While we’re on the military theme (see last post), I should mention yesterday.  I subbed at the school with the ELL troubles, right next door to that very room.  That was enough to turn a bad day into a much better one, in other words- no problems.  It was all eighth grade this time, and language arts.  Four classes of letting students work on advertisement projects while I just filtered around making sure they were working, one class where they watched the start of a movie (must see if the library has it so I can finish it!), and one tutorial/study hall.  All except one period went very well.  That one period had a few students who did not like to work.  One of them even got on the nerves of two of his group members, girls who bopped him on the head twice with a tissue box.  Hey, I think I forgot to write that part down for the teacher…  It was an empty box and he was laughing after it so no harm done.   The other two thought they would have a little marker war- with open markers.  The one’s white shirt was quite colorful after that.  Hopefully for his mom washable means completely washes out.

What?  You want to know about that military theme?  Well our military uses ads, so that’s the connection.  Okay, that wasn’t it.  No need to bop me with that tissue box 😛 .  I had noticed the teachers were all wearing T-shirts so I asked about them.  Apparently they like to periodically remind students of certain rules and drill them on it.  Each class takes a turn at this and fortunately language arts didn’t get the short straw this time.  Rather, during social studies the students were drilled on proper hallway manners.  That’s right, how to walk in the hall.  I actually ran into this drill- well really they almost ran into me- during one of my planning periods.  Students quietly marching through the hall like the school would ideally have them do it all the time.  Do these drills work?  I have no idea.  They just started them this year so it will take time to find out.  They’re probably wasted on eighth grade though since they will only be doing the drills this year before going on to high school, and you probably know how eighth-grade-itis goes.  They’re minds will be in high school weeks before they leave middle school.

Once again there was a second day with this teacher, and the same sub as last week got the second day.  This time I would have gotten it had I not already been committed at another school for today so I’m not complaining.  It was actually a very easy day too.  I subbed for the industrial tech teacher, and they had just started the, er, hexter.  And semester (6 weeks and 18 weeks).  Which one matters depends on the grade, but in either case this was only their second day there (no school for them Monday) so they hadn’t started on any projects yet.  That, and the fact that I’m not sure they would be allowed to work on them with subs anyway, meant that they would be watching videos.  sixth grade watched a video on how cars are built.  It was quite informative- they showed a plant where Ford Mustangs were being built.  7th and 8th grades watched a video on movie stunts.  I’m not quite sure what that one had to do with IT, but that was what he wanted shown.  Guess which movie series had a prominent role in this video?  Indiana Jones?  Good guess, but only a minor showing.  Harry Potter?  Are you kidding me?  Yep, James Bond.  Loaded with stunts.  Yes, I know that was your first guess- I was just messing with you   8) : .  A very unevenful day with six very good groups of kids.  Today was this school’s turn for 8th grade graduation pictures (tomorrow at Tuesday’s school) but they had it set up so each student had an appointment, so they just left from whatever class they were in at the appropriate time.  Lots of nice clothes on most of them, though many realized their lower portions wouldn’t be in the photo so there were several guys with dress shirts and ties with jeans.  😮  Anyway, uneventful as I said, until about ten minutes before the end of the day when a 7th grader chose that time to be sick all over the table.  That was the end of the video for that group as they all headed away from the sick spot, then couldn’t stop talking about it.  Well, it was the end of the day.  The custodian was called, he was sent to the nurse, and that was that.  Yep, that’s that for today.  😉

The regular reader knows just what letter to place in the title parentheses to complete the picture of my day today.  Some time ago I wrote about an experience at a school that left me passing over certain assignments for the next year.  A couple of months ago took the challenge and subbed for that teacher again since most of those former ELL students were gone and was relieved that things had changed for the better, so when another ELL assignment popped up at that school I took it without a second thought.  It was for a teacher I don’t remember, but it shouldn’t have been a problem.  Well, we have second thoughts for a reason so taking the job without one was akin to famous last words like, “Nothing will go wrong; trust me.”

So, at the beginning of the day I arrived and it was mentioned that it was a two-day assignment.  What?  Two days?  I had to check my schedule again because I was sure it was only one day.  The teacher, who was there but would be testing students, finished going over the plans with me and I went right to a computer.  Yep- just one day.  At that point I was actually hopeful there was a mistake and it was supposed to be two.  By the end of the day I was glad it was not a mistake at all.  For some reason the two-day absence was put in as two separate assignments- my guess being that the software they use cannot support multiple-day assignments as I have never seen a multi-day assignment posted.  I had two such assignments a few months ago in this district, but it was put in manually as a different job number for each day which just serves to validate this theory.  So apparently what happened was I got one day, another sub got the other day.  I do hope she is up to it.   Ironically, she was there today subbing for another ELL class, the one I had no trouble with earlier this year.

When going over the plans I was somewhat pleased to find that I would be covering three math classes.  I expected the toughest would be 8th grade, so once that was over (it was the second class- 7th grade was the first) and things were still going, if not smooth, only slightly rough I thought it would be a pretty good day.  The rough spot for 8th grade was really no more than the quick quiz at the beginning being anything but quick for a few students, making less time for going over homework and letting them get started on their assignment.  So, after a two-period break I was ready for sixth grade math.  Remember those famous last words?  Ready- Uh-huh.  This was the loudest and most complaining class I’ve had in the last couple of years with some boys who loved knocking over the books of each other while I wasn’t looking.  Sigh.  They even complained when I didn’t check in their homework.  I mean, who complains about that??  Just take the extra day to have it done as a gift and keep quiet about it!  Then the plans called for them to take a test which they had in their packets.  Did you catch what was wrong with that sentence?  In their packets.  So what happens when some students couldn’t find their packets and the teacher didn’t leave behind extras?  Well, I found out.  I had three kids run to the office, which I only did because it was just down the hall, so someone in the office might take pity and make some copies for me.  Then I found some students only had one of the pages.  They had ripped the other page out, which had a prior assignment on the back.  Back to the office?  Not a chance- the secretaries suffered enough with the two runs (they only copied the first page last time) so I just marked down their names and let it go.  I also forgot to thank them after school too when I checked out- oops.  And throughout this there were some students who just would not stop talking.  I needed this class before the two-period break, not after.

So after this class was a multi-grade language arts class.  Needless to say, some of the 6th-graders from math were back for two more periods (block period).  While not as bad as the prior math class, it had its own challenges.  8th grade left after the first half to see counselors from their respective high schools they would go to next year, and that relieved some pressure but not all- remember 6th grade was still there and so was a very obnoxious 7th-grade girl who loved talking back and doing as little work as possible.  After this class and a tutorial class (study hall) the day was finally over.  Now I’m writing it up for you to enjoy too…

Just kidding.  Thursday I subbed at a middle school again, and eighth grade did have graduation rehearsal most of the day.  Fortunate for me, I subbed for seventh grade.  The end of year had already come for three of the districts I sub in, but this one district actually finishes next week with a half-day Thursday and a one-hour day Friday.  I currently have an assignment for Tuesday, but I am not sure if it will last.  I didn’t get along well with one of the TAs in that class and even got a call from the principal on the day, but I have a good record with that school so he recognized it as an anomaly.  I did skip out on an assignment with this teacher since, but being the end of the year with only one district still in school I can’t be too fussy.

So, back to this week, I subbed Thursday for a BD/LD teacher.  The classes I had were two small-group reading classes and two tutorials.  There were two other classes, but I acted more as an assistant in those.  It was mostly self-work,  but one class was end-of-year details, i.e. turning in books.  Yippee.

Friday was a half-day with the class I was with Wednesday.  Good for me as I left my lunch is his fridge… 😀  He never noticed, and I grabbed it Friday.  Not much to do here- silent reading, correcting homework, math test, self-science review…  The teacher is going to be out all day Monday too.  Too bad for me someone else has that assignment.

Sweltering heat those last couple of days I will tell you.  With temps in the high 80s (with high humidity!) and no AC in the schools we were all sweating, even with fans going.  This district is finally entering the latter half of the 20th century starting next year, but that didn’t help much those two days, or the at least one day I will be working next week.  Can I wear shorts please?

I’ve been subbing for a few years, and I have to say that Friday was the first time I ever subbed in the sort of position I was in.  The teacher seemed to be like a glorified teacher assistant, though of course I don’t know the extent of her duties outside the realm of what I did so this opinion of mine doesn’t mean much.  My main duty in the morning was following a diabetic student from class to class.  I had to make sure he got to the nurse as needed.  Apparently even though he’s in 6th grade he doesn’t have a good handle on managing his condition, and his parents I’m told are just as lost in handling it.  In any event, when I wasn’t involved with taking him to the nurse and waiting for him to test himself, snack, and retest, I helped out as needed in the classes.  There were some students on behavior point sheets (including the diabetic boy) and when I worked with them I could easily see why they needed them.  Trying to get them to work was often a challenge.

In the afternoon I wasn’t with the one boy until I had to pick him up and take him to the nurse during the end of a period.  Then, the school being short a sub, I had to sub in an eighth-grade class for one period causing me to lose one break, but that’s the way it works sometimes.  I have avoided working in eighth grade at this school all year due to some troubles I had last year with the then-7th graders, so I prepared for the worst and was pleasantly surprised when it didn’t come.  The read the chapter aloud nicely, then did their work though admittedly some needed prompting.  I ended the day with a tutorial (study hall) with just six students, about half of what one student told me I should expect.  One I knew where he was.  Another was absent.  The rest I didn’t know who they were let alone where they were.  I wasn’t left a class list.

On a non-school note, I have kept forgetting to mention this, but on Wednesday I was coming home from a drama rehearsal when I turned on K-Love and heard a woman telling about a supernatural healing experience when she was being prayed over.  She had lost hearing in one ear and vision in one eye and she suffered pain in that side of her head.  Then this one time she was miraculously healed.  The station started asking her questions about it and then the station just went completely dead.  When it came back a couple minutes later a song was playing.  Was I just going through a blackout area for that station (other stations worked- I checked) or was the evil one trying to keep people from hearing more about this healing?  I guess I won’t know for sure.  I just thought this interesting to mention.