Phoning It In

Signs I've been subbing too long:

When I got the keys for the day, the secretary told me that Mr. J was in room 908. But I knew that was wrong. I knew that Mr. J was in room 911. Room 908 doesn't really exist. So, I asked for the key to room 911. 

I got to where Mr. J's room was, between rooms 910 and 912, and sure enough, the door now says room 908. I tried the key for 908, but it didn't work. I tried the key for 911 which did. 

So... why? One day (a day I was on the campus for, it happened last year when I was in that vacant art class) people on campus tried calling Mr. J in his classroom. The number to dial is the room number. But on this day, that 911 ended up going straight to the outside emergency line, and it broke the entire school's phone system. 

They reprogrammed his phone to extension 908 (as nothing else worked and that extension number was free), and I guess they had to make the room number match the extension number. 

Once in the room I found no lesson plans. But as the kiddos were arriving, the phone rang. Mr. J. I knew he wasn't going to leave me hanging, but he was running late, and he let me know to stall until he got there. (He was going to be out of class for a meeting, but he'd be on campus.) 

And after getting the kiddos going (he got there shortly after I took roll), he promised to put another assignment into Google Classroom for the students who were ahead. Alas, he did not do this as once he got to his meeting he got involved in his meeting. 

(I texted him to remind him, but he didn't check his phone until way later. Not in time for that class, but he put the assignment in for the next group.)

The class? Eighth grade science. 

The last class of the day was 8th grade success. It's basically a study skills class. Mr. J had thrown together a plan, and I was in the process of getting them started when another adult arrived. She explained that she was there to do a drug prevention presentation to the group. 

Considering how the day had gone thus far, I was not terribly surprised that Mr. J had forgotten. 

Did the kiddos pay attention? Once the presenter bribed them with candy, they were more receptive to the information. 

Some days...