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Now that I have finished my semester at Henry Ford College (with my Graphic Design major completed!) I plan to sub full time for the next month, if possible. So far I haven’t had a problem finding work – in fact, I have quite a few days scheduled already.

This week I had a couple of 5th or 6th grade classes, and a very squirrelly Kindergarten group on Friday afternoon. I know their teacher is very strict with them. It’s always a bit odd when there is a parapro in there – who is actually in charge? In the past Ms. M’s parapro has taken the lead. I rather hate when they have to do “word sort”. This involves cutting up a page into little pieces and then sorting them by whether the words start with s, t, or st (for instance). The hard part is that the kids drop/lose pieces, they pull the glue sticks apart, they get very distracted with comparing notes with the other kids as to how much they have finished. Also, the pictures are awful – very basic pen and ink drawings that sometimes leave staff, as well as students, wondering what the items are!

The parapro was out of the room – the kids kept wandering around the room “I need a glue stick” “I need a pencil” “I need to sharpen my pencil” “I can’t find my t” “I forgot my crayons” “I need a drink”. I know they were pushing the boundaries because a “sub” was there, and since I have a cold, my patience may have been a little thinner than usual.

They did “reading buddies” at the end of the day – outdoors. This is when the 2nd graders come and read books to the kids – breaking up into 2’s and 3’s. Well, the other teachers decided to do it outside, which was fine, but they didn’t seem to be intervening to make the kids stay organized at all. Kids were running around, throwing books, cutting up. worrying about a dead bird they found (I finally removed it from the area). I asked the others twice if they really wanted to let it go on like this – this is not the norm! The other teacher said, “They’re fine” so I didn’t intervene very much. But I kept thinking that we should have just let them go to the playground for all of the “reading” that was being done.

Talking with the teacher, I was surprised to learn that she has FAR more work to do teaching Kindergarten than she did when she taught high school math and science. It’s because there is so much individual attention necessary and because in her five years of teaching, the scope and sequence (requirements for what each child is supposed to learn) has increased substantially. What was required for first grade when my children were young is now on the low end of what is required for Kindergartners to achieve by the end of the semester. Also, I asked if kids ever have to repeat. She said that she can recommend that a child repeat Kindergarten, but it is up to the parents whether it will happen or not. She has one boy who really should repeat, but his mother said that her older son was greatly hurt by having to repeat Kindergarten, so she will not allow it.

Story written using all 20 spelling words.
“The Bad Teacher
This is the story of school. I have a sub that has been mislead or something she is so mean. She yells the most unequal teacher in the world. She is insecure unstable to think or listen to no body. Well she made us go to gym at the right time. And she is a disgrace, unwise and dishonest. It’s like she hates us well she is a disaster whating to happen. She always make us have to incomplete She dose not like to discover stuff she just sits there.”   Student A.

I was warned by several staff members when I arrived that this was the most difficult class in this Plymouth elementary, and I should be strict from the very start. And there were a number of kids that I had to keep an eye on every minute of the day. “Student A” above had his name on the board to have to miss some recess the next day. When he realized that I had read it, he backpedaled, trying to say that it was about a difference teacher on a different day.  By the way. I wasn’t insulted – I thought it was humorous.

Overall, the day went okay, but it was a constant effort to keep certain boys on task and to keep all of them from wandering about the room.

There were a few half day subbing jobs recently – just no real news to report.

Today I subbed for an English teacher at Canton High School. I reported at 6:40 a.m. and their day ends at 2:20. This teacher had last period for prep time so I actually got off work at 1:20 p.m. Nearly made up for having to get up at 5:30 a.m. Nearly. 🙂 All of the classes were well-behaved (with some re-direction). 3 classes were “supervise them and make them stay quiet and do their work” classes, but for 2 of them, I actually got to teach the class. They read info and then I split them into groups to discuss it and then they reported back to the class and we talked about it. It was helpful that the novel they are getting ready to read is Things Fall Apart by Chinua Echebe, which I have read. I haven’t taught high school very much this year, but I really enjoyed being with these kids today. Not sure about the 5:30 part, though.

I had a good day at the Veritas alternative high school in Redford today. The students were respectful, although some were too chatty, but the day went well. My job is to supervise and keep them on task as well as possible. Almost all the work is on the computer. I drew several of the students while I was sitting there (forgot my book!) and – since I draw better than the average person (although by no means like a professional artist) – it brought immediate respect from the students. 🙂 I let the students take a picture of my pictures of them – and promised to drop off the original copies after I’ve turned them in for a grade. 🙂 One student asked if I would draw his car – and left his phone with me so that I could work on it. I haven’t drawn a car before – at least – not trying to make it look real.

The principal said that a teacher is leaving on maternity leave very soon and wanted me to fill in for the rest of the school year. I think I’d like that – I like the kids and I like the fact that they are not falling through the cracks and dropping out, but rather are working on getting their diplomas in a non-traditional setting. However, I am not free until after May 6, so – we’ll see what happens. I already have about ten dates after that scheduled, also.

“Our teacher is getting married!”
“That means she’ll be having a baby soon.”
“My Mom is having a baby soon. She just got engaged.”
“My Mom takes a pill so that she won’t have another baby.”

Here’s a topic I never shared with my five-year-old. 😦

Kindergarteners are so delightful! Five minutes into the room and Emma came over and said, “Are you my guest teacher?”
“Yes, I’m Mrs. B.” HUGE hug. “Thank you, Emma.”

This was the cushiest day ever. Taught math (counting and filling in the requisite number of squares), sent them out for recess, which I didn’t have to attend (half hour break). Snack time. Indoor play time. Clean up time. Gym (another half hour break). Dismissal.
I suspect that the teacher left an easy plan since it was Friday afternoon with a sub.
I didn’t even get to read to them or teach them songs. Still enjoyed their cuteness.
I miss my grandson Isaac.

Today I taught P.E. at two Westland elementary schools. Boy, can those 4th graders argue about EVERYthing. Honestly. I finally had to remove a boy from the class because he was interfering with the sideline soccer game continually.

I did a little of everything today – 4th grade down thru Kindergarten and we did sideline soccer with 2nd grade and up, and did some relays, some basketball shooting, some free time with balls all over the place, the “Hokey Pokey” with the youngest ones and yes, even the Pizza Hut song with one group and the Barney “Raindrops” song with another, and “The Ants Go Marching” as we    marched around the red circle in the middle of the gym.  For awhile I let them have free play,  and then we tried playing a couple of games that didn’t go well due to lack of “listening ears”. They all got exercise and most had a good time, except for those who were determined to whine, complain, tattle and take note of every single close-to-an-infraction that existed. I got a little exercise, but mostly I just directed, refereed, and enjoyed a certain amount of cuteness – and deja vu.

Quote of the week:
Setup for the story: when little students continually tell me how to run THEIR classroom the RIGHT way, I often will use their teacher’s name and ask, “Do I look like Mrs. —–?” (No!) “Then you need to know that I am going to do thing differently today than Mrs. —–”  Yesterday – I got a different answer. “Do I look like Mrs. Schmitt?” “No!” says Madison (age 7). “You look like Mrs. Schmitt when she got old.”  Thanx a lot, kid. 🙂

I’m on spring break from Henry Ford College, so that means I’m working full time this week. I had two days at the Montessori school with K-2, one day in Plymouth and one in Livonia – as art teacher and then as 3rd grade (I think  – honestly, they are all running together so much that I forget easily!) Tomorrow is Westland 2nd grade.

The best part today was when I worked with a group of 6 first-graders for their reading group. We worked on prefixes (un, re and pre) and read a short booklet together. It’s really pleasant to teach small groups like that.

Another great part was – again – teaching the Kindergarteners a few songs (same old ones, but new group). Ha! I can imagine a gathering that just happens to include all the classes I’ve taught this year where someone starts humming “Five Little Bluebirds” and suddenly about 500 little kids join in – a mini flash mob. Sigh. The thought brings a tear to my eye. (Actually, I would SO crack up laughing.)

Negative. Some tasks the kids have to do seem pretty useless and that always annoys me. There are LOTS of photocopies with rather poor drawings of everyday items, done very small, done in b/w and sometimes even the teachers can’t figure out what is in the picture, let alone the kids, who are supposed to cut out a seemingly endless amount of little squares and glue-stick them to the correct category on another sheet. This – if they don’t constantly complain about or mess with their glue stick, lose the little squares all over the floor because they didn’t put them into the lid of their crayon boxes, or rip them when they accidentally call an umbrella a liquid and then realize ooops, it’s really a solid, and try to move it. Part of this is for motor skills practice. Part of it is for showing their knowledge. I say – let them have at several pieces of construction paper to practice with their scissors, and just ask them outright to identify solids, liquids and gases without having to figure out what the ridiculous little picture might be.

Sometimes repetition is necessary. Sometimes it bores the pants off the kids – no wonder
they balk at some of what they are required to do.

I lost track of what day I’m on. Suffice it to say that I’m only subbing three afternoons a week this semester due to my day classes at Henry Ford College. Here are some highlights from the past few weeks.

Music Teacher: Here’s the lesson plan that was left for me. For each class, I was to choose 5 fairly known pieces that were on a CD (2 to 3 minutes each) – such as Fur Elise, 1812 Overture, William Tell Overture, Rhapsody in Blue, et cetera. I played the piece through one time for the 5th or 6th graders to just listen. Second time – they were to take notes about the music – fast/slow, orchestra, piano – tell what they could figure out. Third time thru, they were to write down what the music made them think of.

THIS was fun. I chose 5 different pieces for each class, and had a wonderful afternoon of listening to glorious music and watching the kids jump at sudden bombastic measures and smile at phrases that struck them as odd. Afterwards – I gave them a quiz – I played each of the five (random order) to see if they could, using their notes, give the correct name for each one. As I said, THIS was fun. I used ‘From the Hall of the Mountain King” by Grieg as the sample. I told them about “The Pied Piper of Hamelin” also, since that piece will forever remind me of that film.

I’ve had a lot of great days – cooperative kids, fun conversations, actually teaching some subjects, and enjoying a bit of lighthearted teasing of them. I’ve subbed in 6th, 5th, 3rd, 2nd, 1st and Kindergarten this semester. I have avoided school districts with low income families, as I have found that those are the places where I find the most uncooperative students (albeit a small percentage, but enough to make the afternoon more difficult than I wish to manage.) Let me add that this is not a black/white issue, either, but the students in the lower income areas are not as well-behaved, for however many reasons they have.
With the undercurrent of distress that I currently carry regarding my parents’ situation, I don’t have the patience OR the training to deal with these kids right now.

I’ve read some Seuss books, taught everybody “Five Little Bluebirds” and lately added the teaching of “Oh, What a Rain That Would Be” from Barney. The kids love learning these songs and I love delighting in the kids as they learn them.

This week (March 7, 2016) I am off on Spring break from Henry Ford College, so I’m working full time for a much better paycheck. So far this week, so good. I was the Art teacher in Plymouth Monday, and Tuesday was split between two elementaries in Livonia – 1st grade, then a fairly wild Kindergarten group (who argued and argued with one another over everything – not unusual, but – seems like this group did it more than most – they are on their THIRD teacher this year – the parapro says they wore the first two out. Yeah, they were rambunctious and kind of annoying at times, but when I read Seuss to them – they ate it up, and they loved learning the songs too. Engaging and interacting is always best, and for the 2 that wouldn’t cooperate – they got to sit out on the sidelines instead of with the rest of the group. For 5 year olds – that’s usually sufficient to make the point.

There was a fight between 4th graders on the playground and I could see about 3-4 other kids kicking the person who was down. I hurried, but I am not very fast – I yelled but no one stopped. Suddenly, a neighbor appeared from across the street – he ran to the 4′ chain link fence, put two hands on top of it, and vaulted over the fence – ran to the kids and broke up the fight. He walked the beaten kid towards the building as I walked the aggressor. I thanked him and had to listen to him gripe about the “teachers” not doing their job if he had to come from his house to break up a fight. Later I did mention to the principal that at the time, there were five teachers out there and me – a sub who had been there half an hour, who didn’t even know which kids were mine – and the five were all together chatting and facing the playground. I was sitting on a bench facing the field, and I saw the fight.

I can only work 3 half days a week now due to attending Graphic Design classes 5 days a week. Suffice it to say that for these 4 half days, I taught in very stressful/challenging 4th, 3rd, and 1st grades, and in a different very nice 1st grade. The 4th and 1st were the worst – but I decided not to let it get me all upset and stressed out. I kept having kids “clip down” on the behavior chart if they would not cooperate, and ended up sending 5 4th graders to the office (this principal actually thanked me), and about as many 1st graders. Its wonderful how much easier it is to actually teach students when the troublemakers are removed from the scene. It kind of seems fairer to to kids who behave themselves and really want to learn, too. But then – what to do with the ones who won’t cooperate? I’m sure the regular teachers seek to help them learn too. My patience level varies.

When I have about 8 1st graders who refuse to come in from the playground and I have to take names and clip them all down, it’s aggravating. When I have about 8-10 4th graders who will NOT line up and be reasonably quiet so that we can go up the stairs (without pushing) – so I have to call the principal to get them to settle down – it can be unsettling.

I have to hope that I will get work in the better districts (read: higher income level) more often. It is true – there is a huge difference in behavior. And only one of my schools was in Detroit.

Annabella saw me enter the first grade room and she shouted, “Miss Sharon!” She rushed over to give me a huge hug. “Noah! Landon! Look! It’s Miss Sharon!” Pretty soon I was the happy recipient of hugs from the two of them plus about 6 or 8 other kids who remembered when I subbed in their kindergarten class for a whole week last year. ❤ It was SO sweet. 🙂

This is the best part about going to the Montessori school so often – this, and Jenny, the secretary, and knowing the principal and many of the staff members by name. This was a half day, Day 55.

Day 54 was a quick 2-hour stint at a private school in Livonia – teaching Spanish to 7th and 8th graders – only about 12 kids in a class! What an easy job! I didn’t really even have to know any Spanish, since I just distributed paperwork and monitored them while they read it and answered questions. But I greeted them with Buenas Tardes and asked a few questions – just to show that I could have. Pretty sure I know more Spanish than the average non-hispanic middle school kid. 🙂