Mistaken Identity

It's spring break for my district, so I'm reposting something from the now defunct old blog. This post is from May 4, 2007.  

6th period. I had 7th graders today.

This boy who was sitting in the front row told me that I had gotten him into trouble last year. I had several problems with this statement, but the main one was that it wasn't me. It couldn't have been me. I don't sub elementary school.

The little ones scare me. I avoid elementary school. I have never covered a 6th grade class. Ever. I've covered one 3rd grade and one 5th grade--only because the sub caller begged and I was cornered. But that was ages ago.

I get mistaken for other people all the time. There are two teachers that everyone says I look like (I've met them, and I don't see the resemblance). But I generally know if they mean it was actually me or if they're mistaking me for someone else. My memory may not be perfect, but it's pretty good.

I informed the boy that it wasn't me. He argued with me about it. He insisted. I told him he was wrong. And since the class was really getting into it, I cut it off right there and got into the lesson plan.

If it hadn't've been crazy, I might have gotten into another problem I had with the statement. I don't "get" people into trouble. They do. I only report the behavior. But that's a complaint for another day.

I still haven't ever covered a 6th grade class, and since the last time I covered an elementary class things went very, very wrong, I don't think I'm going to get the opportunity in the near future at least. But I don't mind that so much.