Thursday, February 21, 2008

1984 and dancing to class: Subbing reflections

Over the past couple of weeks several people mentioned I should blog more about my subbing experiences. So, here I am doing just that.

I really have nothing enlightening or funny to say about Tuesday, so I'll start with Wednesday. i started the morning by heading to a school I hadn't subbed at; great library and super new looking. I walked into the 2nd grade class and found out there were no sub plans because the sub was out sick yesterday too. Wonderful! No sub plans. However, 2nd grade is not like college where the teacher is out and you can call it a day. No, no, no. Instead, I invented sub plans. The teacher next door stopped in to show me the reading and math books so I could build some sort of lesson (jigga what?) And briefly explained the format of the day so i wouldn't be totally lost.
After frantically constructing some sort of learning for the day (I am so not certified in 2nd grade) the kids came in and I took attendance. Here is where you will DIE.
Although morally and professionally I am obligated to never say names of students, I will try to clue you in so you feel like you know it. Toward the bottom of the list I stumbled upon a name that I was super unsure of how to pronounce. In the amount of time I had to ponder this in my head 1.5 seconds- I thought, "Okay, if I say this phonetically the kid's name will sound like an insult and all the kids will laugh. BUT, how else do I say it??? With a French flair?!" So I said it phonetically and was right. The name was Geekas. Remember, it was not really Geekas, but a different insult- same caliber. Poor, poor kid.
Nothing else to report from that day except dismissal. Most schools either have the teachers take kids outside for pick-up or they go on their own. In this school every class has a TV. When you turn it on at 3, the buses, walkers, and parent pick up kids are dismissed on the screen. Hello, Big Brother: is this 1984?!

Today I had a chance to sub in high school Social Studies. A subject which I fondly refer to as my partner subject. It's about as close as one can get to an English class. All freshmen and for the most part they were pretty good. The last period was extremely talkative and a little sassy. After watching a movie they were asked to answer a couple of questions they'd written down prior to the start of the movie. One kid did not start writing and I looked at him and he said, "When are we going to start learning?" I said, "Right now you're supposed to be showing me what you learned." "Oh, really? I didn't know you wanted us to write down answers. I thought we just wrote the questions 'cause." Right, that's how i roll.
One last thing that killed me at this school. There are no bells for passing periods. There is MUSIC. Like elevator with a salsa twist and a little belly dancing music thrown in. EVERY passing period for the whole passing period. WHAT??!!! I laughed so hard. I felt like everyone should have floated to class.

2 comments:

Claire said...

i love love that you are putting more "day in the life" insights, cause i totally love them. It allows me to better imagine you in your day to day life, like a little Sim Ali, like Lauren would say. YAY. and i love the music instead of bells, totally what psychologists would recomend to better facilitate positive and non-harsh responses to change and flow. LOVE IT.

-me

debbie brown said...

You are so funny! Most of the stuff you put on the blog, you've already filled me in on; but it's funny nonetheless. When Claire said she can imagine you as a little Sim Ali, a vision of your little Wii character came to mind-you know, the one on the baseball field; hands, no arms and they bounce because there are no legs. Ahhh, I'm tired....going to sleep now :) Love, Mom