First day

Today was my first day of subbing for a school and of course, it was a middle school! I got to sub for a 7th grade English class. It was really fun, I think. I had minor problems with the students, but it didn't frazzle me at all. I just kept letting the trouble makers/talkers know that I was not impressed with their behavior and neither was anyone else and that pretty much kept them at bay. I was firm but friendly and I think the kids realized that. Here's some of what went on today:

First thing during Advisory (homeroom) period, we had a fire drill. I forgot the attendance sheet, but it turned out to be no big deal because I wasn't missing anyone--I figure 25 is a good number to be safe in assuming that nobody is missing. I also had a kid that wanted to do a little show and tell to the class because he wanted to share his story about catching a baby cougar in the wilderness--he had pictures. We got back into the building after the drill for 1st period and that class was awesome. They were kinda my guinea pig class because I wasn't sure of which order to go in for some of the activities and what all I should ask the students to get out for me from their binders. They helped me though.

2nd period was prep time for the teacher, so it was a free 50 minutes for me. Then, 3rd period began. They were also pretty good but I had a few troublemakers--mainly boys being silly like they always are...and I never realized how stupid 7th grade boys are and how much they don't make sense. One boy came up to me and started saying, "I'm gonna be going on a 3 day hunting trip on Thursday...." (pauses, and stands there). I just look at him and say, "Oh yeah? And so...?" I thought he was trying to get out of something, which I had no control of....
"Yeah, my dad and I are gonna go shoot some cows...."
"Cows???!"
"Yeah, like elk cows--female elks..."
"OOOhhh...okay, I thought you meant like dairy cows....I was thinkin' those would be too easy of a target!"
"Haha...yeah...." (he walks away)

4th period begins and I have some supposed troublemakers according to the teacher's notes...I had no problems with them.

5th period started and I definitely had some problem children. I ended up separating 2 boys and then the one that didn't get moved kept talking incessantly....I told him, "Who do you think you're impressing?? Because nobody here is laughing, so get quiet!" I said all this in a firm but calm voice and the rest of the class time was pretty decent.

6th period was lunch and 7th period was another prep time.

8th period was the IEP class (basically the class where more than 2 kids need some extra help). I tried to go at a slower pace and actually the class wasn't so bad--they were just a little talkative. And there were times when people were a little overly eager to read grammar book pages--I think it was to just be silly. I ignored it. Then, the day was over!

All in all, I had a good experience there at Sawtooth Middle School and I definitely wouldn't mind going back there again. Not to mention, it took under 10 minutes to get there! Nice....