DAYS 75 and 76 subbing

Day 75

As the Resource Room substitute teacher at a Plymouth school, my tasks were varied and not stressful.
I had to meet a Kindergarten boy at his bus (it was 10 degrees outside!) and escort him to his room and make sure he did all his morning stuff (pull folder out, put coat away, etc.) I went to several classrooms to help particular students do the assignments that the teachers gave them, and I took one boy to the Resource Room to have him work on some basic skills.
I enjoyed sitting and listening to teachers giving their lessons – one was especially good in the way she handled the students – I was very impressed. Lots of praise for contributions and good behavior, but no foolish behavior allowed. There are a lot of really great teachers out there.

BTW, if you EVER see that silly meme going around about how sad it is that the pledge isn’t said or that kids don’t learn cursive anymore – please delete it. Perhaps there are places it’s true, but having been in about 8 school districts, I don’t think either of these practices is in danger.

DAY 76
In the morning I taught two 1st grade Phys. Ed. classes at a Montessori school about 5 miles away – always a lot of fun. Then – no more classes came to the gym because they were all having Valentine’s Day parties and it was a half day for “Winter break”. So I was allowed to leave a bit early, giving me more than an hour for lunch. I ate in my car, listening to the John Grisham novel on CD. I drove to a Livonia school (about 3 miles away) that I had just accepted around 7:30 a.m. today, and learned that they had canceled it by 8:15 a.m. Since I have no iPhone or other access to internet during the day, I didn’t know. This is the first time this has happened, so I’m not running right out to get another phone. The secretary was resourceful and suggested she call the district to see if there were any other needs, and I was sent to a school ten miles further away to cover 6th grade for a teacher whose wife had gone into labor. 🙂
It was a good bunch of kids, and the 3.5 hours consisted of them independently reading Time for Kids and answering questions, working with a partner to answer two questions I made up on another Time for Kids page, walking them to music class and picking them up 45 minutes later, and supervising/helping cleanup as three girls made Rock & Rye floats for all the members of their class as their Valentine’s Day treat.

2 observations: I thought my memory pretty good when I stepped into a classroom that was watching a movie and I immediately knew the film was “Where the Red Fern Grows”, even though I’ve only seen that movie once, about ten years ago.
A little funny: when we got to the music room, the teacher wasn’t there, so I stayed, as kids got out their instruments and got ready to play (each one had an instrument). One boy began banging his trumpet against the case. I’m pretty sure this isn’t proper treatment for an instrument so I told him to stop and asked him if he owned it. He said that he did and I said that I didn’t think his parents would appreciate his mistreatment of it.   Now – as I was talking to him, the class suddenly went completely silent, and for a few seconds, I thought it was because of what I was saying to the boy – I felt a bit happy that they were paying attention to the “lesson.” Then I realized – the music teacher was standing right behind me. Haha! So much for my pride. He told the boy that no one was going to treat an instrument that way in his classroom.