Good until Period 6

School Site: BMS

Subject: History. 

I still keep in contact with my resident teacher, he's an awesome guy, and he was such an incredible help. So, I usually sub for his class when he is out for Union business, which is at least once a month, as well as any other miscellaneous days he may be out. The unfortunate part is he just makes the posting and usually doesn't contact me. He has my number, and my email, yet he just hopes I happen to run across the posting? That's neither here nor there. 

Mr. L has a way with his students, he has been at BMS for 8 years and I really get the sense that his great management comes from a combination of his confidence and understanding of those crazy middle school kids. He mentions he was a bad kid when he was growing up, so he is really able to figure out even the worst kids.  I have mentioned previously that I was always a good kid, so unfortunately I am in the dark in dealing with the bad kids. 

The first day I subbed for him this year was definitely a notable one. I have access to his computer, and thus the projector and powerpoint. He has first period prep, which is great because I usually get a chance to throw together a powerpoint presentation for his class. He's a bit old school in this regard, despite being a young guy with a Smart Board, his classroom is like geek teacher heaven for me. I have a great time putting together the powerpoint presentations, looking up pictures to put in them, and creating a sequential slide the kids can follow along with. I can control all this from the Smart Board, which in turn gives me the attention of more of the students versus being behind the computer. 

Second period used to be AVID, so actual classes did not start until 3rd period.  3rd and 4th period were my classes so my resident teacher often didn't do squat until after lunch, while I was there. This was my first introduction to this year's kids ok, show time. I introduced myself, laid out my expectations, let them know I was just as capable of writing them referrals and then explained the assignment for the day. 

The assignment he usually leaves me is a reading assignment, this was what I did most of last year so I'm very comfortable conducting this lesson. I usually make a slide for each vocab word, I ask for volunteers to read the the different sections, then I elaborate on each section and go over the answer with them. 

Second period wasn't horrible, there were a few talkers, especially amongst this group of boys in the back left side of the class, but other than that they are quiet, and responsive. 

3rd Period: more talkers, nothing outrageous. 

4th Period: AVID, I'm usually there on a thursday, which is tutorial day, so the students pretty much are on auto pilot. Most of their questions have to do with math, which I suck at! Unfortunately I'm just an observer in this class, I'm there for bathroom passes at the most. On occasion there is a history question, but those are few and far between. Mrs. L-S and Mr L make AVID look really good, they are trying to become a display school, and this has unfortunately been an uphill battle where observation days have just not been great, I really feel for them they work hard and Mrs. L-S is a really great teacher. 

5th period: This was a very intimidating period at first. Out of a possible 36 seats 33 of them have students in them, this many students in one confined space can be a challenge.  I am incredibly happy that this period has a lot of special needs students mixed with a lot of plain ol' good students. Despite their intimidating size they are very well behaved and attentive *phew.*

Then life goes to shit. (Ok a little dramatic but still, it's not fun)

6th period: Without warning I am greeted by a bunch of LOUD students. Students are usually loud at the beginning of the period, and granted this was after lunch but it was really a bombardment of noise. "Hey!… that's not how we come into a classroom, so settle down." The roar mellows out to a dull one, I take roll, and begin my lesson just as I did the other classes. 

"My Name is Mr. C, Mr L is out today, Quiet please, (I address the bell work), quiet please, ( at this point I was still getting to know the names of the trouble students), S! please be quiet. Today we will be reading, excuse me! Today we will be reading, K please be quiet. We're reading about the Boston Massacre, excuse me! when someone is talking it is very rude, and disrespectful to talk over them." 

This is pretty much how my period goes each time I have this class. I wouldn't feel so guilty if it was the whole class, but really it is only about 6 students out of 26, and it's frustrating because there are nice quiet students in this class, but these six simply do not get it, they think because there is a sub that this is free time. 

This is my first encounter with this class, and it's not a pleasant one. We barely get through the material because of the constant interruption. By this point I'm just ready to start sending students out if they act up, there is no On Campus Suspension, so I just need to send them out to AVID. 

7th period: It is unfortunate that I am so wound up from the period before, but I make it clear to this period that I am in no mood for misbehavior. It's weird, and I'm certain it's merely my conviction by this point, but the class behaves well. I'll later figure out this is a just a good class, a great way to end the day. 

Most teachers leave a bit of warning for some really troubled classes, I'm thinking my resident teacher either didn't think to do this, or was just looking to see how I would deal. I survived but I will be looking for ways to better manage this class in the future. Because my resident teacher is so good, he is often left with these trouble makers. This is the only period they are all together in, the other teachers have protested to break them up otherwise. These students will continue to allude me, some days I wonder if I'm cut out to be a teacher. I tell myself this is hard because I'm only there for one day and they really have no attachment to me, they may never see me again, so stick it out wait to make a decision to leave the profession for when I actually have my own class. 

I make this promise here though, I will learn from all the teachers who leave me crap lesson plans, or none at all and make sure to leave my sub something that will take up more than an hour, have it due at the end of the period, and give some sort of incentive for a good report. 

Until then everyday I'm Sub-sti-tuting.