Well, I really have to get to bed as I will be working at a middle school tomorrow and they start over an hour earlier than their elementary counterparts. 8th grade special ed- so I am sure to have something to write tomorrow. As for today, I was in a multiage room, 4th and 5th grades specifically. This is the second time I have subbed for this class and there is one thing a bit unusual. There are not one, not two, but three students in that class who are really big for their age. They are fifth-graders, but they look like they would physically fit right in in seventh grade. So were they held back a year? Well, that was what I was wondering, but nope! The teacher just happened to have a list with their birthdays (well one wasn’t on the list- she must have transferred in after the start of the year) and the two boys at least are the right age for fifth grade. Now of course I have encountered the occasional large or small student for their age, but three in one room is just pushing the odds. I would have to check if they live near power lines or some such situation affecting their growth. They drink the same water as I do so I know that isn’t the reason…
On another note, the classroom is in a new section of the school and so is one of the few rooms that are air conditioned (no big deal this time of year of course) though the district has finally approved air conditioning for all the schools now starting next year. The classroom was also quite large and had a widescreen LCD TV. Nice. Of course the LCD TV is wasted on them as they have the DVD player/VCR connected only through ordinary video- someone give them some component cables, please!
The last abnormal thing for this class I was in was they have a special foreign-language program there- they were learning Japanese! This made for an easy morning for me since before Japanese they had music and gym. I even learned how to write my name in Japanese (Katakana I believe it was called). Pretty neat.
Interesting note about the big kids – very entertaining 🙂
And weird about the Japanese! It’s funny; I knew a kid in college who was very “urban”. He loved Tupac, rap, that kind of thing, and talked very much like the things he liked. However, he was a Japanese major, and had had 3 years in high school – it was very odd! He was from Evanston… is that where you were today by any chance?
Evanston is a bit too far for me (and in the wrong direction- that is, the way 80% of the people travel to work…) so no. My home district (not to be named I think lest the wrong eyes read this blog- not everyone likes blogs) actually. Many Japanese LOVE western culture, so I am not surprised about the kid you knew.