It was one of those fun roving days, where I was only in a class for a period or two. My day was to end covering two periods of 7th grade math.
The teacher gave me the rundown of the assignment while the first group was supposed to be working on their warm up. Then she left for her meeting, and I got ready to go over the rest of their worksheet. (They were finding the measure of the missing angle in a triangle.)
It was a bit of a train wreck. They wouldn't settle enough to let me go over what they needed gone over. Several students wouldn't remain seated. And a couple of those kept floating to a seat that was not theirs.
I had been warned that the second group was worse. So, during that passing period, I took a deep breath before letting them in.
Now, they weren't good. I still had attention issues. But they remained seated. In their assigned seats. And it was easier for me to go over what they needed gone over.
Their teacher returned 15 minutes before the end of the period. She asked how they were. I told her that this group was better than the period previous.
"We're the good class?" one student asked incredulously.
Well, I wouldn't call it good...
(They ruined it, though. On my way out, half a dozen of them started roaming... At least I know it isn't just me.)
Do you remember your 7th grade math class? (That's 12-year-olds for those not in the U.S. system.) Did you ever have trouble sitting still in class?
Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...
I bet you are watching the clock on those days with classes like this, hoping the period to be over sooner than later!
ReplyDeleteI do remember sitting still in most classes. I was the "good" student; didn't want to get in trouble; didn't want attention drawn to myself.
betty
On that day, I was. I expected that the teacher would return early.
DeleteNo, I never had trouble sitting still in school. And no one ever got up and wandered around the classroom. The alternative was a trip to the principals office. And in my day that wasn't a good thing.
ReplyDeleteThis seems to only happen in certain types of classrooms. They aren't too worried about being written up.
DeleteI never had trouble sitting still, as I enjoyed school, but I was such a goody-goody that the teacher would always appoint me as monitor to 'take names'. Then after she left, I was subject to the teasing. However, if they didn't do anything terrible I never reported any names...
ReplyDeleteOh, that's the worst! I've stopped going to the "trustworthy" students for names or such just because the other students give them such a hard time. (However, there are some students who don't care about that. They are so fed up with the idiocy of their classmates that they don't care about their ridicule. But they are few and far between.)
DeleteNot much trouble sitting still if I liked the class/teacher. Math fell somewhere in the middle, but I soldiered through.
ReplyDeleteThis teacher is pretty cool. I think she just ended up with a difficult bunch.
DeleteWhen I was in junior high, I heard that a substitute had her glasses taken, and the next time she saw them they were smashed and she had to buy new glasses. I thought that was a pretty awful thing for a student to do to a sub. I know that noisemaking and wandering can be troublesome but I hope that at least your students are keeping their hands off your things.
ReplyDeleteWhen I started subbing, I worried about things like this. There's a level of chaos where these things happen. The trick is to not get there. Of course, that takes practice. (And keeping your stuff where the kiddos can't get to it.)
DeleteI remember seventh grade math fondly as it was one of the few that I liked. I never got up and roamed around much, but that's just me. Some people just can't sit still.
ReplyDeleteMath was always my least favourite subject in the world
ReplyDeleteI don't specifically remember my 7th grade math class, but I constantly had trouble sitting through any math class. I wrote a lot of stories and a lot of music during those classes.
ReplyDeleteI do remember one day in 11th grade, I was being a pain in the you-know-what, partly because there was a sub and partly because it was math, and then I found out later that the sub was the mother of my sister's best friend. I felt bad then, and made sure I was much nicer to her the next time she subbed in one of my classes.
Liz, I hated math because I was lousy at it. My brain just wouldn't wrap around anything beyond the basics. I didn't have problem with sitting in class, but I did with problems with talking in class and that was in the day when they would mark your conduct on your report card. I always got a "C", which meant too talkative. Do they even do that today? I generally got a little better in math the rest of my schooling years, but I was other than Einstein in this subject. Thanks for sharing!
ReplyDelete~Curious as a Cathy
All Things Vintage: GSMNP #AprilA2Z
Hmm, 7th grade math was not my favorite, I'm sure. I've always liked Language Arts MUCH more than Math! But I have an 8th grader and a 5th grader, so I can see where that sitting still might be a problem. Lol.
ReplyDelete-By the way, I'm here on official UB business (but I didn't log in as Unicorn Bell.) Oops. :)
Yeah, it can be an issue.
DeleteMiddle school or when went to school it was jR High. Not and easy group. Not putting much blame on them. I was that age once many years ago...Coffee is on
ReplyDeleteIt was jr high when I was there, too. And no, they're not an easy group.
DeleteI don't recall much disorder in my sixth grade class. We had male teachers so maybe we were intimidated by them. It was also a long time ago and teachers and schools didn't put up with half the crap they do now.
ReplyDeleteI never had trouble sitting still in class. But, I'm sure during math class I did a lot of staring out the window.
ReplyDeleteI was an over-achiever good girl. Never disrupted or anything. Now I am re-thinking that strategy.
ReplyDeleteDisrupters aren't good. There are plenty of students who ask pertinent questions and challenge authority who don't act up in class. (I like those students, usually.)
DeleteI remember some of my math teachers having a great sense of humor, but that might have been high school...
ReplyDeleteYvonne V
Yeah, middle school teachers really can't show their sense of humor to their students. It doesn't often go well.
DeleteLiz,
ReplyDeleteI think I was in school so long ago that no one in those years even thought about getting out of their chair, much less changing seats at random during the class. I don't think I could ever be a teacher in today's world. We had much better attention spans a few decades ago, or maybe more respect for the teachers.
Sunni
http://sunni-survivinglife.blogspot.com/
I'm not sure why that's changed. I guess it just depends on where you are.
DeleteWhat fun, you've even knitted the letters to go with each day. I'm impressed!!
ReplyDeleteWhat part of southern California? I'm in Texas now, but was born and raised in Glendora. Moved from Upland in 2007.
Long Beach.
DeleteMy seventh grade math class was taught by Mr. Edwards. He taught 7th grade math on a college level. We did square roots with only a paper and pencil. It was the toughest and most rewarding math class I was ever in! I'd say only about 20 percent of the class ever really grasped it or tried. I admired that man. He taught class every day in a long sleeve shirt and tie, before air conditioning was installed!
ReplyDeleteRevisit the Tender Years with me during the #AtoZChallenge at Life & Faith in Caneyhead!
I was always the quiet one and my 7th grade math class was quiet overall. I do remember two boys who sat next to me and played some sort of paper version of Battleship.
ReplyDeleteThat sounds interesting. Did you ever figure out their rules?
DeleteBack when dinosaurs roamed and I was 12, it was the last year of primary school so we were stuck in the same class all bloody day, with Mr Green who was a stickler for everything, we even had to colour the way he said to. But we were the clever class and so there was naughtiness gallore and maybe he didn't notice of maybe he just was better than I think he was and maybe he ignored that which didn't matter?
ReplyDeleteSounds like there's a story there.
DeletePretty quiet but fidgeted with my hands hands a lot and chewed my nails.
ReplyDeleteI enjoyed my 7th grade math class.
ReplyDeleteGreat. Seems like you're in the minority, though.
DeleteFrom what I can remember from my school days, our maths teacher wouldn't have allowed us to roam all over (he was pretty scary!), but substitute teachers were fair game lol
ReplyDeleteDebbie
I don't tend to have too many issues in classes where the students don't normally roam.
Delete7th Grade -- I went to a VERY small private day school, there were 12 in my class! (5th grade had to merge with 4th grade because there were only 2 of them!)
ReplyDeleteI was (and still am) good at math and I don't remember any problems with the problems. My math teacher let me do "math related" crafts projects like making a yin/yang symbol with a compass, then embroidering it. Now THAT was FUN!
By the way, I love your knitted letters. Are they functional or decorative?
Now, that sounds like a fun math class.
DeleteI did the letters last year. They can be used as gift card holders. I sell them in my shop.
It's my main expectation in a classroom that everyone stays in their seat unless they ask permission. Might sound a bit fascist but I find it helps with behaviour management. It's very hard and impossible in some subjects though.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't sound facist at all. It's what I'd prefer. I try to insist on it, in fact, but students don't really listen to the sub...
DeleteWhew. I don't remember any of my classes being like yours are. We weren't always perfect and a trouble student now and again but overall nothing like they seem today. Whew!
ReplyDeleteBless you for being a substitute. I can't imagine how you do it. The thing I remember most about 7th grade, oddly enough related to your "Handwriting" post, is my 7th grade English teacher telling me that I was writing large in my journal just to take up space and get the assignment done. That wasn't the case at all. I just have terrible handwriting and it gets worse and worse toward the bottom of the page. I was quite annoyed by that comment since English was my favorite subject!
ReplyDeleteThat is a bummer. But I can see your teacher's point. I've seen students who write large just to take up space. But your teacher should have known you better than that.
DeleteThis would be a difficult class and I do remember my 7th grade which was ok. I didn't move around at all actually.
ReplyDelete