Mr. Koczera teaches gym.

This week I started substitute teaching at SICP. Substituting is something I've wanted to do since I got here, figuring that sitting in for absent teachers would broaden my exposure to the life of the school and bring me to parts of the building I wouldn't otherwise see. Accordingly, this week I ventured into Spanish and biology classrooms and even taught gym. Yes, gym. My family and friends will no doubt be shocked and perhaps amused by the idea of me as a PE teacher. As it turns out, it was fairly easy. The substitution form read that the students were to do weight training for the entire period, and the class had the routine down well enough that no instruction on my part was needed. All I had to do was take attendance, hand out forms on which the students were to report to the teacher what they had done, supervise throughout the period and finally collect the completed forms at the end of class. I was pleased to see that some of the students read for class or completed homework while lifting weights, multitasking much as I did when I was in high school. Belying concerns I had at the start of this experiment, I'm finding that this generation of high schoolers isn't much different from my own. A fairly simple and even obvious lesson, perhaps, but one I'm learning as a sub. AMDG.