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Adventures In Substitute Teaching
Aug. 26th, 2009 02:18 pmToday was the second day of a four day substituting assignment. I'm subbing for Mr. Benny*, who is one of two Agriculture teachers. It's been a lot of busy book work, which always makes the kids restless and antsy, especially in a traditionally hands on class on the first full week of school.
Yesterday, towards the end of second hour, two girls entered the open classroom door with add/ drop sheets in their hands. This is far from an uncommon occurance during the first week of school. I issued them each an FFA manual, which they took from me reluctantly, and handed them the worksheet packet that their class was working on, and had them take seats at the long tables which this classroom uses instead of individual desks. I allowed them time to settle in, and then looked up to find they were fooling around with lip gloss and fiddling with their planners and generally avoiding doing any sort of work. I called them on it, of course, and they said they were only going to be in the class for one day, and were transferring out tomorrow. Since there was only about ten minutes of class left, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. They then proceeded to create a bit of a stir about a political issue, and I was seriously hoping they would be gone today. I mentioned them to the other Ag teacher, Mr. Alan.
Of course, today second period came, and there were the two girls. I told them that I understood that they weren't planning on staying in the class, but that while they were there, they would need to go ahead and complete the work. They grumbled and complained, and I finally told them that if they refused to do the work, they could go take the assignment to the principal and discuss it with him. They finally settled in to work, occasionally glancing up at me to see if I was watching them. I was.
When they brought the worksheets to me, I flipped through them. The worksheets had been filled in with nonsense answers. For instance, did you know that Obama is the National FFA advisor? Yeah, me neither. He's also apparently the Oklahoma Chapter leader. I looked up from flipping through their answers to find them giggling. I asked them if they wanted to change any of these answers, as the worksheet was for a grade. They replied that they didn't care about a grade in a class they didn't need to graduate. I shrugged and told them that I wouldn't care more about their grades than they did, dropped their papers on the stack of papers for grading, and went back to my crocheting, catching their shocked looks out of the corner of my eye.
At the end of class, after they had left, I took the two worksheets next door to Mr. Alan. He looked over them briefly as I told him what had transpired. I told him they were wanting out of the class, and wondered if there was anyway to speed that along so Mr. Benny wouldn't have to put up with them. He said he'd talk to the counselor and see what could be done. He returned to tell me before lunch that these girls had already changed classes four times. FOUR! In four days. So now I don't know if they will be switching out of the class or not. They were supposed to come discuss it with Mr. Alan during homeroom, but they didn't show up, which means they are likely headed for a detention.
As I was leaving, I passed one of the girls heading towards the Ag building. She asked me if I was subbing for Mr. Alan. I said, "Nope." and breezed on past. She can go in there and explain to him why she thought those were appropriate actions, and she can learn to face the consequences, and that may well be the most valuable lesson she learns this year.
*Names changed on all teachers and students
Yesterday, towards the end of second hour, two girls entered the open classroom door with add/ drop sheets in their hands. This is far from an uncommon occurance during the first week of school. I issued them each an FFA manual, which they took from me reluctantly, and handed them the worksheet packet that their class was working on, and had them take seats at the long tables which this classroom uses instead of individual desks. I allowed them time to settle in, and then looked up to find they were fooling around with lip gloss and fiddling with their planners and generally avoiding doing any sort of work. I called them on it, of course, and they said they were only going to be in the class for one day, and were transferring out tomorrow. Since there was only about ten minutes of class left, I gave them the benefit of the doubt. They then proceeded to create a bit of a stir about a political issue, and I was seriously hoping they would be gone today. I mentioned them to the other Ag teacher, Mr. Alan.
Of course, today second period came, and there were the two girls. I told them that I understood that they weren't planning on staying in the class, but that while they were there, they would need to go ahead and complete the work. They grumbled and complained, and I finally told them that if they refused to do the work, they could go take the assignment to the principal and discuss it with him. They finally settled in to work, occasionally glancing up at me to see if I was watching them. I was.
When they brought the worksheets to me, I flipped through them. The worksheets had been filled in with nonsense answers. For instance, did you know that Obama is the National FFA advisor? Yeah, me neither. He's also apparently the Oklahoma Chapter leader. I looked up from flipping through their answers to find them giggling. I asked them if they wanted to change any of these answers, as the worksheet was for a grade. They replied that they didn't care about a grade in a class they didn't need to graduate. I shrugged and told them that I wouldn't care more about their grades than they did, dropped their papers on the stack of papers for grading, and went back to my crocheting, catching their shocked looks out of the corner of my eye.
At the end of class, after they had left, I took the two worksheets next door to Mr. Alan. He looked over them briefly as I told him what had transpired. I told him they were wanting out of the class, and wondered if there was anyway to speed that along so Mr. Benny wouldn't have to put up with them. He said he'd talk to the counselor and see what could be done. He returned to tell me before lunch that these girls had already changed classes four times. FOUR! In four days. So now I don't know if they will be switching out of the class or not. They were supposed to come discuss it with Mr. Alan during homeroom, but they didn't show up, which means they are likely headed for a detention.
As I was leaving, I passed one of the girls heading towards the Ag building. She asked me if I was subbing for Mr. Alan. I said, "Nope." and breezed on past. She can go in there and explain to him why she thought those were appropriate actions, and she can learn to face the consequences, and that may well be the most valuable lesson she learns this year.
*Names changed on all teachers and students
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