Movie day in any classroom is always a mixed blessing. Not very much is required of me, but discipline problems often arise. Today I was in an earth science class at the same prestigious high school I was at yesterday. I should also remind you that that I am one of their most distinguished alumni.
As first period started to watch the movie I was excited to get to watch too. I love documentaries! About ten minutes into the video I was concerned. This is the most boring video I have seen in a long time. YUCK! The narrator had a monotone British accent, it looked like it had been filmed I the 70’s, and the monkeys in my class were about to start flinging poo.
I had no choice but to continue the video. There is nothing else for them to do. Fortunately, about half way through they stated to drop off, and by the end of the video they were all drooling.
I am considering posting the video on line under the heading SLEEP AID.
Friday, January 29, 2010
Thursday, January 28, 2010
Fifth Period
I have learned a lot from being a substitute teacher. Among those things, are that students can smell fear. Like sharks attracted to blood. They know when they have beaten you, and they enjoy gloating about their victory. Because of this it is absolutely imperative that I hold a poker face, but the truth is that sometimes these kids scare me.
Today I am subbing in an English class at a high school that has the distinction of being over 125 years old. I am also one of its most distinguished alumni. Time has not changed the diversity of the student body, but it has made them more menacing. This high school houses a wide spectrum of students. They range from students participating in the International Baccalaureate program (IB) to students affiliated with gangs.
I had three warning about the students in my fifth period class before second period had concluded. Two of them came from other teachers, so I was taking the warning seriously. By the time fifth period arrived I had my game face on.
I try very hard not to judge students by what they choose to wear. I have found some deep thinkers and excellent students under a green mohawks, but as I looked out at my fifth period class I was afraid. They majority of them were dressed in gang style clothing. Many of them have found a way to circumvent the school districts “no gang clothing” policy.
The assignment was simple. Read a story in the literature book and then answer six corresponding questions. After several attempts to call the class to order and failed, I pulled out the referrals. I love referrals. They normally bring back a since of order to the room, but this was no normal class. The first offender had made himself know from the moment he walked through the door. Loud, disruptive, and rude were the reasons I jotted down in the explanation area. One down, thirty-two more rude kids to go.
The next incident caused uproar throughout the entire class. I was hearing cat calls, cackles, and rude comments about my heritage, and I thought this was vindication for the poor hapless student that was on his way to detention. I asked a student to remove his hood, and he started screaming at me that it was not a hood but a very high collar. Upon taking another look at the thing it was indeed a high collar. It went all the way to the top of his head, close enough to a hood to me. Again I requested he take it off.
A verbal explosion ensued, and the student jumped to his feet. I am going to stop here and give you, my reader, a brief description of myself. I am in my mid 30’s and am five foot five inches on a good hair day. I am a little on the chucky side, and have a bad knee. When this student stood up he towered over me, and at this point I was torn between running from the class room, crying, screaming, or kicking him in the knee. It amazes me how fast I went primal. I quickly remembered the poker face. It did not matter how I felt on the inside, outside I was tough as nails.
Thankfully I had thought to call the campus security, and just has the confrontation was about to begin they walked in and took the student with them. I may need to clean my pants.
Today I am subbing in an English class at a high school that has the distinction of being over 125 years old. I am also one of its most distinguished alumni. Time has not changed the diversity of the student body, but it has made them more menacing. This high school houses a wide spectrum of students. They range from students participating in the International Baccalaureate program (IB) to students affiliated with gangs.
I had three warning about the students in my fifth period class before second period had concluded. Two of them came from other teachers, so I was taking the warning seriously. By the time fifth period arrived I had my game face on.
I try very hard not to judge students by what they choose to wear. I have found some deep thinkers and excellent students under a green mohawks, but as I looked out at my fifth period class I was afraid. They majority of them were dressed in gang style clothing. Many of them have found a way to circumvent the school districts “no gang clothing” policy.
The assignment was simple. Read a story in the literature book and then answer six corresponding questions. After several attempts to call the class to order and failed, I pulled out the referrals. I love referrals. They normally bring back a since of order to the room, but this was no normal class. The first offender had made himself know from the moment he walked through the door. Loud, disruptive, and rude were the reasons I jotted down in the explanation area. One down, thirty-two more rude kids to go.
The next incident caused uproar throughout the entire class. I was hearing cat calls, cackles, and rude comments about my heritage, and I thought this was vindication for the poor hapless student that was on his way to detention. I asked a student to remove his hood, and he started screaming at me that it was not a hood but a very high collar. Upon taking another look at the thing it was indeed a high collar. It went all the way to the top of his head, close enough to a hood to me. Again I requested he take it off.
A verbal explosion ensued, and the student jumped to his feet. I am going to stop here and give you, my reader, a brief description of myself. I am in my mid 30’s and am five foot five inches on a good hair day. I am a little on the chucky side, and have a bad knee. When this student stood up he towered over me, and at this point I was torn between running from the class room, crying, screaming, or kicking him in the knee. It amazes me how fast I went primal. I quickly remembered the poker face. It did not matter how I felt on the inside, outside I was tough as nails.
Thankfully I had thought to call the campus security, and just has the confrontation was about to begin they walked in and took the student with them. I may need to clean my pants.
Wednesday, January 27, 2010
Tweens
Tweens, that delicate age between 11 and 14 right before the true teenage years begin. An age that is rife with emotion, and turmoil. At this age their minds expand so that they quickly become smarter and more knowledgeable than anyone else around them. To cross the tween is to evoke its wrath. The female tween is often angry and will quickly attack. The male tween is prone to more attention seeking behavior, for example yelling rude comments at its educator. (Me) These are the complicated creatures I had the pleasure of spending the day with.
Today I was in a 7th grade English class. As the students entered the room they were to pull out a sheet of paper and respond to the writing prompt that was on the white board. The prompt was: if you could go anywhere in the world where would you go and why. I told them they had six minutes to complete this prompt. As I walked around the room I noticed that most of the students only wrote one sentence to answer the prompt when they were instructed to write a paragraph. When I pointed this out to one of the female tweens she growled at me. Growled at me, like a dog growl. I pretended I did not hear it and moved on.
I asked of anyone would like to share their prompt and it was amazing who fast everyone put their head down. I could almost hear them saying “don’t make eye contact.” I called on a few tweens only to be told with vehemence “NO.” I decided to try the growling tween. I called her by name which surprised her, I love seating charts, and she growled loudly at me again. I was not sure if I should send her to the office or the vet.
Latter in the day we were listening to the story they were reading in their literature book on CD. As per the lesson plain left by the teacher I was to stop the CD and engage the tweens in discussion about the story. After several failed attempts to do this one tween says “will you please stop stopping the CD we don’t need you to explain it because we already know it.” …sigh…
Today I was in a 7th grade English class. As the students entered the room they were to pull out a sheet of paper and respond to the writing prompt that was on the white board. The prompt was: if you could go anywhere in the world where would you go and why. I told them they had six minutes to complete this prompt. As I walked around the room I noticed that most of the students only wrote one sentence to answer the prompt when they were instructed to write a paragraph. When I pointed this out to one of the female tweens she growled at me. Growled at me, like a dog growl. I pretended I did not hear it and moved on.
I asked of anyone would like to share their prompt and it was amazing who fast everyone put their head down. I could almost hear them saying “don’t make eye contact.” I called on a few tweens only to be told with vehemence “NO.” I decided to try the growling tween. I called her by name which surprised her, I love seating charts, and she growled loudly at me again. I was not sure if I should send her to the office or the vet.
Latter in the day we were listening to the story they were reading in their literature book on CD. As per the lesson plain left by the teacher I was to stop the CD and engage the tweens in discussion about the story. After several failed attempts to do this one tween says “will you please stop stopping the CD we don’t need you to explain it because we already know it.” …sigh…
Tuesday, January 26, 2010
What's That Thing in Your Ear?
I love technology. Absolutely love it. I own all the latest gadgets, and am not sure how I ever lived without them. It wasn’t until I entered a classroom that I saw them in a new light. If I ever get a chance to meet Steve Jobs I have some suggestions for him.
When I am subbing in junior high or high school I always start with the same spiel; hats and hoods off, and backpacks and purses on the floor. All of these things are used to hide the use of Ipods and cell phone. If these students put half as much time into studying as they did trying to hide their cell phones and earbuds they would all be graduating with honors.
Steve Jobs, here are my suggestions: the Ipod should come equipped with a kill switch so that I can briefly disable your wonderful devise. This way all the children will benefit from my expertise and wisdom. I think movie theaters would be interested in this feature as well. Next, the Iphone should have a feature that allows me to project the text messages that students are sending or receiving on to the wall. My hope would be that this would deter students from sending or receiving them. This would be the modern day equitant to a teacher reading aloud a note being passed in class.
My last suggestion is a bit extreme, but I like it. Before I go into detail about this idea let me explain the policy of the school district I work for as it pertains to electronic devices. Students shall not have them. Period. End of discussion. They stated it more eloquently than that, but that is the jest of it. My idea is that students must download an alert that is electric. If the students phone is not switched off, when it rings the student receives an electrical shock. Mild with the first ring and increasing in intensity as calls or texts continue to come in or go out.
Of course this is just a dream…
When I am subbing in junior high or high school I always start with the same spiel; hats and hoods off, and backpacks and purses on the floor. All of these things are used to hide the use of Ipods and cell phone. If these students put half as much time into studying as they did trying to hide their cell phones and earbuds they would all be graduating with honors.
Steve Jobs, here are my suggestions: the Ipod should come equipped with a kill switch so that I can briefly disable your wonderful devise. This way all the children will benefit from my expertise and wisdom. I think movie theaters would be interested in this feature as well. Next, the Iphone should have a feature that allows me to project the text messages that students are sending or receiving on to the wall. My hope would be that this would deter students from sending or receiving them. This would be the modern day equitant to a teacher reading aloud a note being passed in class.
My last suggestion is a bit extreme, but I like it. Before I go into detail about this idea let me explain the policy of the school district I work for as it pertains to electronic devices. Students shall not have them. Period. End of discussion. They stated it more eloquently than that, but that is the jest of it. My idea is that students must download an alert that is electric. If the students phone is not switched off, when it rings the student receives an electrical shock. Mild with the first ring and increasing in intensity as calls or texts continue to come in or go out.
Of course this is just a dream…
Cool Classroom Flair
One thing I truly enjoy about being in a different classroom everyday is all the flair I get to see. Posters, bumper stickers, and quotes covering the walls make any classroom more welcoming. I have decided to do a continuing post called Cool Classroom Flair. Not every class I am in has flair, but today the classroom I was in had a lot. So, here is my first installment of Cool Classroom Flair.
Monday, January 25, 2010
Internal Bleeding
Today I was subbing for a twelfth grade English class. The teacher got sick and called me to fill in. He quickly informed me of the assignment for the day which needed very little effort on my part. All five periods were to read silently for the entire period. The next day they would be quizzed on the reading assigned.
The first two classes had no problems with this, but in the class right before lunch I had a springy, talkative young man who addressed everyone as they entered the classroom. After the bell rang I gave the instructions. “Read until you hear another bell, and if you complete the assignment reread it.” This young man scoffs and says “Ya, that will happen.”
After about five minutes of silent reading the young man comes up to my desk and says that he would like a pass to go to the nurse because he is bleeding internally. Now, I have heard a lot of excuses in my time, but this was a first. I could not hold my sarcasm as I asked him if he needed me to call for help. Enthusiastically he says YES, please call for help. He asks me to hurry because he can tell he is bleeding heavily now.
At this point I think, I hope he is making this up and doesn’t keel over on the floor. So, in the interest of not having to explain my inaction to his parents or the principal, I give the young man a pass to the office. As he is leaving I tell him I will call and check on him later.
Twenty minutes later he still has not returned to class, so I call the nurses office. Low and behold he isn’t there, nor was he ever there. It just so happened that the campus security was in the nurse’s office and offered to go search for the internally bleeding student. Now it has been my experience that when a student is ditching a class there are usually one of three places they will hide. First, and most popular, the bathroom, second, the library, and third the nurse’s office. Since we already knew he wasn’t there the search was more focused.
This young man did not go far. He was hiding in the bathroom, and as it turned out was not bleeding internally. The campus security had a good laugh, and then gave him a week’s worth of detention. I have to give him an A for originality.
The first two classes had no problems with this, but in the class right before lunch I had a springy, talkative young man who addressed everyone as they entered the classroom. After the bell rang I gave the instructions. “Read until you hear another bell, and if you complete the assignment reread it.” This young man scoffs and says “Ya, that will happen.”
After about five minutes of silent reading the young man comes up to my desk and says that he would like a pass to go to the nurse because he is bleeding internally. Now, I have heard a lot of excuses in my time, but this was a first. I could not hold my sarcasm as I asked him if he needed me to call for help. Enthusiastically he says YES, please call for help. He asks me to hurry because he can tell he is bleeding heavily now.
At this point I think, I hope he is making this up and doesn’t keel over on the floor. So, in the interest of not having to explain my inaction to his parents or the principal, I give the young man a pass to the office. As he is leaving I tell him I will call and check on him later.
Twenty minutes later he still has not returned to class, so I call the nurses office. Low and behold he isn’t there, nor was he ever there. It just so happened that the campus security was in the nurse’s office and offered to go search for the internally bleeding student. Now it has been my experience that when a student is ditching a class there are usually one of three places they will hide. First, and most popular, the bathroom, second, the library, and third the nurse’s office. Since we already knew he wasn’t there the search was more focused.
This young man did not go far. He was hiding in the bathroom, and as it turned out was not bleeding internally. The campus security had a good laugh, and then gave him a week’s worth of detention. I have to give him an A for originality.
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