What a day!

I was going to blog about this yesterday when I got home from work, but I was too exhausted to think straight.
Yesterday, I subbed in a 5th grade classroom in a school that's not in the best part of town.  So the day's about to start and there I was, standing with authority so the kids knew that I meant business, when the bell rang and everyone came bursting through the door.
The first thing I hear is from the little gangsta-wannabe boy who says to his buddy, "Dude, I hate my dad cuz he went back with that hoe again!" He didn't care that I was standing just a few feet from him, and in fact, none of the kids cared!  To them, that is just part of their everyday language (as were a few other choice words that I probably didn't even know when I was that age).
As I stood there watching the kids as they put away their coats and unpacked their backpacks (what few kids that actually brought a backpack) and listened to their conversations, I came to the realization that this was going to be the longest (and probably toughest) day ever.  I was right.
Besides gangsta-wannabe boy, there's wannabe goth girl who is wearing skin tight leggings, a tank-top (yes it's the end of March, but this is Michigan, it's still cold here), and Madonna-like fishnet-looking elbow length gloves.  But, she still is one of my few that actually completes the work for the day and doesn't talk back, so I like her.  Then there's grunge girl, who is quite proud of her greasy hair and unwashed self, wearing an oversized zip up sweatshirt over top of a spaghetti strap white tank and a bright pink training bra (she's not modest at all).  She does not do her work, but spends the entire day rocking back and forth in her seat and singing to herself. Oy!
Before the day actually started, I had already picked out the several kids who were going to be my toughest challenges for the day, and had already learned their names (as a sub, I always say that if I know your name at the end of the day, it's probably not a good thing!).
This class goes to their special class, which happened to be music on this day, first thing in the morning, right after morning announcements (which I totally didn't hear because I couldn't get this class to quiet down enough to save my life!).  Normally I don't like having specials classes first thing in the morning, because I like it to be able to break up the morning or afternoon a bit.  Today, I didn't mind though, because I could use the time to pull out my "Smile Cards" and get ready for my long day ahead.
I went down a few minutes early to wait for the kids to be dismissed from music.  As I'm walking down the hall, I see one of my students being sent out of class to stand in the hall while he's yelling at the teacher.  He continues yelling at her even after she has gone back in the classroom and shut the door.
I get the class back to our classroom and finally get them to quiet down enough to hear me and explain to them what my "Smile Cards" are and how they work (when I catch someone doing good, doing their work, not being disruptive, not being disrespectful, etc. I give them a Smile Card.  They write their name on the back, put it in the basket, and at the end of the day I will pull 5 cards out to pick a prize out of my prize bin).  I also remind them that the more cards they get, the better their chances of getting their name picked.  Most of the kids seem pretty receptive to this idea, so I'm hopeful.
We get through math with LOTS of stopping to wait for everyone to be quiet and listen, and then it's bathroom break time.  My sub notes say that there is an assigned boy and girl to be the monitor for the boy's and girl's bathrooms respectively and then the entire class is dismissed together to use the restrooms while I stay in the room to wait for them.  With what I've witnessed so far, that's not gonna happen.  So I decide to dismiss half the class at a time.  Boy do they all get mad!  Remember that boy who got kicked out of music?  Yeah, well he gets so mad and starts yelling at me so loudly that a teacher from down the hall hears him and comes down to pull him out and talk to him.  I don't know what she said to him, but he came back in about 3 minutes later and is completely calm and tells me he's going to be good the rest of the day.  I love that teacher, whoever she is!
Indoor recess went really well, actually (I was really worried letting this class have unstructured time inside the confines of the classroom, but I was pleasantly surprised!)
Then comes Spelling.  I tell the kids what they have to do, which is an assignment they do every week, with every set of spelling words.  There are about 5 kids who flat out refuse to do the assignment and want to argue with me about why they shouldn't do the work.  I hear the same thing when I give them their Social Studies assignment.  Is it time to go home yet?  I'm worn out!
The kids go to the gym for a fitness program and all goes well there (and I'm hoping this has tired them out a bit for the afternoon! A girl can hope, right?).  Then it's lunch time!  30 minutes of piece and quiet all for me!  It's bliss!
The kids eat lunch so late in the day that they just do reading in the afternoon.  We listen to the reading story on tape and then the kids have a worksheet to complete about the story.  The worksheet asks questions about the story and even tells them what page in the story that answer can be found on.  Can't get much easier than that.  And, aside from a few, 'I don't wanna' and 'I don't get it' complaints, most of them work pretty nicely on this.  Then comes handwriting, and again, several refusals to do the work.  They only have to write the list of spelling words in cursive, 3 times each.  It's not a long list, and they spent more time complaining about it then it would have taken to actually do the work, but whatever, I'm exhausted, and there's only 45 minutes left in the day.
Then we hear the sirens.  The nearby high school has has been dismissed and the kids are walking home.  My kids run to the window to see where the cop car is headed and of course, it stops right outside our 2nd floor windows (thank you very much for another reason to be distracted and off task!).  There's a big crowd of high schoolers and police and an ambulance.  It is apparently so commonplace that the kids casually announce that there was another fight and they had to call the cops again (that may or may not be what actually happened, that's just what these kids assume since it happens so often).  One boy even announces that he heard gun shots.  "No", I tell the class, "there were no gunshots, go sit down and get back to work." 25 minutes to go.  I can do this!
I managed to give out several Smile Cards throughout the day, and a couple of times the fact the I had the cards in my hand were motivating enough to help some kids get to work.  We drew the names (and my kicked-out-of-music-class-and-fight-with-me-about-bathroom-break-kid even managed to get his card drawn for a prize) and class dismissed.  I'm done!  I'm going home!  Good-bye!

March of Dimes

I will be walking in the March of Dimes March for Babies walk this year.  My goal is to raise $75.  If you are able to, please take a moment to click the March of Dimes March for Babies link on the right side of your screen to donate!

Thanks!!

Wordless Wednesday

Okay, except this Wednesday!  But only because I need to explain what "Wordless Wednesday" is...I realize it's pretty self explanatory, but still, I will explain.
My plan is to do this every Wednesday (or almost every ☺).  I will post just a simple picture; one that shows something or someone who is an important part of my life.
This week:

My precious pup, Sosha!  I adopted her from a rescue group  while I was living in Georgia.

Adventures in subbing

One of the drawbacks of substitute teaching is that I have no guarantee of working every day.  Such is the case today, and why I have time to write a blog in the middle of the day ☺.
There are three school districts where I do the majority of my subbing, and one school within each district where I tend to do the majority of my subbing for that district.
The school in District A is the school where I taught my first year.  It was only a half time teaching job, but I loved it and I loved the school.  Of course, I couldn't continue to work half time and try to make it on my own, so I left that job at the end of my first year.  I've missed it ever since.  I now enjoy going back to visit!  So much has changed since I worked there several years ago, but sometimes it's like I never left!  I enjoy that feeling!  Oh, and it's fun to see and hear about my former students!  I taught special education preschool, so my students were only 3-5 years old back then!  My students who were older, and getting ready to go to kindergarten after our year together are now in middle school (eek, I feel old!), but many of my younger students who still live in the district are still at the elementary school.  The other day, I saw one of those students in the hall.  Way back when she was in my classroom, she was one of my bigger "behavior issue" kids.  Now, she functions perfectly well in her general education class!  I love hearing that!  She looks exactly the same as she did at 3, just a lot taller!
District B's school is a school I had never stepped foot in until I started subbing there in January.  On this first day at the school, I was subbing in a first grade classroom with a student teacher (there's a funny story that goes with this classroom and the student teacher, but I'll save that for another time ☺).  At some point during that morning, the school secretary popped her head in our classroom and asked us if one of us could pop in to the special education classroom next door in a few minutes to check on them.  One of the students, I'll call him Tom, was having a major behavioral meltdown.  So, a couple of minutes later, I stepped out of our classroom to go check on this teacher and the student.  The secretary was running back to the room, so, of course, I ran after her (if someone is running, it must be urgent).  Turns out one of the students had completely destroyed the room by throwing anything and everything he could get his hands on across the room (and at the teacher) and by the time the secretary and I got there, he was being restraint on the floor by the teacher and the principal.  Luckily, all of the other students were in the cafeteria for lunch during this "crisis", so they were all safe.  When they finished lunch, however, it was still not safe for them to come back into this classroom, so it was off to the computer lab for them.  For the next hour or so, the para pro and I did our best to keep these kids calm (kids with autism plus changes in the schedule can cause lots of stress and meltdowns) and occupied on the computers until Tom was sent home and the room was put back enough to allow the students to come back.  Ever since I helped them out with this "crisis", I've been requested quite a bit at this school!  I love the school, so I'm always happy to sub there!
And District C...Well, I've interviewed countless times for teaching jobs at District C, but I never get the job.  I thought subbing there might give me the foot in the door I need (actually, I'm hoping for the foot in the door for every district I sub with).  I got a call from the subbing coordinator at this district just a day or two after I submitting my application to sub.  She told me that the head of personnel (the woman who has conducted every interview I've had at this district, and knows me so well, we never have to do introductions anymore) saw my application in the pile and requested that mine be pulled to the top so I could be called right away (good sign right??).  The first time I subbed for this district, I was in a 5th grade classroom just for a half day assignment. The teacher I was to be subbing for was in the building, she just had to test students throughout the morning.  So, after she was finished testing, and the students had gone to lunch or special class (I can't remember which), we got to talking a bit.  She is a great teacher and does terrific things with her classes.  And I, who never wanted to teach any grade higher than second, now want to teach fifth grade!  I love her ideas so much, and think it would be so fun to use these ideas in my own classroom!  Thanks to this teacher spreading my name around with her fellow teachers, I have been called in to sub for several different teachers within the district, but that school (and her classroom) remain my favorite!

Now, cross your fingers that I'll get a job for tomorrow! ☺

Since I'm sitting here with time on my hands...

And just in case there is anyone out there reading this blog, I thought I'd refer you to my mom's blog too. She's doing a giveaway of some of their sweet maple syrup!
Here's the link to her blog: A Simple Happy Life and her givewaway: A sweet giveaway.
She won't let me enter (not sure why...couldn't possibly be because I already get all the sweet maple syrup I could ever want ☺), but you can enter and enjoy some of the sweetness!

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my blog! As you've probably seen, I am a substitute teacher desperately searching for a classroom of my own. As I go about my life as a sub, I've decided to blog about my experiences, both in the classroom, and in my own personal life.
Most of what I'll blog about is just the mundane, everyday life "stuff", but it's my life, so it must still be interesting! Right? But, honestly, subbing does offer some amusing moments, which are worth sharing!
I've put off blogging for a long time thinking "Who wants to read this stuff anyhow?" Then I realized that it doesn't matter if no one reads it or if a million people read it! I'm writing for me, and if anyone else wants to come along for the ride, you're absolutely welcome to join me! Just be easy on me, I'm new at this, and not really sure what I'm doing quite yet! ☺