Around Thanksgiving, I got an email from a teacher. Could I cover her class for the last two weeks of February?
Because it's middle school math, we decided that things would go much smoother if I taught the class for two weeks (as opposed to them having independent assignments that I just kind of managed).
Middle schoolers do better with routines. They're going to be on sub behavior because I'm not Ms. M. But we minimize the issues that crop up because they're doing what they're used to. (That's my theory, anyway.)
One of Ms. M's routines is that when they enter the room, they retrieve a "tool bag" and deposit their cell phones in the pockets.
The "tool bag" contains a calculator, a dry erase marker, a dry erase board eraser, and a red pen. These are all things they can use while taking notes and doing assignments in class.
This routine has meant that I haven't had to deal with cell phone issues in class. (Well, a couple students have attempted to keep their cell phones, and they played dumb when I caught them, but that was going to happen.)
I started the gig on Tuesday. On Thursday, a student came up to me. The calculator was missing from their "tool bag".
Because, of course.
These are not state-of-the-art calculators. The calculator on their phones is nicer. (But no cell phones in class, so...) But whoever made off with the calculator was not going to be in class, so I borrowed from a "tool bag" of an empty seat so the kiddo had access to a calculator. And I got on with the day.
(We're on a block schedule, so the students I had on Wednesday I wouldn't have again until Friday.)
By the end of the day, I discovered that two calculators had gone missing.
So, on Friday, I announced to each class that if the class calculator had happened to fall into their belongings to please return it.
(Cheap, tiny calculators. I did not think they were deliberately lifted. This is the age where I find a water bottle and two jackets left behind each period. Mistakes occur.)
By the end of the day, two calculators mysteriously reappeared on the teacher's desk. (Different periods.)
As I wasn't looking for anyone to blame, I was quite happy with this. I ended the week with the same number of class materials that I started it with.
Nice they were returned. Makes me think they really were taken accidently. That system looks like a great idea!
ReplyDeleteYeah, it felt like an accident to me. If I thought it was done deliberately, I would have come at this from a whole different mood.
DeleteI wonder if the kids were thinking they wouldn't have to do work if the calculators "disappeared".
ReplyDeleteNice! I'm glad things worked out.
ReplyDelete- Darla Sands
https://darlamsands.blogspot.com
I was too.
DeleteI once had a boss…every time he visited the office of a client he’d ask for the key to the restroom. He’d have to check his pockets just before leaving an office, he had a habit of pocketing the key and forgetting about it.
ReplyDeleteThat is so easy to do.
DeleteCan't tell you how many times (when I worked in the office) I would confer with someone at their desk and end up walking off with one of their pens. I go with the accident theory. I may have been one of those students.
ReplyDeleteIt was absolutely an accident. If they'd meant to take it, they wouldn't have returned it when I asked for it.
DeleteSomeone was playing a prank, probably, to escape math for a while. But they're good, they returned the calculators.
ReplyDeleteBut removing the calculators didn't get them out of doing the math. The lecture continued regardless.
DeleteThat's an accomplishment! I once accidentally kept a bank vacuum tube container and thought for sure, when I discovered it in my car, I would soon be arrested. Mistakes happen. I got it back to the bank the next day.
ReplyDeleteI thought so, too. I didn't expect both calculators to actually be returned.
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