source: www.slate.com

Every once in awhile, no matter how many substitutes you have, there will be a time when you have classes that unfulfilled. What do you do in those situations? In my opinion, as the leader, you have to step in and be a substitute. There are many rewards to this, and it provides an opportunity to teach kids.

Here are my takeaways from being a substitute for a day:

• Deepens connections with students – Depending on the subject, you can get a better understanding of how the students learn, and what teachers are teaching
• Teachers should see the principal teach – We are the leaders of the building and we evaluate them on teaching, so we should be able to step in at anytime and model
• Teachers have so much on their plate – To continually ask teachers to cover other classes sends them the wrong message. I believe it is important to value every position as much as possible
• It helps you not to forget – No matter how long you are out of the classroom, you never want to forget what it was like when you were in the classroom! Teaching for a day every once in awhile will force you to value the demanding job of a teacher

What do you think? When was the last time you taught?