Since I last checked in about those last two, trying, terrible, 6th grade classes, I filled out this last week with 3rd graders once, two 5th grade classes, one really odd day with 4th graders and today with 2nd graders.
Because I hadn’t subbed for the 3rd grade teacher before, she was a little worried about turning her class over to me. An office staff recommendation went a long way to reassure her that I wouldn’t damage her kids too much.
She had left me detailed plans, notes, and extra work if needed (I didn’t). Her class was terrific, I had a good time with them and I left a good report. I encountered her in the teachers lounge yesterday and she was telling me how much the kids liked me.
“They even drew a red heart around where you wrote your name on the board!!”. Are you available for next Friday? They have a field trip to the Winchester Mystery House and I’ve seen it so many times and all those stairs are tiring!
Before I could answer, a teacher I had already arranged an assignment with on the same date spoke up: “He’s mine! I reserved him two weeks ago!”
It’s nice to be wanted, but the field trip sounded much more fun than 5th graders…
Showing posts with label good class. Show all posts
Showing posts with label good class. Show all posts
Thursday, February 05, 2009
Wednesday, December 03, 2008
Five Ws…
They had just returned from the five day Thanksgiving holiday. Monday's very multi-cultural 3rd graders were excited about the upcoming holidays. When it came time for the social studies assignment to write an outline for a newspaper article, they had a worksheet with the famous “Five Ws of Journalism” to fill in.
“What do we write about?”
I’ve always found that it’s much easier to write about something I’m interested in rather than an assigned, boring topic I know little about. Since the lesson plan was a little vague about answers to the kids’ question, I suggested writing about Thanksgiving or the upcoming Christmas holiday. Santa Claus is always a favorite “Who”.
Who is the story about?
What happens?
When is it going to happen?
Where is it happening?
Why is it celebrated?
How is it celebrated?
“We don’t have Christmas. We’re Jewish”
How about Hanukah, then?
“I’m Indian and we don’t do Christmas either. Can I write a story about something else?”
My knowledge of world cultural celebrations is pretty much exhausted so I allowed anyone who didn’t want to do the holiday theme choose something else as long as it followed the “Five Ws” format.
“Indian kid again: I wanna do a story about the Mumbai bombings. I already know the ‘Who’ ”
Fortunately, that’s about the time I noticed that the “News Outline” on the lesson plan was related to the earlier reading lesson on the “First Thanksgiving”. The kids were supposed to pretend to be a reporter attending and reporting on that event.
CTL-ALT-DELETE faulty instruction from the substitute teacher! Reset the topic and get back on a less controversial track.
(…although, the bombing story from a 3rd grader's viewpoint would be more interesting)
“What do we write about?”
I’ve always found that it’s much easier to write about something I’m interested in rather than an assigned, boring topic I know little about. Since the lesson plan was a little vague about answers to the kids’ question, I suggested writing about Thanksgiving or the upcoming Christmas holiday. Santa Claus is always a favorite “Who”.
Who is the story about?
What happens?
When is it going to happen?
Where is it happening?
Why is it celebrated?
How is it celebrated?
“We don’t have Christmas. We’re Jewish”
How about Hanukah, then?
“I’m Indian and we don’t do Christmas either. Can I write a story about something else?”
My knowledge of world cultural celebrations is pretty much exhausted so I allowed anyone who didn’t want to do the holiday theme choose something else as long as it followed the “Five Ws” format.
“Indian kid again: I wanna do a story about the Mumbai bombings. I already know the ‘Who’ ”
Fortunately, that’s about the time I noticed that the “News Outline” on the lesson plan was related to the earlier reading lesson on the “First Thanksgiving”. The kids were supposed to pretend to be a reporter attending and reporting on that event.
CTL-ALT-DELETE faulty instruction from the substitute teacher! Reset the topic and get back on a less controversial track.
(…although, the bombing story from a 3rd grader's viewpoint would be more interesting)
Wednesday, November 19, 2008
Tell Us a Story…
The subbing assignments have been pretty light the last couple of weeks. I subbed only one day last week and a half day so far this week.
Yesterday’s 5th/6th combo class was the half day class. Most of the kids in the class know me from the previous years when I subbed their 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade classrooms so it wasn’t unexpected when they asked me to tell the story about the “bad class” again even though all of them had heard it before.
Instead I told them a story that my daughter told me a couple of days ago about my sweet little granddaughter.
My daughter was doing housework and not really paying attention to what 4yr-old Paige was singing while playing with her toys. But after a while the song finally got her attention because of the monotonous lyric of the tune. Listening closer, she heard my sweet little granddaughter singing to herself a one word tune that sounded something like:
“dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit…”
Astonished, my daughter asked her sweet little girl where she heard that word.
Paige: I dunno…
Mom: Well, it’s not a nice word so let’s not say it anymore, ok?
Paige: ok…
Mom was thinking she must have picked it up at pre-school and had several tot suspects in mind when she remembered something that happened last week.
They were visiting some friends in Boston who have a little boy about the same age as Paige. Near the end of the trip, the “guys” decided to go golfing and take the kids with them.
Knowing full well how Mike is at the Sharks hockey games and probably golfing, she had a new prime suspect. She would be waiting when he got home from work to have a little talk about “acceptable language”.
(P.S. The kids practically fell on the floor laughing when I tried to imitate the song for them)
Yesterday’s 5th/6th combo class was the half day class. Most of the kids in the class know me from the previous years when I subbed their 2nd, 3rd and 4th grade classrooms so it wasn’t unexpected when they asked me to tell the story about the “bad class” again even though all of them had heard it before.
Instead I told them a story that my daughter told me a couple of days ago about my sweet little granddaughter.
My daughter was doing housework and not really paying attention to what 4yr-old Paige was singing while playing with her toys. But after a while the song finally got her attention because of the monotonous lyric of the tune. Listening closer, she heard my sweet little granddaughter singing to herself a one word tune that sounded something like:
“dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit, dammit…”
Astonished, my daughter asked her sweet little girl where she heard that word.
Paige: I dunno…
Mom: Well, it’s not a nice word so let’s not say it anymore, ok?
Paige: ok…
Mom was thinking she must have picked it up at pre-school and had several tot suspects in mind when she remembered something that happened last week.
They were visiting some friends in Boston who have a little boy about the same age as Paige. Near the end of the trip, the “guys” decided to go golfing and take the kids with them.
Knowing full well how Mike is at the Sharks hockey games and probably golfing, she had a new prime suspect. She would be waiting when he got home from work to have a little talk about “acceptable language”.
(P.S. The kids practically fell on the floor laughing when I tried to imitate the song for them)
Thursday, October 23, 2008
Signs…
I seem to be stuck at the same school this year. Yesterday was no exception.
I know it’s a much more interesting to read about the trials, tribulations, ordeals and hardships of substitute teaching but to be fair and balanced, I want to say that it isn’t always a disaster.
The teacher is new to the school this year and this was my first assignment for her. The room I walked into was probably the tidiest room I’ve seen in quite a while.
The teacher’s desk had the books stacked and pages marked for what I’d need. The two page lesson plan was neatly word processed without any ambiguity as to what she wanted.
Student desks had no residual leftover mess from the day before and books stacked neatly in every desk
All the signs all pointed to a “good class”.
Despite the fact that there were a few jugheads I recognized from the previous year that would never be candidates for student of the month club, the day went well. The classroom was organized on a corporate structure with jobs assigned for everyone. Everyone actually DID know what to do…and did it!
No complaints here!
I know it’s a much more interesting to read about the trials, tribulations, ordeals and hardships of substitute teaching but to be fair and balanced, I want to say that it isn’t always a disaster.
The teacher is new to the school this year and this was my first assignment for her. The room I walked into was probably the tidiest room I’ve seen in quite a while.
The teacher’s desk had the books stacked and pages marked for what I’d need. The two page lesson plan was neatly word processed without any ambiguity as to what she wanted.
Student desks had no residual leftover mess from the day before and books stacked neatly in every desk
All the signs all pointed to a “good class”.
Despite the fact that there were a few jugheads I recognized from the previous year that would never be candidates for student of the month club, the day went well. The classroom was organized on a corporate structure with jobs assigned for everyone. Everyone actually DID know what to do…and did it!
No complaints here!
Monday, October 08, 2007
Substitute Vacation …
I haven’t posted anything about school since last week because, quite frankly, the three 5th grade classes I had on Monday, Tues and Friday didn’t provide any problems, illnesses, tribulations, vexations or funniness that would make for interesting reading.
It then struck me that I should say when things DO go as expected otherwise it’s like the national news that report only the bad, catastrophic stuff.
Sooo…Last week was like a vacation. The kids in all three classes at two different schools were excellent and fun to be with. I had a great time.
Kind of like a sunny vacation before the unseen storm brewing over the horizon makes landfall…
Monday, April 30, 2007
I Get Letters...
Had a good time in last Friday's 3rd grade class...
Third graders are still in the "we like school" mode...
Third graders are still in the "we like school" mode...
Saturday, November 18, 2006
Mindset...
EG13-G3
I haven’t been working for most of the week. In fact this was the first assignment call I accepted this week.
Instead, I spend a couple of days trying to extract my lungs and some parts of internal organs from one of two body orifices and occasionally both at the same time. A stomach flu will have that affect sometimes. A couple of more days to recover and I’m good to go.
The district SubFinder system called Thursday night for a 5th grade assignment at a school I been to frequently this year.
I arrived at the appointed time and was given a key to a room not in the usual block of 5th grade classrooms. Curious because I know they group the grade levels together.
On entering the classroom, I notice the desks are arranged in groups of four. Again, for some reason, it struck me as odd for 5th grade. The room, somehow, didn’t “look” like a 5th either.
It wasn’t until I counted the pods of “groupings of four” desks that I realized that this couldn’t be a 5th grade class. There were only 20 desks where there should be something like 30.
It was only then I checked the class attendance list and saw this was, indeed, a 3rd grade classroom.
Without realizing it, I had a mindset going in ready to deal with 5th graders today and was temporarily disoriented to find I had to adjust for 3rd graders. That hasn’t happened before.
It seems that this teacher taught 5th grade last year, changed to 3rd this year and the system hadn’t been updated yet.
Resetting the mindset for 3rd grade wasn’t really a problem, just a mild suprise. Third graders are a fun trip. I had one of the best “problem free” and “stress free” classes I have had all year.
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
Tooth Fairy Inflation...
EG5-G3
Lots of substitute call activity this morning:
1) 05:50 I missed this first call. By the time I fumbled the phone off the hook and realized the phone was switched to the second line, the answering machine downstairs had taken a message and sub system had hung up..
2) 06:30 First grade class assignment would have been “ok” except the teacher attempted to leave a verbal sub plan on the special instructions part of the recording which included the first three digits of her cell phone number to contact her if I needed anything before the sub line recording cut the rest of it off. I interpret this to mean there is no written lesson plan available today. Pass.
3) 06:40 Call from my shit listed school. Hang up before even finding out what class assignment it was.
4) 07:10 Duplicate call for #2. Evidentially all the other subs turned down the “audio lesson plan” teacher and the system had run through the entire sub list without any takers. Pass for a second time.
5) 07:30 Call for the same school as call #2 and #4 but for grade 3 starting at
So today after passing on the first four calls of the morning, I had a great day with this third grade class. The only thing of blog worthiness was the dark haired girl in the front with a loose tooth giving me hourly updates on its attachment status. She finally pushed it loose toward the end of class.
I asked what the going rate for tooth fairy collections was; she told me it was $5 !!
I took an informal poll with the rest of the kids asking what the going rate was at their house.
A good number of kids informed me that they get $10/per!! Others informed me that they get $20/per if it’s a “silver tooth”!!
This last rate coming from kids whose dental work seems to have been done outside the
Most of the kids verified that $1 was the median going rate for dental exchange in their home.
This must have a shocker of a news bulletin for the one little girl who told me she only gets twenty-five cents.
Tuesday, May 24, 2005
If They Could All Be Like This One…
Today, I subbed for Ms. G’s 4th/5th combo class. The teacher’s lesson plan had notes to “be firm” next to a list of “helpful” and “handful” kids.
With this game plan in hand, I greeted the kids with an opening announcement.
“Today, we have a 500 word essay due”.
Surprised looks! Dropped jaws! Moans of incredulity!
I went silent for five beats before looking down at the lesson plan, pretending to turn it around, then announced with a grin.
“Oops, I had it upside down. No essay. Instead, we have kickball for P.E...”
Twenty eight simultaneous sighs of relief mixed with cheers started one of the best days I’ve ever had subbing.
These kids were helpful, responsive, respectful, bright, attentive, and easy to communicate with. Their teacher should be commended for molding such a great group of kids that actually want to be in the classroom.
The day went according to plan with no hitches or glitches. I left a glowing report for Ms. G. about her class.
If ALL classes were as good as this one, I’d have nothing interesting/funny to blog about.
…And I didn’t have to sing!
Wednesday, October 27, 2004
No Plan...
Yesterdays Assignment: 4th grade (30 students) local country club school.
Tuesday, 4th grade assignment, stormy weather like last Tuesday and NO LESSON PLAN. OMG! It’s deja vu all over again from a week ago!!!
I called the office to ask if there is a special place the lesson plan might be located, wishing like hell this wasn’t going to be a repeat of last Tue.
The office called the teacher at home and hooked us up. She said the “general plan” was in the plan date book and that the kids all knew what/when to do stuff.
With crossed fingers and a little prayer, I met the incoming class at the door.
Sure enough, I was more of a “conductor” instead of a “teacher”. One kid took the role, a second did the homework check and 2-3 of the girls guided me to the location of the teacher’s books for the lessons to be done.
The work day pretty much petered out about 45 mins before the end of class and the noise level started to get out of hand.
I decided to try the “guess my old job” exercise that worked so well with last weeks 6th grade class.
Surprisingly they all got into it with the pretty much the same list as the 6th grade. One kid floored me with “I think you worked for Applied Materials, am I right?”
Busted!!!
I couldn’t figure out how this kid knew where I had worked, so I asked her how she came to that conclusion.
She had spotted the logo on the pen in my shirt pocket with the stylized company logo of an “A” on the clip. These country club kids are pretty sharp to spot that logo AND know the company name it goes with it.
She then rattled off several names of people she knew that, evidentially, work for her Dad and sell stuff to Applied.
Gotta stay on my toes around these kids.
Tuesday, 4th grade assignment, stormy weather like last Tuesday and NO LESSON PLAN. OMG! It’s deja vu all over again from a week ago!!!
I called the office to ask if there is a special place the lesson plan might be located, wishing like hell this wasn’t going to be a repeat of last Tue.
The office called the teacher at home and hooked us up. She said the “general plan” was in the plan date book and that the kids all knew what/when to do stuff.
With crossed fingers and a little prayer, I met the incoming class at the door.
Sure enough, I was more of a “conductor” instead of a “teacher”. One kid took the role, a second did the homework check and 2-3 of the girls guided me to the location of the teacher’s books for the lessons to be done.
The work day pretty much petered out about 45 mins before the end of class and the noise level started to get out of hand.
I decided to try the “guess my old job” exercise that worked so well with last weeks 6th grade class.
Surprisingly they all got into it with the pretty much the same list as the 6th grade. One kid floored me with “I think you worked for Applied Materials, am I right?”
Busted!!!
I couldn’t figure out how this kid knew where I had worked, so I asked her how she came to that conclusion.
She had spotted the logo on the pen in my shirt pocket with the stylized company logo of an “A” on the clip. These country club kids are pretty sharp to spot that logo AND know the company name it goes with it.
She then rattled off several names of people she knew that, evidentially, work for her Dad and sell stuff to Applied.
Gotta stay on my toes around these kids.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)