Getting to Know the Students

I returned to the 2nd grade today and subbed for the teacher next door to my very first subbing assignment.  In fact, the day I subbed for an elementary computer teacher I was right across the hall from my first assignment.  Needless to say, I'm starting to get to know the students in this particular 2nd grade hall.

I'm always glad to get a call for 2nd grade and under.  As it turns out, the day goes by much faster when I'm involved with the students.  I often sit in silence and merely act as the noise police when I'm in middle school.  In elementary school I tend to be involved with the work the students are doing (mostly because the younger a kid is the more likely he or she is to rely on the adult in the room for everything).

Sadly, today's students were not the best.  I had trouble with their chatting and noise level all day.  I know I said that the teachers are over-reacting to noise in an earlier post, but this class was really challenging.  They would not shut up!  It was getting on my last nerve and I really had to control myself and just keep at it.  I was constantly asking them to quiet down and had to shout over them more than enough times.  I really hate raising my voice but it was necessary.  Not only were they chatty but they were also rude to each other.  One boy kept calling other students idiots and a girl kept sassing her neighbors.  I had to speak to them both about their behavior.  The boy shaped up a bit but the girl was just a little stinker.

I tried several ways to keep the noise down.  First I tried just reminding them when it got too loud.  When that didn't work I attempted a raised voice, but that didn't work either.  Then I tried explaining to them my disappointment with the class and that I didn't want to use my shouting voice.  Nope.  So then I tried my three stars on the board trick (each star worth 5 minutes of game time) and they still talked over me!  Clearly nothing was going to work.

To make matters more difficult the music teacher was out today and there was no substitute so they kids had nothing to do for 45 minutes.  I would have had prep time (free time!) but sadly I had to watch over them.  I tried playing Would You Rather but they were way too rowdy.  So I had them sit at their desks and play Around the World (in brief: students compete with each other to see who can answer a math question faster).  They really wanted to play Simon Says and I had my reservations but as soon as we started playing I realized that they were really quiet because they had to focus!  So that was a win.

I like the age group but they tired me out today.  I'm also developing a sore throat and it didn't help that I shouted today.