal with.
They'll do it in the classroom,sometimes, when I've had to
come down on a student becausethey're repeatedly doing the
(08:22):
same wrong thing.
Well, they don't like to hearmy more serious voice.
They like my friendly voice.
Sometimes I will tell them donot take advantage of me,
because I'm a nice guy, becauseyou don't want to see me when I
don't get to be as friendly.
And this young man, I think,has actually cried twice when I
(08:46):
had to get serious with them.
But he also wanted to sit nextto me in the classroom.
So it happened.
So deal with the crying.
Try to be diplomatic, one thingthat I personally wouldn't do.
You can do it if you want.
If that's who you are and yousay I'm just going to tell them
to get over it and move on.
(09:07):
Well, it's not what they needto hear at the moment, but if
that's who you are, that's whoyou are, I try to be as
diplomatic as possible.
So, first thing is crying.
Next thing rhymes with it it'slying.
Now, all kids are going tostretch the truth.
(09:28):
All kids are worried aboutgetting in trouble and, let's
face it, adults are the same way.
If you get caught doingsomething wrong, you may not lie
, but you are definitely goingto stretch the truth to the
point that you are trying to getout of something.
Well, if you call up a studenthere's what I normally do,
(09:49):
normally in high school I cansay this and it works.
I can say all right, you willget in less trouble with me if
you tell the truth.
And remember, I've got someresources I can use to determine
whether you're lying to me ornot.
Maybe I actually just saw whatyou did.
(10:11):
Maybe I've got students in herethat they're going to tell me
what you did.
So you'll get in less troublewith me by telling the truth
than lying Now, that's true.
If they didn't tell the truth,than lying Now, that's true.
If they didn't tell the truth,well, I'll say, okay, what
should we do about it now?
(10:31):
And I'll let them assign theirown punishment If they lie to me
.
Well then I get to assign thepunishment and it's going to be
I'll say it like this seriousenough to be a learning lesson.
It's worse with first grade.
It's worse as you progress downthe ladder.
Maybe fifth grade I can talksome of them into telling me the
(10:55):
truth.
First grade, I'm not sure Icould, because they're still in
the mode Just like home.
I got to cover up for what Ijust did.
So I don't get in trouble.
I will and I have not very often, but I will share notes with
the teacher.
They know and I start with thisthe students know that I would
(11:17):
rather share good notes aboutthe things they did well and
good, not bad notes, unless Iabsolutely have to, unless they
force me to.
I had third grade last week,and I told them.
I said you know, you're one ofmy favorite classes.
I don't think you're quite assharp today, behavior-wise, as
(11:38):
you were the last time, though,so I said here's what I'm going
to do.
I picked two of the students.
I said here's what I'm going todo.
The students I said here's whatI'm going to do.
I'm going to let these studentswrite notes for me to leave for
the regular teacher, and if Iagree with them, I will sign my
name.
I want them to be honest.
They said they would, and it'sfunny, when they were putting it
(12:01):
together, at the end of the day, they actually asked me Mr
Collins, can I be specific andcall out students by name?
And I said no, I don't want toget into that, because your
teacher might think that it wasworse than I actually thought it
was.
So be general.
And they did.
(12:21):
They said at times they got toonoisy.
At times some of the studentswere trying to hide the fact
that they were on tabs playing asports game or something like
that while they were doing theirwork.
They would do it like inbetween questions, but still not
what they were supposed to bedoing.
So they did a good job.
So you've got crying and lyingand let's now say maybe I'll
(12:47):
just call it neediness.
Now, I don't mean thatfinancially.
I mean first graders, more sothan any other.
They need everything.
They want you to help them witheverything.
When I walk in, they are askingme questions.
From the time I get in the doorthey're lined up, they have
their hands, so they're doing itproperly, and all the way to my
(13:11):
desk it's to the point where Ialso this is related to that,
but it's not Now I try toaddress every need in there.
If I don't know, I'll tell them.
I don't know, but I might findout for them.
If it's something, I won't tellthem.
I'm Googling it.
But if something, I feel like Ican help their knowledge if I
(13:32):
Google something, not on a testquestion, of course, but just
something we can learn together,like who was the 18th president
, things like that.
That maybe the question justcame up in class.
It did, by the way, I had onegentleman in a class that was
very good with presidents.
So first graders will ask youfor a lot of things.
Be prepared to help them a lot.
(13:54):
You know how I love to sharestories.
I can't share as many storieswith them and I've said this
about elementary school ingeneral.
Every hand in the place goes upwhen you share a story because
they've got a similar story andif we share them all, I had one
student third grade student thisweek said Mr Collins, we
probably should get back to whatwe're doing and we were sharing
(14:15):
stories and we were having sucha good time and we did in fact
get back to what we were doingand I'm glad she pointed that
out.
First graders, you'll have moreof that and I'll say it like
this I enjoyed first grade.
I've got in fact it's kind offunny this coming week I start
with it's more of a teachercoverage thing, it's teacher
(14:38):
appreciation week.
So I think my first day it'sall at the same school.
I will have done two weeks atthe same elementary school
because I love it that much,love the students that much,
love the teachers.
A lot of teachers that know me,maybe through my wife because
they knew her as a teacher, orthey knew me through sports
(15:00):
programs because maybe they'rethe age that my kids were.
They're now in their 30s andthey're teaching and I love this
school.
And this week I'm teaching acoverage day while various
different teachers go to teacherappreciation at different times
, and I've got two days of firstgrade and I got that day of
kindergarten and I've got oneday open for now.
(15:22):
But last week was the first weekthat I subbed every single day
for a little while.
It wasn't by choice, it's justthat I didn't find my.
You know what I really like todo.
So if any of you from thatschool are listening, you know
who I'm talking about.
Thanks so much for giving methe opportunity and I'll say it
(15:43):
in a weird way Thanks for beingabsent.
I hope you're getting better ifyou were sick, but thanks for
posting your job so I could pickit up.
I'm getting more now asking meto.
I had one teacher.
The office asked me to subMonday and I said, well, I'm
actually already subbing here,so that's a good feeling when
(16:07):
they get used to seeing youthere so much that they want you
in the building.
I love it so much when Ipurposely walk in the cafeteria
at the beginning of lunch for myclass and the end of lunch for
my class a few minutes extra,because I know there's going to
be another grade in there.
(16:27):
And I love it when I walk inand some of them are waving at
me and they want to talk to me.
They try to wave me over.
We get to talk a little bitsocially, and some of them are
my granddaughter's friends.
I'll talk to them.
So first graders are different.
I love to teach their class.
So first graders are different.
(16:48):
I love to teach their class.
It's just kind of a differentchallenge and one that I'm going
to continue to work on and getbetter and better.
Who knows, maybe next week I'vegot an idea for the episode
next week Maybe after I teachkindergarten I'm going to have
to talk about that too.
I'll close quickly with one lastthing that I almost forgot to
(17:08):
mention.
In fact, I'll be honest, I justedited the whole show and
forgot that I hadn't mentionedthis, but you will find more
every grade in elementary school.
Sometimes in all the levels,they will snitch on each other.
I'm not going to use that wordin front of first graders, but
it intensifies with firstgraders all day long.
(17:29):
Maybe every 15 minutes somestudent will say so-and-so, just
did this to me, so be preparedhow you're going to deal with
that.
And I tell them well, just doyour best to make things better,
do your best to make thingsbetter.
Since I didn't see them do that, I can't really punish them for
(17:50):
anything.
No-transcript.
Popular Podcasts
Stuff You Should Know
If you've ever wanted to know about champagne, satanism, the Stonewall Uprising, chaos theory, LSD, El Nino, true crime and Rosa Parks, then look no further. Josh and Chuck have you covered.
Dateline NBC
Current and classic episodes, featuring compelling true-crime mysteries, powerful documentaries and in-depth investigations. Follow now to get the latest episodes of Dateline NBC completely free, or subscribe to Dateline Premium for ad-free listening and exclusive bonus content: DatelinePremium.com
On Purpose with Jay Shetty
I’m Jay Shetty host of On Purpose the worlds #1 Mental Health podcast and I’m so grateful you found us. I started this podcast 5 years ago to invite you into conversations and workshops that are designed to help make you happier, healthier and more healed. I believe that when you (yes you) feel seen, heard and understood you’re able to deal with relationship struggles, work challenges and life’s ups and downs with more ease and grace. I interview experts, celebrities, thought leaders and athletes so that we can grow our mindset, build better habits and uncover a side of them we’ve never seen before. New episodes every Monday and Friday. Your support means the world to me and I don’t take it for granted — click the follow button and leave a review to help us spread the love with On Purpose. I can’t wait for you to listen to your first or 500th episode!