Substituting

It is just one of those days... My day always starts out good, but things have the ability to really digress from there. I had a great workout with my comrade, Daniel, and the staff meeting wasn't too bad, but then things just kind of shifted from there.

I'm substituting two classes for one of the SM's this week because she is off traveling the country with her family and it has made things slightly stressful. I have three classes with my 10th graders and I'm not going to lie for one second that they are the class that takes the most energy. They are smart, talented, obnoxious, half are disrespectful, and most annoyingly they don't really care about too much. They love to push the limits as far as they can and test me constantly. I'm not going to deny that they are a giant pain in the butt at times.

Today was one of those times. I started by teaching them Physical Science (one of the classes I'm substituting) and the first they did was try to see if I would make them sit in their assigned seats. Naturally, I did and the whole usual river of crap started coming out of their mouths, "but Ms. Bethany lets us sit where we want." I replied, "Really? Wow, that's funny that she gave me a seating chart." Nothing, but silence.

Then I told them to start their homework and 1/4 of them came up to me and said, "We need to go get our books." I said, "OK but I have to mark you tardy." Then the river started flowing again, "But Ms. Bethany lets us go and get our books when we want." "Hmmm... that's a crazy coincidence guys, but it says on the substitute sheet that I should mark you tardy. Crazy! How did that happen guys?" Once again they shut up.

Then they started the homework and they said, "Mr. what are the assigned problems." I looked at my sub directions and found their were no assigned problems, FUN! Then there was a sentence beneath it, "they will know what problems to do, tell them it is the normal assignment." So I said confidently, "Do the normal assignment." Blank stares. "But Mr what is zhe assignment are we zuppozed to do?" (they always pronounce their th's and s's as zuhh's). Now is where the survival mode kicked in. Adapt, improvise, and overcome. So I looked at the book and chose a set of problems from the review that looked interesting to me and wrote them on the board.

They were quite for a time and did there work, but then the class started to wind down. So I said, "OK guys your assignments are due now." The river began again, "But Mr they aren't due until tomorrow." I checked the sheet and what did ya know, "Do at the end of class." I made a quick decision to let them keep them until tomorrow because I had no idea what the problem set was actually supposed to be like.

I look at this and think to myself that was a crappy day of classes. I've been pretty flippin' cranky throughout my classes because I'm tired of all the crap! That isn't how it should be though. They should not dictate my emotions or my actions. I want to be firm with them but at the same time I want to be personal and have the chance to connect with them. Time to reevaluate though....

The lesson I learned today:#1 If you are substituting or having a sub, then give exact directions!
#2- Don't let my students run me. I'm the Captain of this Ship! I got that from Tom Hewson, thanks Coach.