K through 6th....

Thursday I was subbing the 6th grade class in a school I hadn’t been to before.
Friday I was back at the country club school doing Kindergarten.

Talk about transitions and similarities!

Both days were spent trying to keep control of the class.
Both days spent part of the time watching a video!
Both days, the students were supposed to write something based on what they saw in the video.

Some students from both classes produced the exact same amount of zero work even with prompting.

Friday, I had to stoop DOWN to get eye level with one little guy to find out why he was crying (..I didn’t call on him to be one of the three people allowed in the playhouse).

Thursday, I had to look UP at about 10% of these pre-teen monsters.

There’s usually at least one “character” in each class that requires more attention than the rest. This 6th grade class had three.

We had the mustachioed Latino wannabe gang banger. He has a special desk wedged between the teacher’s desk in the corner and a short wall which isolates him from the rest of the class. And he’s proud of it. He’s evidentially an instigator of disruptive behavior.

Then we have Jabba the Hut boss man who, evidentially, decided that he wanted his desk in the front corner of the room with his own special “captains’ chair” so he could look out over the rest of the class. I could never get a good reason why the teacher would allow this, but I’m only in-n-out here for the day.

Lastly, we have the “lawyer”.

My explanation of the “HOMEWORK” process was interrogated by a series of possible loopholes that might apply:

“What if the final bell rings during writing of the final “K. Does that count”?
“Can I get the entire class extra homework by mouthing off?”
“If we get to the “K”, can we negotiate additional letters like an “S”?
“I’m pretty sure it’s illegal for you to give us extra homework.”
“How much would the extra homework, if given, count toward our final grade?”
“Is our teacher Ms. S going to make sure we even did it?”
“Are you going to be here tomorrow if Ms. S is still sick?”
…and on…and on….and on...

This guy sounded a lot like sweathog “Vinnie Barbarino” from the old show “Welcome Back Kotter”
http://www.tvtome.com/tvtome/servlet/ShowMainServlet/showid-937

Compare this to Friday’s kinder kids quietly doing their artistic interpretation of Van Gogh’s painting Starry Night. http://www.vangoghgallery.com/painting/p_0612.htm

One more week then two weeks off!!!