Yesterday, I experienced something very strange--I team taught classes with my mother. I was hired several months ago as a long-term sub, but when a full time opening in a different subject area opened up, I was very interested in it. The problem was that the classes I was subbing for were all gifted with demanding parents,and the class had already had several subs to start the year. The principal was understandably nervous about putting yet another sub in the room. Unbelievably, my mother, who has been retired from educating for several years, agreed to finish the last month of the long-term sub position if it meant that I got a full time job. I tease her that she was worried about having to pay my mortgage if she didn't do this for me... The principal understood that mom was doing this to help me out and tried to find someone else, but she couldn't find anyone else who was highly qualified in English, had years of experience, and had a doctorate in gifted ed and who did not admit openly that the reason he/she wanted the job was so that he/she would be close to the bar where he/she played the guitar at night. (Yes, someone actually admitted to that in an interview.) The end of the 9 weeks is fast approaching so we are going to team-teach this week, and I'll start the other job next week.
I don’t know if you are like me or not, but even at 33 years of age, I still want to please and even impress my parents. They never have put pressure on me, but I wanted mom to see that I am a great teacher. I thought I would be nervous because it was still my class and my students; however, I wasn’t. The kids’ reactions to 2 “Dr. Williams” in the class were very interesting. One asked if they could call my mom “Dr. Williams’ mom.” Thought that was pretty cute…I am one lucky person to have a mother who would sacrifice trips with my dad and little pay to help me out. Besides, she had gotten use to sleeping past 6 o'clock each day.
Off to dry my hair so I can go back to work with “Dr. Williams’ Mom” again today.
