French class. I had a couple periods of French 1, a couple of French 2, and one of French 3. They had packet work to review for a quiz on the following Monday.
I passed out the packets to the first French 2 group... and ran out. I barely had enough to cover the entire class. Which meant I had nothing to give the second group...
Um... Yeah. One does not leave a class with nothing to do. They can get into all sorts of mischief.
Frantic to come up with a solution (subs don't have access to the copier, and I didn't have enough time between classes to make copies, anyway), I first tried to write up the questions on the board. I quickly realized there wasn't enough room. What to do?
In the end, I managed to get a blank copy of the packet, and I had the kiddos take pictures of the pages with their phones and do it that way. Not ideal, but at least they weren't without work.
(And it turned out that the kiddos had gotten those pages the previous day, so no one really did the assignment anyway.)
Later, I realized that the packet must have been a class set. I should have gotten them back from the students to pass out to the next class.
But then French 3 came in. I went to pass out their packets... and was six packets short.
*shakes head*
That had to be frustrating. You certainly sub for a variety of classes!
ReplyDeleteYep. That keeps it interesting.
DeleteThat is a subbing horror story. It was smart to have them use their phones.
ReplyDeleteI think you were creative to think about them taking the pictures with their cell phones of the packet. Good thing the teacher is teaching French and not math :)
ReplyDeletebetty
She's usually very good with her lesson plans. I'm just going to call it an off day for her.
DeleteIt doesn't sound like the instructions were clear for what you were supposed to do with the packets. Good thing you were able to come up with a solution. I guess them having phones paid off.
ReplyDeleteYou're great at thinking on your feet! Sorry the teacher left you high & dry.
ReplyDeleteIt was odd. It's not like her. Ah well.
DeleteThe phone idea was genius! I guess subbing is good for one's creativity!
ReplyDeleteGotta use what I had on hand.
DeleteOver here the Cover Work is often hurriedly thrown together cos there is no real expectation that it is set and supervised, so I was firstly not surprised by your story and impressed that you were so. Good on you for the PHONE solution.
ReplyDeleteTeachers know not to leave their classes with nothing to do while they're gone. I usually don't have this sort of problem.
DeleteScary indeed but also a bit amusing (if I may say so). My favorite part:
ReplyDelete"Um... Yeah. One does not leave a class with nothing to do."
That's kind of what I was feeling 3rd period looking into the abyss and knowing what was coming 4th.
DeletePhones. Never had them in my day in school, but it turns out they came in handy for an actual class. Good thinking :)
ReplyDeleteWe didn't have them either. But it turns out they're good for some things.
DeleteYou're a genius with the phone thing. I'd never have thought of that Liz!
ReplyDeleteIt was from sheer desperation.
DeleteWow! I don't think I'd want to teach. My hat is off to you for your efforts and great thinking. You really should write a book about your experiences.
ReplyDeleteSunni
Maybe someday.
DeleteI love reading your teaching experiences and classroom happenings. Thanks for sharing.
ReplyDeleteQuick thinking on your part!
ReplyDelete"Hey, Mom, the sub let us use our phones in class today!"
ReplyDelete*Mom calls emergency meeting of PTA to demand that no substitutes ever step foot on school property again*
Nice work. You'd think they'd give you a bit more instruction than they do. How you do you're job I will never understand.
Actually, many teachers let them use their phones in class now. They no longer use dictionaries for vocabulary assignments. They use dictionary.com on their phones. They look up maps for map assignments. And that was all for stuff just last week.
DeleteThat sounds really frustrating. Better directions from the teacher would've saved you a headache.
ReplyDeleteTrue.
DeleteSounds like the regular teacher didn't quite do her job of preparing for you!!
ReplyDeleteShe's usually better at that. I guess we all have our off days.
DeleteSigh. That must be so annoying!
ReplyDeleteIt was.
Delete