Repeats

Wednesday. I was expecting to cover eighth grade math only to discover once I got there that the assignment had been cancelled. Sigh. But, because it wasn't my error, they put me to work covering classes where the teacher wasn't out all day. 

Which meant my first period of the day I got stuck covering PE. Sigh. 

Lots of familiar faces. "My class" combined with another PE teacher's class, so I just had to take down how many laps they ran. Chilly day, but otherwise not too terrible. 

Then, for seventh period, I ended up covering a success class. Of the class of fifteen, three had been in the PE class that morning. (This is a frequent occurrence when I'm covering more than one teacher, so I was not surprised.) 

Mostly my issue in success was with one student who was doing anything but the assignment. I kept circling back around to him, pointing out that he hadn't done anything on his paper. He took twenty minutes in search of a pencil. 

When he asked to use the restroom, against my better judgement I let him go. He took along his drone. (Why he had a drone with him, I don't know. It sat on his desk all period, so at least that wasn't a distraction.) And the rest of the class informed me that he wasn't going to return to class. 

He did return. After twenty minutes. And after I called security to shoo him back. (He claimed he had gone to the office for reasons, but he didn't tell me that before he left.) 

The next day I was in a co-teaching situation with Mr. H. As we chatted, I mentioned my roving the prior day. We got to talking about how terrible the success classes were. And as I told him about what they'd done, I realized he'd know them, too. I told him that Simon was in the class as was Orson. 

If you recall, Mr. H was the one who took over that seventh grade science class when I hit my full thirty days, so he had all those students, too. 

Denied

Today is the first day of school. But, I write my blog posts over the previous weekend, so everything I talk about happened last week. 

The only schools open last week were the alternative education center and the continuation high school. It was just a matter of time before a working day became available, this one at the continuation high school. (It has been a while since I was last there, but not much really changes.)

Second period. As the students entered class, I overheard Natasha ask the PE teacher (Coach M) if she could go to his class instead. Coach hesitated, started to say yes if she promised to join in the game, then changed his mind when he realized that she would just sit by, and he ultimately said no.

Twenty-five minutes into class (probably not realizing I saw the previous exchange), Natasha asked if she could join the PE class. She told me Coach said she could. 

Luckily, the PE class was shooting baskets right outside my door. 

So, we both went outside. I got Coach's attention. Natasha asked to join the class. 

Coach said he already had eleven playing the game (perhaps Horse, although I can't be certain), and she'd only sit, so no. Again.

I mean, she could sit inside with the air conditioning or outside in the (muggy) heat. (She wasn't even making a pretense of doing anything in class.) If she just wanted to watch, our open windows overlooked the game.

It must be a boy. Or boys. Otherwise, why give up the a/c? I must be missing something.

A Roving Day, Part 2

I tend to pick and choose amongst my days, highlighting the "best" incidents from my week. Subbing is a very variable gig, and today I thought I'd show a not-so-typical-but-kind-of-indicative day--my one day roving to different classes all day. Because this has gotten rather long, I've broken it up into two parts.

Yesterday I left off with my not looking forward to 4th period. Because it was PE.

I don't voluntarily take PE gigs.

They're not really bad days, or so I'm told. But I avoid them because

• They take place outside
• In the sun
• Where I have a tendency to burn (I have very fair skin)
• And I'm never sure where to go, what to do, etc...

I do get sent to cover the occasional extra period outside, though.

The teacher was there to give me the rundown before he left. He even gave me a student to act as my "assistant coach". But the class was on sub behavior, and another student attempted to take over (when I indicated my "assistant coach" was to do the warm up, he still tried to lead it).

Somehow we got to their activity. They were to run around the baseball field, do 5 sit ups and 5 push ups, and then give me their numbers so I could record it. Then they'd repeat. In all, their goal was 5 laps, 25 sit ups, and 25 push ups.

My assistant was great, making sure no one neglected their push ups or sit ups while I got bogged down recording numbers as students passed. (I learned later that this student had certain issues which was why the teacher singled her out to help me. It kept her involved in the class.)

The student who tried to take over? He noticed I had circled his number on the tally sheet, and he kept asking why (while I took down a dozen numbers as the students passed. I was not about to stop and explain and make the others wait, but he kept pestering until he finally got me at a lull between rushes).

I was sweaty and pink by 5th period. And looking forward to sitting in a cool classroom. For 5th period was a math class. Special ed, but RSP special ed, so more like a regular algebra 1 class, only with fewer students.

Only I get to class to have the teacher explain that they were doing an outside activity.

Internal groan. (I plastered a pleasant expression on my face, though.)

It was a good day for it, though. Yes, it's November, but our high was in the 80s (Fahrenheit), and it was sunny and nice out. (The nights have been cool.)

I remained in the shade while the class took five two-footed jumps apiece and wrote down how far they'd flown. Later they'd take this data and construct graphs from it. Mr. L explained that this good group could do this assignment with a sub. His other classes wouldn't have been able to handle it. And he was right, they did very well, and they took down their data easily.

Then I had one more period to go. I arrived to 6th period a little early only to surprise the teacher. I explained that I'd been roving, and he told me he hadn't been notified, his email was down, and he couldn't be out of class as they had a test the next day.

Okay, then.

I went to the office to explain the situation. Phone calls were exchanged. Ten minutes later I was sent back...

Roving days. Always an adventure.

Ditching to PE

It was Friday at the continuation high school. Fridays are even more laid back than the rest of the week. The students expect to do little to nothing...

(Well, many of the students do little to nothing on a regular basis. It's how they ended up at the continuation high school in the first place. If they were more academically inclined, they wouldn't be in the position of making up the credits that they should have gotten in classes they already took.)

Basically, most of the teachers reserve Fridays as the makeup day. That is, the students have the day to finish any work they didn't complete during the week. But, of course, when there's a sub, they all claim to have finished the assignments.

So, it was 4th period, and one of the other classes on campus that period is PE. (I was covering the science class.) Mr. K lets students join his PE class on Fridays sometimes, so when a couple students asked if they could join his class, I said they could. Provided that Mr. K didn't mind them being there.

Five minutes later, Mr. K returned the students to class. Well, that's pretty clear to me. They weren't welcome. So, I told them to stay in class, and I passed out their extra credit assignment.

But three boys weren't having it.

"I've got to...um...see my counselor..."

And he left before I could tell him no. Because that ploy wasn't very obvious.

I went through and did a head count against my roll call. I was missing three students. Sure enough, they had somehow gone back to PE...

Really? They don't think I'll notice?

(Although, if I had managed to keep them in class, they probably would have spent the period being difficult. That's what usually happens.)

A Very Bad Idea

It was 7th period PE at the continuation high school. Things had been going fairly well. There was one basketball game, one game of horse, and one volleyball game. Until the volleyball game broke up...

Not sure why it happened. The ball hit the net. The two teams debated whether it was in or not. They came to a conclusion. But the discussion was enough to alienate one team.

The girls went and joined the game of horse.

The basketball game occupied one half of the court. The game of horse occupied the other. It was all rather peaceful, although the boys playing basketball were really going at it.

Until they weren't.

One boy passed the ball to another who had chosen that moment to abandon the game and head for the water fountain. Then the boy who passed the ball needed a drink. And the game came to a standstill.

So, a third boy decided to find a different way to entertain himself. He wondered if he could hit the building on the opposite side of the basketball court. One of his friends shouted encouragement. The boy put the basketball down on the ground...

No. Absolutely not.

I don't remember my exact words. "No" was in there. So was "don't". I do know I said something, because later three different students echoed that I had told the boy not to do it. Unfortunately, the boy did not hear me.

He kicked the basketball...

It sailed down the court...

...And smashed into the back of a girl's head.

Hard.

She didn't lose consciousness. She didn't fall down. But she was in pain. A lot of pain.

She left school via ambulance.

Everything had been going so well. Up until that point.

Not Going to Move

Today was the first day of school at the continuation high school.  Most of the students in the opportunity class didn't get the message.

I had two students today.

I threw work at them, and they sort of did it.  As the day wore on, they got less and less motivated.

After snack they have PE.  Santiago was at least willing to grab a basketball and go outside.  Carlos needed a bit more persuasion.  After I got them outside, they sat on the concrete steps and refused to do anything.

I considered it a victory to have gotten them outside.  Santiago had refused to do his math assignment earlier.  Carlos took forever to get through his work.  I told Carlos that if he didn't finish it by snack, he'd be outside until it was done.  That got him moving.

I stood over them, trying to get them to move.  There were basketball hoops.  Santiago said that he hated basketball.  Okay then, why don't I get the football?  Nope, he said that he hated football too.

Of course, they had both spent the morning resenting the fact that they had to be at school.  At least they did it calmly.

After they had been outside for the requisite amount of time (I let them off 5 minutes early), we went back in and I gave them the next assignment.  They did it, sort of.

Calls were made to the students who did not show today.  It's likely that I'll have a bigger group tomorrow.  (Insert scream here.)

The Weight Room

There were about 30 teenage boys all dressed in baggy PE shorts and T-shirts.  And "Umbrella" was on full-blast in the background.

One group was doing bench presses.  At four or five stations, boys were lifting weights while their friends were spotting them.  They'd do several repeats, and then the boys would switch positions.

A second group held the barbell behind their heads, squatting and then lifting.  They did this in a metal framework.

Then there were other various boys lifting dumbbells and walking around the room.  I saw them dropping weights on the rubberized floor.  Then they'd pick up others and place them on the barbells. But nothing stayed on the floor for long, as they were picking up after themselves.  All were busy, and they appeared to be working hard.

Today I was covering for the football coach.  It's the off-season, so the boys are doing off-season training.  I got to "supervise" the weight training (I use the quotes because the various team captains were doing the actual managing of the workout).

It was pretty easy for me.  From past experience, I know that the football coach doesn't take too kindly to his players antagonizing the sub (the words he used were "bear crawls" and "month").  So, I stood and watched.  And listened to music with a driving beat.