Strange Freshmen

I need a nap.  I just spent two days subbing freshmen classes, and the teachers left me videos.

A funny thing happened, though.  Normally, I spend the day shushing students.  They don't care about the video.  It's boring.  They've seen it before.  I've heard every excuse.  But yesterday and today, I barely had an issue.  It was weird.

These were 9th graders.  It's December.  I expected to have to keep after them.  When I saw the video, I thought about all the days where I could barely hear the video because the students would not stop talking.  I put the video in, thinking the worst.  Then, I was pleasantly surprised.

There was one class yesterday that really freaked me out.  The bell rang to start class.  The entire room was silent.  They were all watching me.  Waiting.

That never happens.

I even got the other classes' attention without having to resort to my loud voice.  Once it was time to start and I asked for attention, I got it.

I probably shouldn't be talking about this.  I might jinx it.  It's weird and strange and unusual, but it's a really nice change.

Going for the Lose

Today I covered a teacher with a prep 6th period, so of course I was asked to cover an extra class (there's something about that last period of the day and getting an extra period).  It was one of the really special ed. classes.

When I walked in, the room was going wild.  The teacher, who was on her way out for a meeting, told me that all the kids had earned free time.  They had just finished making hot chocolate, and they offered me some.  The teacher explained who I would need to be with when it was time to catch the bus, and she pointed out one student who would need to be escorted to the office, as the teacher was having the meeting with that student's parents.

That boy latched onto me.  He wanted to know if he could do a puzzle.  Then he wanted to go on the computer.  He flitted about until he decided that he wanted to play a game.  Would I play, too?

First he pulled out a game I'd never heard of.  He got the whole thing set up, then decided that he'd rather play something else.  After setting up three different games, we finally got started playing Chutes and Ladders.  A girl in class joined us, so we had three.

We each had two turns when the boy decided that he wanted to play a different game.  The girl and I were into the game at this point, so I let the boy flit away again, and the girl and I continued.

Early on, I got ahead of her.  This was one of those times when I really wanted to lose.  I wasn't about to cheat, either.  Luckily, the girl got the really long ladder, and she won the game.

I had to be careful with her, though.  She hasn't really got the whole counting thing down.  If she got a 5, she would move forward 3 or 4, so I made sure I counted spaces with her.

After she won the first game, we decided to play another.  That's when the new TA joined us.  He was special ed. too, but older.  It was his birthday today, and he had to tell me all about what he was going to get for his present.

The first boy came back.  He wanted me to escort him next door.  I told him I couldn't as I was in the middle of my turn.

I managed to win the next game (and I tried so hard not to).  Then we moved on to Candy Land.  The girl bored of the game, so it was just the TA and me until it was time to clean up.

I don't often sub in the severely handicapped special ed. classes.  It's an exhausting day, even for just one period.  The kids can be sweet, though.

Better than a Tattoo?

8th graders are strange.

It was a U.S. history class, and for 8th grade that means from Columbus to the Civil War.  The section of the book they were in discussed the Missouri Compromise and the election of 1824.  They were supposed to be reading and taking notes, but these were 8th graders, so I found it useful to do the notes with them.

Before they did the notes, they were to study their flashcards for 10 minutes.  This meant that I had to go to each set of partners, remind them that they should have flashcards out, and explain the concept of what studying flashcards meant.  "I should see you showing the card and hearing an explanation of what each term means."

After one circuit of the room, they were all on task.

Some groups wanted me gone, and so were clearly doing what they needed to do.  Some groups wanted to interact with me.

One boy showed me the palm of his hand.  From a distance, it looked like he had written "HI" on it in blue fine-point Sharpie using dashed lines.  Up close, I could see that he had used thread to stitch the "HI" into his palm.

Insert incredulous reaction here.

I tried not to visibly react.  Why had he stitched it into his hand?  He hadn't gone deep enough to draw blood, but he had gone under some of his skin so that the thread would stay attached.  At least, I don't think he used glue on it (but that's a much more comforting thought).

The only answer I got to, "Why in the world would you do that?" was, "It's cool."  Then he showed it off to all his peers.  Many of them didn't understand why he had done it, either.

Know-It-All Freshmen

I could tell that the teacher had called out sick this morning.  I got the call fairly late.  The principal had put together the subbing book (he had written the teacher's name on the sticky note).  The lesson plan had been emailed, and it had a few errors in it.  

The teacher was prepared.  She had put the agenda up on the board before she left for the weekend.  That's where I noticed the error.  The lesson plan said that the class was to outline chapter 10.3, but the board said that they were on chapter 12.  Oops.  

Unfortunately, this was the 9th grade class.  

9th grade is a weird time.  They're in high school, but I've found that the more I treat them like middle schoolers, the easier my day goes.  And they think they know everything.  

When they arrived, I explained the situation.  I told them that I knew that they weren't in chapter 10.  They told me that I must be reading the lesson plan for the wrong class.  

Yes, the 11th graders were in chapter 10.  That was the 5th period class.  I could tell the difference between 1st period (at the top of the page) and 5th period (at the bottom of the page).  I wasn't reading the lesson plan wrong.  The lesson plan had the error.  

(Usually, at this point I'd let them read the lesson plan, but I wasn't in the mood to take the page around and show it to each of the 39 students in class.)  

So, I told them to outline chapter 12.3.  But now this was wrong.  They were only in chapter 12.1 or 12.2 (it changed depending upon which student was speaking).  Their teacher had started giving them notes, but she hadn't finished.  My suggestion that maybe she wanted them to do the next section on their own and she'd finish giving them notes on the other two sections met with harsh disapproval.  No, she didn't mean that.  

I told them to outline something.  Anything.  If they weren't going to take my interpretation of the lesson...  (Which they should do, really.  If I tell them the wrong thing to do and they do it, I'm the one that gets blamed for the error.)  

At least I only had one class of 9th graders.  And the rest of the lesson plan contained no errors.  

Late to the Test

Before I begin, I need to explain a few things.  There are certain school policies that I haven't alluded to before, and I need to spell them out for this post to make sense.

1. Tardy sweep:  Students who are not in class at the bell are not allowed in class.  They go to a place called tardy sweep.  They spend the whole period there.  
2. Rally schedule:  Instead of having a full assembly, the school sometimes has a rally.  This lasts about 20 minutes and is scheduled between 2nd and 3rd periods.  Each period loses a minute or two.  Each passing period loses one minute (5 minutes instead of 6).  
3. The current version of the computer-scored (using a #2 pencil fill in the bubbles) multiple-choice tests are now pre-printed with student names.  The computer can score and record the tests at the same time.  

Today, I covered a U.S. history class.  There was a bit of an overlap of students from the physics classes.  

Before school, I saw the teacher.  (I gave him a heads up that a prank was in the works.)  He explained the day's lessons.  3rd period, the A.P. class, was having a test.  80 questions.  Multiple-choice.  Due to time constraints, he puts the tests out on the desks before the class arrives, and while it was not mandatory, he told me that it might make things easier for everyone if I did the same.  

I had a seating chart.  I had extra time due to the rally.  It didn't take all that long to pass things out, especially when I didn't have students to trip over.  

As the students walked in, I told them to make sure they had their test.  Only two students had to swap, so I guess I did an okay job.  Then the bell rang, but much of the room was still empty.  

The campus is rather large.  This classroom was back-of-beyond.  It's the second to the last farthest room on campus.  It's a hike to get there.  That shortened passing period was a bad thing.  Some students just couldn't make it there in time.  

Many of them got there just after the bell.  Normally, I would send them to tardy sweep, but considering the circumstances, I let it slide.  It took them another minute to all arrive, and in three the room was silent.  They were all working on that test.  

After about five minutes, I went around and picked up tests off desks where the students hadn't arrived.  I looked at the three names, and I was about to go and enter the attendance when another student showed up.  

Ah, what to do?  As it turned out, she was in the band, and they performed at the rally, so I let her in.  A minute later a second student showed up.  

I looked at the third test.  What were the odds that this girl would show up?  I was just about to give up and input the attendance when she did arrive.  She was wearing a cheerleader uniform, so I knew what kept her.  

I was kind of worried as to whether they'd finish the test.  They did.  Many finished with ten minutes to spare. 

Planning the Prank

Today was day 2 in the physics class.  They had bookwork.  Most were doing it, but some were not.  A couple of the boys had an interesting conversation going.

The boys are both on the soccer team.  They are going to some tournament this weekend.  It's far enough away that they'll be in a hotel for a night.  The thing that piqued my interest was that their coach is the teacher I'm subbing for tomorrow (yea, I know an assignment a day ahead!).

The boys had an idea.  Since they are both seniors, they thought it would be funny to plan a prank to play on the coaches while they are away.  One said that they should bring a set of white sheets from home.  Then they could plant fake blood on it.  If they hid a couple players on the team and said that they had no idea where they were...

I wasn't sure where I should come down on this.  On the one hand, funny, if done right.  On the other hand, this sort of thing could go wrong pretty quickly.  The boys realized this too.  They know that their coach has a cell phone, and once the coach calls 911, it's no longer a silly prank.

They discussed variations of the fake blood/missing student scenario.  They thought maybe getting a student fake bloodied might work.  But then the discussion turned to other ideas.  The next idea was to get the desk staff involved.

They thought that once it was lights out time, they should get the staff to call the coach every five minutes with a noise complaint, but from a different room each time.  But the idea was that they were to be silent, so the noise complaints were false.  I didn't see how this was funny, but they thought it was hilarious.

The end of the period ended their plotting with no definite plans.  They said that they had a long bus ride to think up other ideas.

I wonder if they'll go through with it.  If they do, I hope they don't do anything too over-the-top.

Physics Class

Student: "Do you understand physics?"

Me: "Yes."

Student: "Really?"

Because, apparently, I would lie about such a thing.

No, not really.  I think she was expecting a different answer, and needed me to say yes again to verify that she had heard me correctly.

I got to cover a physics class today.  Insert happy dance here.  Unfortunately, it was like just about any high school class I cover.  I spent the day trying to get them off of their strange conversations and back to the subject at hand.

Mostly, they worked on the assignment.  A few asked for my help.  But during 6th period, no one would ask me anything.  They asked each other, but not me.  Sniff.

They had this attitude about it.  It's not like the sub knows anything.  Go away while we do our work.  We're honor students.  We're smarter than you.

Okay, I'm projecting.  I'm in a bit of a strange mood today.  I guess I've been spending way too much time alone.  It's a good thing I worked; I needed to get out of the house.