Not Quite Lunchtime

It was Friday of my first week in the long-term English 9 assignment. I had (barely) gotten through second period (my worst class) and fourth period had just left. I shut down the smart board and went to sit down at the desk.

A couple students walked in and headed for their desks.

That's when I realized... it wasn't lunchtime yet. I still had sixth period.

Hurriedly, I turned back on the smart board, got the slides they needed up and running, and got to the door to greet the students.

Yikes.

I mean, I know the schedule. While this school wasn't on block schedule last year, another school was, so I knew of the long three hours between snack and lunch. But I had a brain fart or something, and I thought it was time to sit and rest...

No such luck. 

At least sixth period isn't awful. I'm still learning the groups and the kiddos, but so far, they've been lovely. 

And lunch came after sixth period (which is an hour and a half long).

Underscheduled

The school I'm currently working at has no bells. Each class has its own schedule. The schedule in the class I'm in is fairly regular, but I don't have to worry about keeping the students on track. The students do that. 

After the first week or so, I stopped worrying about keeping track of when lunch ended or when current events time began. Antoine and Flash would tell me. 

Lunch is over at 1:30 PM. At 1:30 on the dot, the announcement starts. "It's 1:30!" That would be Antoine. Then Flash would repeat, "It's 1:30," and the rest of the class would just get up and come into the classroom. No muss, no fuss. 

Antoine or Flash would stand at the door. Once the class was inside, they'd close it. (We would sometimes have to call to the girls as Leanna and Brittany would not necessarily be listening for the call to come in.) 

They did this for the end of all breaks. They did this for the things that started at specific times. There was a time when I accidentally dismissed them for a break late, so I made sure to tell the boys that I was extending their break and it would end at 10:55 instead of 10:45. Because the one time I didn't tell them I was giving them extra time, they called the whole class in at the regular time. 

It's one less thing for me to expend thought on. 

But last week Antoine was out. And on Tuesday Flash was out. Suddenly, I had to pay attention to the time. 

The end of lunch and such has been different with the absence of Antoine. Flash does the job, but it's lost part of its echo. The announcement is different. 

But still, I don't really have to pay attention to the ends of breaks and such. (Although, I do need to pay attention. I left a little late to hit the restroom, and on my way back, I discovered the whole class had taken themselves back into class. I was late. Oops.) 

It's nice to have someone else keep us on schedule.

Bad Forgery

My second day of a three day assignment in the eighth grade English class was a Friday. It was "Fun Friday". Any student who met certain requirements (namely, good grades and attendance) got dismissed to lunch 20 minutes early and admitted to a fun activity.

I had the list of students. I had their passes. I passed out the passes to the seven students in class who had earned it. And at the allotted time, I allowed them to leave.

Jesse held up a pass, said he was part of the group, and attempted to leave the class with the group. But Jesse wasn't on the list.

Why do the difficult students think they can get away with this stuff?

Jesse wasn't "bad" per se. These classes were pretty good overall, so the worst I can say for Jesse is he got out of his seat a bit too frequently. I had to take an extra moment to ask for his attention when I was giving the class instruction. But nothing out of the ordinary, especially for a sub.

But trying to sneak out of class with "the good kids"? Nope.

After the rest of the class had been dismissed for lunch, I found Jesse's "pass" on the floor. The passes were preprinted class schedules (with student ID numbers) for each student. Jesse had scratched out someone's name and printed his name in pencil above it.

I don't know what he was planning to do with that pass if he managed to get past me. No one would mistake that for an actual pass for this activity.

Eighth grade logic escapes me.

An Early Lunch

Guess what? This is the penultimate post in this series. Yep, we're nearing the end. I had this 8th grade science class near the beginning of October, and I've finally gotten most of the stories that class generated posted. Hooray!  

In-n-Out was catering lunch on the second day of the assignment. The school had lengthened the lunch period so everyone could get their burgers. They took a minute from each passing period.

I'm generally understanding to students who barely make it on days like this (unless they give me reason not to be).

Unless they run into the room way after the bell. Laughing.

"Can we leave a couple minutes early for lunch?"

Normally, the answer would have been no. This group? It was more of a "hell no" (with a silent "hell").

"But Ms. O would let us go..."

Possible, but unlikely.

Besides, we were probably the closest classroom to the line. They already had a head start.

Also, this is my week at Unicorn Bell. I'd love it if you'd stop by. I'm talking about social media marketing.

Wrong Lunch

The day had gone pretty well. The math classes were well-behaved. I got the same question over and over. This happens sometimes. I make a note of it so the teacher knows.

Third period ended. I stood at the door waiting for fourth period to arrive. And waited. And waited.

Wait a minute!

For some reason, I thought I had B lunch. Turned out I had A lunch. Which meant that while I was waiting at the door, I was missing the first few minutes of my lunch.

Ugh!

Usually which lunch I have is obvious, but on this day... Ah well...

(I only get a half hour for lunch, but I ended up with enough time. And since it was an easy day, it wasn't like I was needing a full half hour of quiet anyway.)

The Accidental Ditch

Last Friday I covered a special ed. class (the same teacher that I subbed for on Monday). So, I knew what was in store for me 5th period.

During 5th period, he covers the resource room. That's a place where the RSP special ed. kids can go when then need extra help with an assignment or a quiet place to take a test (or take extra time on a test). On Monday, the place was hopping.

Because it was 5th period, lunch was involved. Turned out I got the first lunch, so on Friday instead of going over there immediately, I took a bit of a break before heading over there. But it was a good thing I didn't take my whole lunch time as the teacher who was supposed to be there wasn't when I got there. (There were other adults in the room, however.)

When I arrived, there were two students there. One was working on a test. The other was reading. Neither needed me, so I took a seat and sat back.

The testing student wondered if he could use his book on the test. I called his teacher. The answer was no.

And that was the extent of my duties for the period.

The testing student finished his test and went back to class. The reading student continued reading.

Eventually, the bell rang signalling the end of 5th period for those who had not had lunch yet. This bell startled the reading student. I informed him that it was time for lunch.

"I missed lunch?"

Me: "No, that was the bell to begin lunch. Fifth period is over."

Student: "Fifth period? I missed fifth period?"

After a bit more back and forth, I understood the problem. For some reason, the student missed the bell ending 4th period, the period when he came into the resource room. (Although how he missed the three other bells dealing with the other lunch I have no idea.)

He ran out of the room to go and talk to his 5th period teacher, but his 5th period teacher wasn't there. He knew he was in trouble. He had inadvertently ditched 5th period. His parents were going to kill him.

"Explain what happened," I said.

"They won't believe me," he replied.

Yikes. I felt kind of bad for him.

"Good book, huh?" I asked.

He showed me how far he'd gotten. He was almost finished with it. He said he didn't usually find books that hooked him so, but this one did.

So, the period wasn't a waste, after all. (Although, his science teacher might not think so.)

Wrong Dismissal Bell

The first day of school was last week, and this year I actually got to work it. The reason is a long story having to do with paperwork, emergency surgery, and processing times. None of which is the teacher's fault. But with legalities and such, they needed me to start off the class.

Nothing like walking in cold the first day. And then someone went and changed the bell schedule. The bell schedule! I had that puppy memorized. Now I have to start from scratch?

Well, with the help of a lovely administrator (who taught in the room I was using last year), I managed to get what I needed and get through the day.

One thing that didn't change was the two lunch schedule. Half the school has lunch before 5th period, the other half has it after. So, I ran 5th period the way I always do. When the bell ending the first lunch rang, we all ignored it.

The bell to begin the other half's 5th period rang. We all ignored it. (And by "we all" I mean that the students didn't flinch. Not a one of them even tried to pretend that that was their bell and it was time to leave.)

A couple minutes later, the principal made an announcement. He informed us all that the bell hadn't been anyone's dismissal bell, and all students should be in class.

Oops. Someone isn't familiar with the two lunch schedule.

But my one burning question was: if you've already dismissed the students, how do you go about getting them back?

I was glad that wasn't me.