The lesson plan was pretty emphatic about me making sure the students were all seated in their assigned seats according to the seating chart. While this is something I tend to enforce, the lesson plan made it clear that this was vital to the day's running of the class.
8th grade pre-algebra. Once they got seated, I went up and down the seating chart, calling out the names assigned to empty desks. Finding that many of those students were indeed seated elsewhere.
"But she moved me here."
There are times when the seating chart isn't up to date. The teacher may in fact have moved them. Then again, this may be the new lie--the lie that the students know we subs are more likely to believe.
"Fine. But for today, I'd like it if you'd sit here."
I used "please". I used "for today". I didn't accuse them of lying to me. I only asked them to sit where I asked them to sit for the one day.
One girl wouldn't budge. It felt like five minutes of her insisting that where she was was her seat, and my asking her to move was going to be the end of the world.
I asked her to move one seat, to the seat just in front of where she was already seated.
I wonder if the teacher had moved all the students without updating the seating chart. I also wonder if the students were just trying to sit where they wanted. Neither would surprise me. That class... Well, they were a handful.
Wednesday, March 5, 2014
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Interesting. I'm curious, Liz. Is a seating chart typical? All the way through junior high and high school we were seated in alphabetical order, regardless of the class.
ReplyDeleteVR Barkowski
I'm thinking my New Yorker might have manifested in that kind of circumstance--accent and all. You do not want to tango that lady. =)
ReplyDeleteI would have just made everyone stand for the whole class!
ReplyDeleteYes, it's definitely the new lie, although I'm not sure how new it is. People tried that when I was in high school. It worked sometimes, too.
ReplyDeleteAnd that's why I DIDN"T go into to teaching. I don't have the patience. I'd want to put my hand on my hip and look at that girl and say, "Really? Are you going to be a ____ all your life, or just for today?"
ReplyDeleteProbably not appropriate. Especially in light of the word I would've used to fill in the blank!