A New Look @ Substitutes

My CT was absent today as well, however, I was immediately relieved to walk into the classroom and see a woman with a Pleasant View Staff lanyard on. All of the students were sitting on the rug, finishing up a writing lesson and the substitute had total control over the classroom; unlike the substitute from 2 weeks ago.
Even though I enjoy my CT, I was really glad to step into this situation today because I got a chance to actually sit back and take some notes about individual students and the classroom as a whole. I feel like every other week that I come I immediately jump right in wherever I’m needed; not because my CT doesn’t have full control, but just because I more or less want to impress her. However, today I sat down at the round table and watched as students worked on their journals. One of the boys who knew it was his publishing day came up and asked if I was going to publish his tables stories again, like last time my CT wasn’t here, but I was relieved when Mrs. R. already knew which table was supposed to publish today and she took care of it.
We went out for recess for about 3 minutes before it started raining and I figured that the students would be disappointed that they didn’t get to play that much. But, much to my surprise, I didn’t hear one student say a word about having to go in early. Surely if they didn’t complain than they’d act up, right? Wrong. They were totally fine without that 20 minutes of free time and physical exercise. When we came back inside the students went straight to the rug and sat down, waiting patiently for their math lesson. But Mrs. R. sent them back to their seats. This confused a few students as they couldn’t understand why they had to sit at their tables after recess, because they always go to the rug. The students KNOW what they are supposed to do. My CT has done a great job of implementing a daily routine that the kids have absorbed.
I guess this can be a lesson learned for the future...building substitutes really have the advantage of knowing a lot of students by name already as well as the layout of the building. Our route to get outside for recess, for example, goes all throughout the building and I know that if I was substituting in this classroom as my first time in this building, I would be TOTALLY lost! Especailly because this building has the old part and the new part, including all the renovations and new sections, such as the auditorium and cafetorium (which I didn't even know was a word until today :) ).