Law of Gravity

It was Monday of the last week of school. The eighth graders were on a celebratory field trip to Knott's Berry Farm . The teacher I was covering was one of the chaperones, and I was left with all of his seventh graders. Mr. S had one period of middle school leadership, one period of middle school theater, and two periods of English Language Development (read: English learners). As his leadership and theater classes needed a different sort of room, he traveled to a more academic classroom for the ELD classes. The room he used for his ELD classes housed health classes the rest of the day. It's the end of the semester, so the health classes are currently studying sexually transmitted diseases, something first period gleefully informed me of. (I knew this already, so I shrugged it off.) The classes' assignment was an essay about what goals they had for their summer vacation. And they were less than pleased to be writing. And sixth period... They were terrible in the usual sort ...

I've been struggling with this post for days. It still might not make much sense... It was Thursday. I was covering the Mandarin class. No, not that one . Different school. Apparently Mandarin is a thing now. At least for this school district. That morning, I woke with a sore throat that went into full blown head cold for the holiday weekend. (If you noticed that I wasn't around the blogs, that was why.) It turned out to be not a bad day. Which is a good thing when one is starting to feel miserable. However, I was warned about sixth period. They were the "interesting" group. When the teacher told me this (Ms. L was there that morning as she was chaperoning a field trip to a local temple), I took a look at the seating chart (with pictures!), and I did recognize the students she warned me about. Jake was one. I did get to chide him on pretending to be Steven. When the other students overheard this, I informed them that Jake preferred to be called Steven. And I told Ms....

They were way too happy to see me. And that really makes me nervous. Friday. Sixth period. US history. This was the class that I had before spring break .  One of the students was saying how she had wished for a sub, and not just any sub but me in particular. But, she knew that Mr. B was on campus. And I was elsewhere.  But, the teacher I was covering had sixth period prep. And, as I may have mentioned before, this year it's been more likely than not that I pick up an extra period (and an extra period's pay) rather than getting the time off.  I have no idea why, but Mr. B had to leave early. So, guess who was asked to cover it? When students are that happy to see me, I wonder what it was that I let them get away with. Because why would students like  a sub? There's something wrong with this picture. However, this was the good class. They were generally silent. Of the whole day, they were the best behaved group. So, again, whatever did I let them get away with? I gave...

It was the Friday before spring break (two weeks ago). And it was a minimum day. Weirdly, the best class of the day was sixth period. Usually, I have to fight with sixth period. They're done with the day, and they can't be bothered to work. But not this group. I had had them for a week. It was one of those days (multiplied by five) where my biggest issue was finding a way to stay awake. Because there's something pretty boring about watching classes do their assignments. By sixth period, I had finished reading blogs, reading a magazine, writing blog posts, and taking care of all my usual keep-Liz-awake activities I bring along just in case I have an easy day like this. I was wiped. When they arrived on Friday, I held up the handout. I asked each row if they needed it. No one did. This did not surprise me, however. Earlier in the week, the students had come up to get the next assignment and the next. I informed them that they were getting ahead. But I have no issue with them ...

Seventh grade math. Sixth period. They did not want to come into the room. Because it smelled. Middle school classrooms generally have an awful odor. I expect mustiness or body odor or someone passing gas. But that's not what caused the stink. The room smelled like marijuana. (I only recently learned what marijuana smells like. Call me naive. This sort of thing was not in my experience. But someone pointed it out--the upstairs neighbors partake--and now I realize it wasn't always a skunk in the neighborhood.) I assumed the smell came from outside, but the neighboring classrooms weren't reeking. I got a whiff of it before fifth period started. Someone was smoking outside at lunch? Fifth period had been difficult. I spent most of the period circulating the room. Keeping the kiddos on task didn't happen. I worked on keeping them seated. You'd think I would have noticed someone smoking in class . Considering the smell in sixth period, apparently not. It was so bad, an a...

Some days... It was Friday, and my day up until that point had been fairly uneventful. I was asked to cover an extra period (naturally) for sixth period, and it was next door. I had a chance to talk to the teacher before she left. Ms. M apologized for the class. There were only seventeen of them, but they had way more energy than anyone should have at the end of the day, she said. They weren't out of the ordinary for a middle school class. They wouldn't settle to let me give instructions. There was the boy who thought he didn't have to sit in his assigned seat. Well, three boys. I had to stop the video four or five times because they were talking. And getting anyone to read the article (this was after the video)... They'd read when I insisted, but it took them forever to comply. After taking way too long to settle them (again) for the next reader to go, I had just had it. They could answer the questions and finish the reading on their own. They did, but they did it way ...

Eighth grade English. Friday. The teacher left them a video. It was the classic  Twilight Zone . We had time to watch two episodes.  "The Fugitive" and "Little Girl Lost" . (If you want to refresh your memory, they're available on Netflix, Amazon, Hulu, and CBS.com.) It had been a difficult day. One period would not stop talking. Another whined about having to watch something in black and white. The advanced group was even a challenge to get settled. I had been warned about sixth period. I braced for the worst.  After booting a kid for defiantly eating in class (his parting shot: "fatty Patty"), the rest of the group sort of almost settled. And then I started the show.  Did they sit back and enjoy the show? Of course not. The kiddos heckled the screen.  They compared the old man in the first episode to R. Kelly. They made fun of the crazy contraption that healed the little girl.  Then there were all sorts of suggestions for the second episode. I had t...