We all know the old adage “pull the rug out from under” – Its when someone takes away the much needed support from a person, and it’s sudden. It’s not a pleasant feeling. It’s often followed by panic and floundering, sometimes even a complete breakdown if the person is in dire straits. It’s not always done maliciously, sometimes it’s caused by laziness, or the desire to test boundaries. And sometimes there’s even warning signs; gut feelings or past experiences warranting a weary reaction.

I had the rug pulled out from under me. I was left with minimal support. I walked in, and was faced with having to pull on past experiences to figure out how I would handle the day. Now, I had warning. I knew that there was going to be a change in the day. It was discussed that I would take over science, as well as my routine duties. Instead, I was handed all the work and told to go forth. To teach. By myself. All day.

“You know the students better…”
True…

“They will respond better to you.”
I mean, I guess.

I survived. In fact, I shed a lot of anxiety after that day. I no longer feel as if I’m not ready. I am. I am so ready to have a class of my own, to teach the whole day. I mean, I’m still unsure about a lot of things, and need to practice so much (Remember the meme, Vicki. Remember the meme.), but if I were faced with the same situation again… I’d be fine. I don’t know if it was because the students do know me, or because I was upset about the situation that I had maximum teacher voice going on, but there was no blood shed, and everyone left relatively happy.

Okay, so I had to have them all stay after class for misbehaving at the end of the day, but they left all in one piece and that’s a win in my books.