Subbing Day From Hell

This past week I had by far my worst day of substitute teaching. I finally decided to venture back into the world of middle school teaching, taking a job at Grissom Middle School that included a half day of teaching math/science classes and a half day of teaching remedial reading classes. The morning math and science classes went relatively smoothly, although the teacher did not give enough work to occupy the students the entire class period. That was really no problem though, as by the end of class I had a handful of 13-year-old boys hanging out by my desk as we talked sports and they asked about my year in Africa.

Things got interesting in the afternoon, though. First of all, I learned that most kids in remedial reading classes are not "slow" or "special needs"--they are simply TROUBLEMAKERS! For the first time in my subbing career--going all the way back to a couple years that I subbed during college--I had to kick two kids out of class. In a class filled with way too much attitude, a couple girls started getting into it, swearing at each other and getting up into each others' faces. I seriously thought there was about to be a royal rumble!

The day wasn't all bad, though. I actually met three kids from Africa, which was cool. One of the girls, Lulu, was from Kenya, and I got to brush up on my Swahili with her.

Finally, the highlight of the day came when I confiscated this note that was circulating in one of my classes:


Ha! The kids freaked out when I took the note. I'm pretty sure they were relieved when I started laughing. I thought it was hilarious!