Today I was covering 10th grade English. During one of the periods I got a call from the office. Would I cover another class during my prep period? This is not an unusual request, so I agreed without thinking. Then I was told whose class it was that I was going to cover.
There are certain classes that I avoid. I've mentioned the middle school band on a couple of occasions. This class is worse.
Let me see... The school was on lock down, and two boys were wrestling in the middle of the floor. One day the class went on strike (refusing to do work). There was the chain letter fiasco (girls passing a chain letter around the room--they quickly ran out of new links for the chain). And one girl expressed her worry that the boy who stabbed her when she was in the 5th grade was getting out of juvie soon.
But it was only one period, and I've been having good luck with the 7th grade. Besides, I hadn't covered these classes in a while. Maybe they'd changed.
I got there a bit before the bell, and I found kids hanging out the door. No, the class hadn't changed. The sub before me looked haggard. I knew what I was in for.
Luckily, the group was small, and I bluffed enough to keep them seated. I could not curb their eating, however. Then one boy stood up and started doing "YMCA"--yeah, the Village People one. I even had one boy slip out of class and not return (but I did get his name!). I saw him go out, but I could not get to him before he had vanished.
No work got done, but at least they didn't trash the room any further. A success, sort of. And a reminder that I should never cover that class.
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