Well, it’s been awhile since my last work-related post. I finally got season 4 of The Office from my library and have been watching it. For those who don’t remember back that far 😛 , Ryan, who was the temp at the Scranton, PA office is now Michael’s boss, and is trying to make many changes to the company to bring it more up to date with the times. Oh, and he is making Michael’s life miserable. I watched the first five episodes so far, and was pleasantly surprised to find that the first few were 40+ minutes. I thought at first these were two-part episodes combined into one, but apparently they are actually extended versions of the original episodes. There are supposed to be five of them out of the fourteen episodes on the DVD set and I saw four of them. The fifth episode was the normal 20+ minute length. I am guessing the season finale will be the fifth extended episode.
Anyway, on to work. Today was a difficult day with a pleasant ending. I substituted for 3rd-grade ELL at the school that made the local paper a few months ago for its supersized 3rd grade classes with 30+ students per class. As far as that went, I prepared myself for it. It turned out to have 24 students- 23 after today as it was one student’s last day. For some reason that student is transferring to another school in the same district. To any who didn’t catch it, this was an ELL class, which I’m guessing is why the class was a normal size. I bring up ELL because while I prepared myself for a supersized class, I forgot to prepare myself for ELL kids. Fortunately most of them understood English to a point, and there was an assistant who spent most of the day in the class to translate when there were difficulties in understanding. However, the behavior in a few of the kids was just off the wall. As I have mentioned in the past, ELL kids can be challenging when it comes to behavior, and these kids were no exception. Again, I think this is due to us being to soft in this country as compared to other countries like Mexico. And I especially am more easygoing than other teachers. I would like to think I have gained better management habits, but I know I am still kind of a soft teacher, at least when I am in a good mood.
In the end, I did make sure to point out the kids I had a problem with in the note to the teacher, so something will happen I’m sure. So what was the pleasant end? Well, a 4th-grader from my church is apparently a student at that school. As I was lining up the kids for dismissal, he spotted me. A few years ago I had a student who showed some major excitement when he recognized me when I subbed in his class, with a very excited, “Hey! I know you!!” Well, that boy’s record for excitement was just broken today by this other boy. He shouted to everyone who could hear, “Hey, you go to my church!!” which was repeated a few times, once to his teacher. When I failed to come up with his name right away, he happily offered it, not disappointed at all like a few others I have run into. I should remind you that I am not that great with names at all and this year I lead a fifth-grade small group so he isn’t in it. Tomorrow night I will make sure to give him some extra attention.
This week I was was in middle school only one, which was just an okay day in Spanish, with two 8th grade, two 7th grade, one 6th grade, and a 7th/8th combined class (which I thought kind of strange for a Spanish class). The other days were strictly elementary. The music class was a highlight of my week. Normally these can be difficult classes behaviorally, but it was a rather pleasant day. The teacher left plans that were clearly meant for the Friday before break with some of the classes having a Christmas-y theme, but since that turned into a snow day she apparently thought it would be just fine for the day after break. Three of the classes watched part of the Nutcracker while coloring Nutcracker pictures. It was in one of these classes I ran into a rare occurance- an Albino. Okay, that term was politically incorrect. I guess I should say he was albinistic. I joked with him having hair blonder than mine was at his age (I had very light blond hair once- it has since become almost gray. Yes I have some grey hairs now, but most of it is still blond when looked at closely. It was pointed out to me that he had a vision problem which is often an effect of the condition and when I looked at his eyes a certain way I noticed some red which I think may also be common, though seeing red in pupils apparently is not.
Well, time to head back to Scranton, PA- I only have a week on this DVD set. Later!
EDIT: Whoops, forgot the title!
30+ kids in one classroom… WOW!!! Do you have grey hairs? Must be time for your visit… don’t remember. Enjoy Season 4.
Actually I had prepared myself for it, but this class in fact only had 24 students. I would guess it’s the regular classes (this was a bilingual class) that are at 30+.
What does ELL stand for? When I was in school, it was ESL – English as a Second Language. But the classes weren’t that big back then – we didn’t even have an ESL class in elementary school. The diversity in my elementary alma mater has changed considerably. It was once 98% caucausion and is now 70% hispanic (I know this because my mom applied for a job there and didn’t get it because she doesn’t speak Spanish) – I wonder how large their ELL classes are over there? And I find it surprising that they had a sub who didn’t speak Spanish (or do you?).
By the way…
If you’re still looking for feedback about your site, I DO NOT like the huge eye on the page – it’s kind of creepy! No offense if it’s yours; it’s just too big! 😉
Sorry, that was just the picture I chose to go with the post. It’s a rare red eye due to albinism. And ELL stands for English Language Learners. I believe they changed the name when they changed the program, like middle school vs. junior high. Many of us use the terms interchangeably, but they are actually different programs.
Me, I kind of liked the eye. I thought you were going to write something about vampires though. Would never have guessed albinism.