Friday, September 09, 2005

I hate middle schoolers!!!

I had my first substitute job at a middle school the other day and came home screaming mad. (This was the "good" middle school- I already know to stay away from the other one!) I've never had so many kids backtalk me in my life. I would have passed out detention to half the student body! One class had a couple "packs" that wouldn't be quiet. In first period one of the good students would not sit down. She must have had that "restless leg syndrome" that's being advertised by pharmacutical ads. (One in ten have it!) When I told her to sit down for the hundreth time, she looked at me and said, "I don't think you like me. Do you?" My reply was, "You and I don't have a relationship. Now sit down." The teachers in the lunch room were laughing hard at this.

I survived the other periods too. In fourth period, I took the two of the boys started to throw little paper balls at each other and I made them stand up alone. They were grumpy but eventually settled down. For some reason, there were only 6 kids in 5th period but they shoved the a whole class full in 6th period. So I went from the beautiful calm of 5th period to the hellish enviroment of 6th period.

The teacher had warned me that this class was "a little rowdy." Har Har. Sixth period wouldn't even shut up enough for me to introduce myself. I made one boy stand up and tried to get control of the rest of the class. Well, that boy suddenly threw his pencil across the room and ran out of the room, slamming it behind him. The slamming got the attention of the other teachers who came and talked the class down. They left but five minutes later, the chatter had already begun again. I caught a boy throwing a paper ball across the room, and while I was trying to write him up for detention, the chatting turned into a roar again. Then I caught a boy totally cheating off another boy. I had to call for an escort for them to go down to the office but instead, the principal just came and took over. I don't know if he wrote the boys up or not.

Even though it was terrible, the teachers and the principal all patted me on the shoulder and said it was okay and that it wasn't my fault. But geez, it sure doesn't feel like that. Even the highschoolers give me problems at times. Today I was teaching Pre-Cal and Calculus and there were a couple people that just wouldn't shut-up. There I was, going over homework and doing the lesson and they were so rude and disrespectful.

I think my problem is the teaching. I don't think the classes are even used to a substitute that will teach and go over the homework. I hope I did a good job with the Calculus and Pre-Cal classes. But it's hard to get class participation when just a few are acting up. It makes me worry about when I in control of my own classroom for my upcoming long term assignment. :(

6 comments:

M said...

It's all about the stare. If they are rowdy when you get in there, turn of the light and stand there and stare at them with dead eyes and be silent. After a minute or so they should quiet down. If not, calmly say, "I'm waiting..." This worked with the Pilgrim kids when they were out of control. If you have any other questions, I'll be happy to help in anyway I can. Does lose hope & keep your thumb on them at all times. You are the adult and don't let them forget it. :-)

P-Ratt said...

Thanks for the hints y'all. I'll try to use them. :) A friend at church works at the same middle school and she'd heard that I was there. When I told her what happened, she laughed and said, don't worry about it. :)

Another friend at church, whose daughter works at the forbidden school, said I was lucky that there were teachers and a principal that cared enough to show up.

M said...

Wow. So when do you start your extended sub gig?

P-Ratt said...

Whenever she goes into labor. I sure hope she doesn't pop during classes. :)

M said...

Will this be at the high school level?

P-Ratt said...

Well, uhm... I'll be teaching at the high school. But the gig is really tough. I'll be teaching geometry resource. Resource is code for special ed. They are doing rather basic geometry without any algebra needed.