Interesting ways to take roll....

I hate taking roll. It's super important for us, but the kids see no value in it and even the best classes can't stay quiet and attentive the entire time.  Their only bright spot is getting to take it to the office.  Hopefully I see that kid again.  I haven't on a few occasions in the upper grades.

I was reading the blog "Dr. Jean & Friends".  She has some great ideas for ECE and Kindergarten teachers, which is what I have been doing the last few months.  One of her posts sparked a great idea for subs. 

Give students a question and have them answer instead of saying "Here" or "Present".   Here are her suggestions, which could be altered for older kids but they would probably like to answer these questions as well. 

Here are a few starters:
If you were an animal, what would you be?
If you found a genie in a bottle, what would you wish for?
If you were a candy bar, what would you be?
What is the theme song for your life?
What book character would you like to change places with?
If you found $100, what would you buy?
If you could go on a magic carpet ride, where would you go?
Happiness is…
If I were the teacher I would…

Younger kids will probably give you one or two word answers, but you might want to limit it for the older ones. Maybe three words or less.

Easy Art Projects to keep kids busy.

I sometimes offer a prize if the kids get the project done by the end of the day, with certain instructions of course.  You can't give me a sloppy mess and expect a prize.

The longest line is super easy and comes out pretty cool. It's even easy enough for Little Firsties.

 

Substitute Cheat Sheet!

This would be a great idea to leave for a teacher, and maybe they will fill it out for the next time!  I would add a pull out schedule as well.  I hate it when the note, from a first grade teacher says something like, "There are several pull outs during the day.  The kids know when and where to go."  Sure they do! 
 

Eeking out a living...

Substitute teaching has been meager this year, at best.  I haven't been able to get many jobs and certainly not the ones that I am most excited about. 

I have had 5 job interviews recently.  Two for new subbing opportunities in the largest school district in our area and one for the Head Start program.  One was for a teaching job to cover the rest of the year and I already know I didn't get that one.  The last two are for directors at child care centers.  I have gone up for many of these types of jobs, but I keep getting the same line.  "We really liked you, but we feel that you would quit on us the minute a better job came along."  It's been almost three years, so....  It's not like I plan to stop pursuing teaching, but I have 15 years of experience in this area and I can do a fantastic job in a child care situation. 

It's frustrating, one job says I have too much education and experience and the next job says I don't have enough experience.  I'm caught in the middle and it's driving me a bit crazy!  Oh, and broke too!  Don't forget about that!  I took out a loan to pay my bills.  I haven't paid a penny on my student loans yet and things aren't looking too good.

Just in case you wanted a downer today.  You're welcome!

Middle School Art Class

Middle school is tough.  It's tough for kids.  It's tough for teachers and it's tough for subs.  Middle schoolers don't want to do what a teacher tells them; no matter what it happens to be. 

I subbed in an art class.  I like to sub in electives, because they are classes that the students chose.  So the idea is that they would be at least okay with being there, right? 

The teacher gave me packets of drawings, with instructions.  The kids could choose any one, or more, of the 20 choices and then add their own enhancements, color and creativity.  A super easy assignment.  So why did I hear so much whining and complaining?  It was like I was asking them to recreate the Mona Lisa, instead of drawing a cartoon duck.

The drawings were a range from super simple to pretty difficult.  Only a few students, throughout the day, chose to challenge themselves with the difficult drawings.  Many of the drawings looked suspiciously the same size as the examples. Others just turned in a blank page.  Few had color or creativity in any way.

I chose one of the more difficult drawings and worked on it a few minutes at a time during the day.  In one of the later periods a student looked at my drawing and was amazed.  "Wow Ms. D.  That is so cool.  You are a really good artist. I bet you were super popular in High School."

I tried very hard not to laugh out loud.  First of all, I was a terrible artist in High School.  I was NOT popular.  Art skills have NOTHING to do with popularity in high school, at least not in my high school. 

 

Substitute Teacher Tip - Map your school!

One of my best tips for other substitutes is to map the school you are going to in the morning.  Even if you have GPS. Just in case technology fails you, you have at least a general idea of where to go.

I don't know why, but for some reason my GPS doesn't know where many schools are.  I end up in the middle of a neigborhood or a nearby park.  After it happened a few times, I started to map my school before I left, double checking the street view to make sure Google actually knows where the school is located.

It is so embarassing to show up late because you got lost.

Thrown to the Wolves!

Do you ever feel like a school is throwing you to the wolves?  A while back, I went into a room with NO warning..  These kids were crazy.  At some point almost half of the kids were sent to the office.  A couple were dragged out of the room by aides.  This is not a behavior classroom. 

At lunch I went to the Principal and told him I wanted to leave.  I have never done that before!  I haven't even considered it!  He talked me into staying and told me that he would "Read them the riot act!" after lunch. 

He came in and asked them to sit in a circle so they could have a class conference.  This took 25 minutes.  Not the conference, the CIRCLE!  When they finally got settled he began quietly asking them about how they thought their day was going.  They complained that I was giving them too much work.  (Following the lesson plan here, and leaving out several things already.) They complained that I promised them an extra recess and then took it away. (The teacher left time in for a special recess if they earned it.  They didn't!)  There was lots of talking and miscellaneous complaints about other students.  He listened quietly and then said, if you can believe it, "It sounds like Ms. Day isn't being fair to you.  If you can agree to have better behavior this afternoon, you can have that extra recess right now."  Then he got up and left, while kids were running out of the door of the classroom and down the hall, passing him, toward the playground. 

If I weren't currently attempting to find a job in this district I would have had a string of words for him that I would not print here. 

I followed them out to the playground, let them have 10 minutes and then blew the whistle.  Do you think they came in?  Are you kidding?  They just ignored me and another teacher came out, blew her whistle, started screaming about them being too loud by her classroom and calling all of their parents.  They finally relented and came back in. 

The teacher had 45 minutes of silent reading time planned for the rest of the day.  I figured that was going to be another disaster, but the kids actually got out their books and read pretty quietly until I told them it was time to clean up and go home.  It was about 10 minutes before the bell rang, but they immediately tried to start leaving.  I had to physically block the door until the bell rang.

I don't plan to EVER return to this school.  Or anywhere that this principal is working.