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They called them “Walking Tacos.” Each child got a small bag of Frito’s, opened it, and then the teacher or

helper spooned in cooked ground beef with seasoning, sour cream, salsa, and shredded cheese and lettuce. They stirred them with a fork and ate it right out of the bag. I got one too, and it was great – as good as Taco Bell or home!

Best idea of the week: a first grade teacher walks her class to the hall outside the restrooms, and – they each bring a book along! They all sit down on the floor and read until their turn to go in; then they lay their books down near the wall. It also helped me keep track of how many kids were in the restroom (4 at a time, I was told) since I could just count the books. 🙂

Smart aleck award for the week: 5th grader: “WHY am I getting in trouble?” Me (I was a witness): “Because you got out of your seat, walked over to the mirror, did a little dance, distracted several people, completely ignored my instructions and talked.” 5th grader: “I didn’t talk.”   Me: “REEEALLLY?”

Halloween Parade: Kind of fun today to help out with all the kids in the Halloween Parade that went up and down each hallway and through the gym that was full of family members (I was fortunate to find a place to park today!) My favorite costumes (of the hundreds I saw): teacher dressed as a referee carrying a white cane. :), Malificent, several kids dressed as “Minecraft”, a kid with a white t-shirt with a sign attached saying “Error 3003: no costume”. Lots of princesses and super heroes, way too many witches, and a fair assortment of cute animals.

Feeling artistic: Most of the day I wore a beautiful mask that Amy owned. I was at one school monitoring computer lab for the morning and at another being the music teacher for the afternoon. Highlights for me were: the kids were writing spooky stories so I read those that were volunteered, inserting all the drama and expression possible (and far more than they expected). They loved it and so did one of the teachers. I corrected most of the grammatical mistakes as I went along, and in one case, I had to determine where the punctuation went, as the student had not inserted any. My favorite moment was when I got to yell “Boo!” and about ten kids (who were only partially paying attention) jumped in their seats. 🙂 I also received numerous compliments on the sketch I was making while the kids were busy, and in music class I got to sing the national anthem – which, since I sing it with all my heart and great gusto – caused most of the kids to stop singing and listen – so – the second time thru I listened to them sing it. 🙂

Cuteness: I love little kids’ phonetic spelling. “My mom is osom.” 🙂 (This, among others).

Each day went well this week and I really am enjoying being a “Guest Teacher” this year. The best times are when I get to actually teach (part of every day) but just monitoring and running things well is helpful also.

5th graders were supposed to be reading silently. A boy raised his hand. “She (points the girl sitting behind him) keeps sticking her tongue out at me.”
Me: “How can you possibly see her do that when you are staring at your book?”

Why would parents let their kind of nerdy 5th grade son go to school wearing an orange and black striped shirt, red belt, and brown/blue/tan plaid shorts? Or, did he choose his own clothes?

It was so beautiful outside on Thursday that I gave the kids and extra 10 minutes of recess. But at Friday’s school, I learned that this is NOT allowed – it’s the principal’s decision and teachers get in trouble in that Westland school if they do this. I don’t agree. Offering extra recess can be a reward as well as a wise decision with a rambunctious group.

Plymouth-Canton school district has THREE high schools on one large “park.” Kids take classes at all three buildings – Plymouth, Canton and Salem. It’s a good hike from one to the other (as much as half a mile). Another interesting thing – Plymouth has what I would call banks of lockers – they are 4 feet high and there are 5 rows of them, back to back, in the location that I saw. This makes it a great place to hang out a few minutes with friends, and it puts them outside of the hallway where everyone needs to pass to their classes. Because they are low, everyone can see over them, and they are vaulted at the top so that people won’t sit on them. Great design, Plymouth!

This morning I monitored two Psych classes as the high school students researched Sleep Disorders using the library computers. The media center is set up so that there are several sections so that various classes can work in there at the same time. It did get pretty noisy though since one class was allowed to talk rather loudly. 😦 Not mine. 🙂 I also sat in a resource room that had plenty of adults to do the work – so – since there was nothing for me to do, I drew a quick picture of a student – which the other adults thought was quite good. 🙂

Thursday was 5th grade and then 6th grade in the same school and it went well. Friday was Psych at Plymouth High School and then first grade in Westland. Since HS starts early, I had to be there at 6:45 am and stay until 10:30 a.m. Since elementary starts later, my half day there didn’t start until 12:21 pm so I had almost a two-hour break. I stopped in and visited with Mom and Dad for awhile.

A first grader was sitting sadly on a bench at recess because she had been reprimanded by her teacher during the morning, and marked “down” on the behavior chart. I pointed out that it would be a better idea for her to run and play and talk during recess because it was the only time she could do so, and after that she’d have to go back to being quiet and still for the rest of the day. I also told her that running around would make her feel better. She believed me. 🙂

“You were supposed to answer these questions with complete sentences,” I said.
”Wrestling, fighting and hitting is not a complete sentence. The school principal is not a complete sentence.

The sixth grader looked at me and said, “Well, to ME they ARE complete sentences.”

“Oh, really? You are just going to create your own little world, or what?”

Today I had a rambunctious group of Kindergarteners at one school in the morning and a pretty good

group of sixth graders in the afternoon. I changed the lesson plan a little for the K’s because I didn’t feel like I could keep the reins on them if they did “stations” (kids split up into various areas to work independently) – not with this group and not with me not being familiar with their stations. So, I read 3 Mercer Mayer books to them and we talked about them, and I rewarded their good sitting/listening skills by teaching them the “Pizza Hut” song. Also did the “Hokey Pokey” earlier on.

When some boys would not stop talking, I removed them from the group and made them sit over to the side. Later, when a girl did it, I told her to go sit at the table and she refused. Twice. So, I told her to go and “clip down” which means moving down on the behavior chart. She refused. So – I moved her clip down. I asked her to move to the edge of the circle so that she would not be surrounded by other girls and she refused. So – I moved all the other girls away from her. Part way through the next book, she began crying loudly about “clipping down” and not wanting to be on the yellow level. I ignored her, for the most part.

Sixth grade went well, overall. A little rambunctious and talkative, but not too bad. When we went outside for recess it was so INCREDIBLY GORGEOUS outside that I decided that an extra 10 minutes of recess was warranted. 🙂

There was a particular math problem that we were supposed to do together but I did NOT know how to do it – just couldn’t remember and the Teacher’s Manual was no help. So – they had to do that one themselves. I didn’t tell the kids. I did help them with some other problems, though.

Here’s what wore me out with first-graders today: incessant questions, interruptions, and tattling.
Between the bathroom requests, the unasked-for-information about how to run the day and the class,
and especially any rewards or privileges, and the constant “he bumped me, she stepped on my
book, he hit me and wouldn’t apologize – did not – did too” it just wears me down to where it’s
really hard to care about the next ow-y finger or cut-into-line, and all I really want is for everyone
to sit still in one place and be quiet for a while.

Today I was at the Japanese Immersion school in Livonia once again. Overall, it wasn’t too bad –
just – occasionally intense. They actually did pretty well during actual lessons – it was more difficult
during the transitions – set-up, clean-up, walking here and there.

Today was the “Fun Run” for an hour and it was  nice to be outside. I think that after about ten minutes
of circling the cones in the field, some of the kids caught on to the fact that this wasn’t particularly
“fun”. It was also rather cold and when the sno-cone truck pulled up and the kids all waited in line
for something that made them feel even colder – well, it was fun for them but not 100% pleasant.

As for me, I have never seen the thrill of sno-cones – a bunch of ice with too-sweet syrupy kool-aid
stuff on it. The kids each had a HUGE one with a straw with a teeny spoon-like thing on the end of
it. Took forever to eat it and I finally made some kids throw the last of theirs out so we could go in.
SOME teachers took theirs into their classrooms, but the way this group wasn’t listening well –
no thanx – I couldn’t face the mess.

I had  a few breaks in the day and so I read my chapter in my HTML5-CSS3 textbook. It was surreal
to be sitting there studying this “language” while the other teacher and all the students were speaking
Japanese all around me. Weird….

Kids can earn 10 points added to their grade point average if they bring 2 boxes of Kleenex or 2 bags of Halloween candy to their HIGH school tomorrow. So – if they are slumping down around 70, they can perk it right up there to 80 instead. Hmmmm. Not sure what to think of this.

Today I was at Melvindale High School and basically, I assisted the assistant with the ESL classes – re-directing Arabic-speaking kids to stay on task. Then for the next two hours, I helped English class students with their rough draft of an essay – that was a lot more “hands-on” and I enjoyed it.

This was the first time that I saw Muslim students wearing veils over their faces. Last year I saw lots of well-covered outfits and hijabs, but no veils (I wonder how they eat lunch?) I found it interesting because one class had a project that put each person’s photo onto a page that was posted on the classroom wall, and, well, I really don’t know how you would tell those three girls apart.

I left at noon and drove to Livonia for the afternoon of Day 18. I read several chapters of a book to them, and taught 5th grade Language Arts and two sections of Math. They were a good bunch and I really enjoyed being there. I do love it when I actually get to teach. 🙂

Backing up to Day 17 – on Tuesday I was at the Montessori school half a day, and I had a great afternoon with one of the Kindergarten classes.

I was off two days because of our trip to Philly, and one day due to vertigo.

“Let’s go fly a kite, up to the highest height,
Let’s go fly a kite and send it soaring
Up to the atmosphere, up where the air is clear,
Oh, let’s go fly a kite!”

Today I got to teach 3 music classes. I warmed them up with some 5-key scales
and deep breathing, and even told them about posture, their diaphragm and
staccato. The little ones were really impressed at how their bellies felt when they
sang “Ha! Ha! Ha!”  Then we sang! I love the above song, so the 2nd graders sang it about
8 times (it’s pretty short) while I made flamboyant hand motions and even danced
a little around the room. I should have been a music teacher! (Yes, I know, not
all days are fun.)

The 4th graders sang a parody of “Stayin’ Alive” for Halloween, called “Scarin’ Alive”
and I threw in a few old disco moves. 🙂

I couldn’t find the CD for the first graders’ songs at first and they asked to sing the
7 Habits Song, which I COULD find and enjoy, so we sang that about 3 or 4 times.
I heard them singing it in their classroom later on. It’s to the tune of “Rolling in the Deep”.
Just imagine about 27 6-year-olds singing along at mezzo piano on the stanzas and
then hitting fortissimo on the chorus every time. Nearly blasted me out of the room. 🙂

The teacher has more than 30 stuffed animals in the room, so I let them each choose
one and then we sang “Old McDonald” while making the appropriate animal sound for
some of the animals (dragon was very creative – kind of a fire-breathing sound.)
Yes, I had fun today, I helped kids learn, and I got paid for it. 🙂

Today was great. 3rd and 4th graders in Livonia, pretty well-behaved, and I got to teach them a few subjects, not just move them from room to room or hand them paperwork. I also enjoyed their personalities, their written stories and their laughing at my stories. Maybe these grades aren’t so bad after all. 🙂

The best part of the half day in Kindergarten was reading “Goldilocks and the Three Bears” to them. I always did different voices for the characters when I told the story to my kids, and this group enjoyed that too. It was an easy, though slightly weird day. The teacher and the student teacher were right outside the door, doing testing, but also keeping track, running things occasionally, etc. Kind of like being in charge but not really in charge. But hey – pay is the same, and when the kids went to Music for 45 minutes, I went out and relaxed in my car since there was no prep for me to do.

Jimmy John’s is the BEST sandwich place I’ve found outside of the Philly area – and they sent over a few platters of sandwiches today and I was invited to help myself. I wrapped it up and put it in my mini-cooler to have as dinner in the college parking lot. 🙂 Yummm!

How did I get so far behind? 😦

He called me a hag (actually it was the second time he disrespected me but I had overlooked the first). So, I wrote him up and walked him to the Vice Principal’s office. Pretty sure they don’t tolerate disrespect in Livonia. It was Day 9 – Livonia Middle School Resource Room. First hour  = prep. Second hour = 4 kids in the room to do homework – I assisted one boy and another boy kept interrupting, interfering, and refusing to do any work. After awhile I pressured him. That’s when the disrespect happened.

Day 10 – a.m. Kindergarten in Livonia, p.m. I think was 2nd grade in a different Livonia school. Can’t remember any particular details now!

Day 11 – 7th grade Health and Phys Ed for the morning. I got to lead the kids in a discussion about conflict resolution – fun to get a chance to teach, tell some good stories, etc. Then I organized two gym classes (about 32-34 kids @) into teams and they played basketball while I watched the time and rotated the players every five minutes. It was amusing to watch them – the “wanna-be-hot-shots” who really didn’t make any more baskets than the other kids did – they just grabbed the ball away a lot more.    Mostly – it made me miss my sons – a lot.

Day 12 – High school History. I still feel a little intimidated at the Taylor charter school, dealing with snarky teens! Stuff and nonsense! I will conquer this queasy feeling of rejection yet. Seems like when a sub enters, all sense leaves, and suddenly every 16 year old seriously needs to go potty, or argues why he or she should. Disrespectful attitudes and responses – from only a few, fortunately. Heavy sighs when I enter the room, snickers when they see me. Not the welcome that I desire. But – I’m there to teach, or make sure some level of learning occurs, not to be friends, right? I will conquer this. Since all of the nonsense happened during the “Do Now” segment, wherein they are supposed to write an answer to a couple of questions when they first arrive (read: busywork), I skipped it in the last class and went directly to the movie. I really enjoyed the film about Vanderbilt and Rockefeller and Carnegie and how they got started and did business! Educational!

Day 13 – back to Montessori and grades 1-2. A good day, overall. This teacher demands and receives silence for most of the day. I started out allowing some level of talking, but realized that they were not used to that and so they quickly went a little crazy. I went back to expecting silence, and the day went well. BEST lunchtime ever – kids have lunch in the room and are NOT allowed to talk – because if they talk, they don’t eat their lunches! Apparently these kids really love their teacher, too.

She wrinkled her 5-year-old brows, trying to solve the problem. If they bring two snacks, they are supposed to clip them together with a springy clothespin with their name on it. “Miss Sharon?” she asked. I looked down to see that one side of the clothespin was inserted into one of two tangerines. “I can’t figure out how to clip these two together.”  This was my big smile for the day – which I was able to share with some of the other staff.

I was alone in a Kindergarten classroom that usually has both a teacher and a teacher’s aide. Let’s just say that we accomplished as much “work” as possible. I was losing patience with one girl who interrupted and asked questions about every five minutes all day long, and with a boy who consistently elbowed his way into line or over to another student to play around. I discovered that this group loves to be read to, so I read them two long Seuss books (Horton Hears a Who and Oh, the Places You’ll Go!), which was not on the original schedule. I’m comfortable enough with subbing now to realize that the teachers don’t necessarily expect everything to be accomplished – especially with kindergarten!

This classroom does not have its own bathroom (as some schools do!) so there was a continuous “potty-quest” throughout the day. Since I didn’t know their names, it was hard to keep track of who was gone, and who came back, let alone who was next. This teacher did not have bathroom passes, so I decided to create some for my sake. I grabbed two paper cups, labeled one “Boys” and one “Girls” and explained that these were passes to take to the bathroom – that they showed they had permission to go there. I also had the foresight to realize they were cups and to tell them they were not to drink out of them. They seemed to catch on. I was surprised, however, 3/4 of the way through the day, when a boy came and asked me if he was supposed to pee in the cup! Note to self: next time make the pass out of something else!

Breakfast was a huge mess – muffin crumbs all over desks and floor. So I got the kids onto the “carpet” and we talked about the date and so forth while I cleaned up the desks and two girls used a whisk broom and tiny dustpan to sweep up the crumbs around them. The sub plans said to be sure to enter the attendance into the computer before 9:00 a.m. Yeah, right. I hope they were happy that I sent a written copy to the office around 9:30.

The plans also said to take 4 kids at a time to my desk to work on the craft – Mr. Sneezy, a construction paper head (in 4 available colors, from which many kids did not choose the one that matched their skin tone!) with a tissue and two hands glued to it, and eyes and hair drawn on. This was to be done while the rest of the class worked independently on their work packets. Teacher had assumed there would be an aide in the room. Instead, I ditched the afternoon work period (after the we-don’t-want-to-rest-period) and pulled ALL the tables together into one long line, placing 24 chairs around it. This was much more manageable for having everyone do the craft at the same time, since I could keep an eye on them all at the same time. (Usually the tables are set up here, there, and all over, in a sort of grid). This went very well, and was indeed a very jolly time for the instigating boys and the girls at one end who decided that it was the absolute height of hilarity to draw boogers on Mr. Sneezy as well.

Overall it was a busy, and productive day. I do need to work on being patient with the continuous questions, though.