I was so asleep this morning that when my phone started ringing I had no idea what was going on. I could hear an annoying noise. I could hear the vibrations on the nightstand. Then I jerked awake, thinking "oh crap". Finally, I answered. Today I was assigned to middle school and when this happens you merely find out which school and have to wait and find out who you're subbing for once you get there.
So, I put on a somewhat classy outfit and made sure I wore my tall shoes. I was running late. Again. (I really should wake up 15 minutes earlier but I don't want to acknowledge that getting ready for work takes me more than an hour. Eating breakfast and making my lunch kills my time, I swear.) I zoomed over to the school and arrived with 10 minutes to spare before class. I ended up subbing for an ESL teacher for 4 periods and a Spanish teacher for 2 periods. Luckily, two ESL teachers work together and have many overlapping students so the wonderful teacher who was present helped me get ready for the class (and conveniently knew who might be a problem).
My ESL classes were wonderful. Very quiet. Very respectful. Did all of their work and if they were slacking off at least they were being silent and pretending to read (when I walked by one kid he was on a completely unrelated page in the book). A few problems during one period but they were easily solved. Great.
Then I moved on to Spanish. Apparently the actual teacher has been out and the kids have had a long term substitute. However, this long term sub hasn't been in for the past week. So I think I was probably the sixth different sub these kids have seen in the past six days. Which explains the attitude. A compounding problem was the fact that there were absolutely no materials at all. I scoured the classroom during my prep period and found nothing to pass out to the kids. There was a video but I could not get the projector to work. I looked in every cabinet and every desk drawer. There was a folder for subs but it only contained papers for 8th graders. There were unlabeled crosswords and worksheets but I was unsure about using them so I took them out but figured I'd see what I could do without them.
The first period was a group of 7th graders and they were awful. They talked over me, made inappropriate noises, switched seats, yelled at their friends, and hit each other, not to mention the fact that they spoke disrespectfully to me. It was so noisy even the kids that might have paid attention were distracted. After 10 minutes of trying to get their attention and explain the rules of the game I thought I would have them play I cracked. I put on the most stern/angry face I could and told them that because of their attitude they had to be silent for the next 10 minutes and for every minute of talking that I heard I would double the time. I was NOT JOKING AROUND. At this a kid said "it sounds like we're in preschool" and he got the better of me because I replied "you're acting like you are in preschool so that's how I'm treating you". I should not have said that. Oh well. They actually did what they were told and were quiet as church mice. After 5 minutes that felt like an eternity I told them that we would still play a game if they were able to maintain silence for a few more minutes. They did and we played the game and I think they understood that I was very willing to sit them down in silence again if anything went wrong.
The 6th graders that arrived for the second period were much better. I decided that I should probably hand out something so I passed out a crossword that ended up being really hard for them. After a while I stopped them and had them play a game involving some spanish words and then they played 4 Corners. Much nicer, much more respectful.
Of course, I really should have explained my expectations. I should have written them on the board before the first Spanish class. I also should have handed out a worksheet to control their initial attention. I won't forget again! It is so hard to not take their comments personally.
Ultimately it is just one 45 minute period in a day that was pretty good. At the end of the day I told the secretary in the main office how difficult the 7th grade class was and suggested the principal stop in to help with control. I had talked to the ESL teacher earlier about the difficulty I had with the class and she told me she never feels bad asking the principal to help with a bad class.
I just hope I don't get sent back to Spanish tomorrow.
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