Here was an assignment I do not feel I was up to, because of my lack of skilled classroom management techniques.
This morning when I reported to a local middle school and checked in as a substitute, I was asked a most peculiar question that warned me this would not be an easy assignment. I was asked -- for the first time in my years of substitute teaching -- if I had any belongings such as my wallet or phone that I wanted to have placed in a locked space in the office before I went to class.
I didn't because luckily my phone was at home charging, and there was little of value in my wallet, which i carried in my left front pocket, so I declined.
I was accompanied to the classroom, where the security man accompanying me unlocked the door and let me in.
All seemed normal -- except that there seemed only to be about half the usual number of behavioral exhortations on blackboard and paper notices on the wall. Usually these ar=say such things as "Treat each other with respect," "do not bully," "raise your hand if you have a question," and so forth.
If I have complained at times because I do not have the opportunity actually to teach students, the lesson plan left for me was a dead giveaway that nothing significantly educational waqs going to happen to these 7th graders if I did what I was asked to do.
It was a Wednesday, a short day in many of the local schools. Instead of getting out at 3 pm, school got out around 1 p.m. According to the lesson plan left for me, the first period consisted of my taking attendance, and then the students were to play a word game in which one team or leader though of a letter and the rest of the class was supposed to guess words that started with that letter. Remember that this was a 7th grade class, which means that they should not have an elementary school mentality, and that they should be two years away from high school.
As the students filed in at the beginning of the class, I noted that none of them looked different than other students. There were no Downs Syndrome kid, nine showing signs of extreme autisim, or any symptoms like that. They seemed a bit noisy but they went to their assigned seats. I introduced myself, put my name on the board, I picked the student who seemed most in charge -- most aggressive looking, more a leader than the others, and asked his help in taking attendance, and also in getting the students started on the first activity. He did fine with the attendance, but but didn't try very hard to get the other students into the word game. In fact, most of the students were clearly not interested in the activity the teacher had planned for them, and showed this by ignoring it.
The "lesson plan" left for me commented after outlining the day's activities that these kids usually react with anger if confronted, and the way to deal with them was to state the behavior I expected, wait ten seconds for them to conform, state it again, wait another ten seconds, and then state the consequences of not obeying.
But let us run down the rest of the activities for the day. The second period was to be devoted to the students going to the computers and playing games on a selection of web sites. Probably two of them actually did this, while the others visited whatever sites they wanted to visit and tried to keep me from knowing this. The third period was to be devoted to another game, bingo, of which we were to play four different versions. The third period was to be devoted to a board game -- the students had their choice of which among 5 or 6 they wanted to play. There was then a lunch period a half-hour long. After that there was to be about 45 minutes of reading, in which each student was to select a book from a wide range of books at the back of the room, and sit quietly at his or her desk and read, As far as I could see, this was the only period of the day in which students might actually learn something -- if they read the right book -- and the remainder of the day was a total waste of time.
The day started with one girl in the class. All the others were boys. About midway through the morning another girl arrived with a permission slip to be admitted. She had had a doctor's appointment and was just getting to school. When I asked her what was special about the class, she mentioned something about "anger management." About a few minutes after the second period started, a taller boy appeared, too. He was listed on the attendance sheet, so I let him in. At first he seemed more mature than most of the others, and so did the tall girl who arrived late. He went up to the tall girl and hugged her. It seemed just friendly and not sexual, so I said nothing.
I made the opportunity to have one-on-one chats with the tall girl and also the fellow who had hugged her. Both had spent much of their lives in foster homes, she in about 16 of them and he in more than twenty. Having known another person who had been in more than 16 foster homes before he had turned 18, I knew that the foster home situation in California, as in most other states, is a terrible system that practically destroys the people placed in them. I asked the boy that if he could change any one thing about the California State foster system, what would he change. His reply was that he would find a way to give the child a way to choose what family he wanted to go to. He wanted children to be able to go to a home where people actually cared about him. The word he actually used was "love." I asked him how, if given choices, he would know this before going to a family. He was short on specifics, but he said he would know.
When I asked the tall girl who had been in foster homes what she would change, she talked about greater state supervision and better selection of the families. Most these days just foster kids for money, she said. She wanted much greater care in the state's admitting families into the program. She wanted a case worker to come to the family once a month. As it is, she said, a case worked comes twice a year. She also commented that the families taking in foster children do not seem to be thoroughly investigated before they place children in their custody.
It seemed to me that these two students had a little more maturity than the others in the class. I learned otherwise near the end of the day when suddenly the girl came chasing after the boy right uo to my desk, and there was a loud crash and the sound of shattering glass as the girl threw a glass coffeepot at the boy, it hit the board behind me, and pieces of glass went all over the floor. She claimed he had "touched her." I asked if it had been in any way sexual. She stated no. Fortunately a security guard had been walking right by the classroom door, heard the noise, and within about ten seconds came in. He hauled the two to the office. The boy, I saw from some paperwork, was expelled for a week or two. So much for my belief that I could accurately assess any signs of maturity.
The last period of the day was to be given over to reading. Each student was to select a book from a large array of books at the back of the room, and to spend 45 minutes reading. What the students all selected were the sort of Japanese graphic novels that are read from back to front. Not a one of them picked a book that was mainly text with only supporting illustrations.
These were profoundly disturbed students, the entire class of them. They had been placed in the class for good reason, because in an ordinary class they would be unmanageable and would cause such trouble that this would prevent other students from learning. I doubt if I would ever again accept an assignment with this kind of student even though they need someone to look after them during class time. Somewhere my interests need to be taken into account, I told myself. I want to be in a situation in which students who might need help with their schoolwork can actually learn from me. This wasn't it.
This morning when I reported to a local middle school and checked in as a substitute, I was asked a most peculiar question that warned me this would not be an easy assignment. I was asked -- for the first time in my years of substitute teaching -- if I had any belongings such as my wallet or phone that I wanted to have placed in a locked space in the office before I went to class.
I didn't because luckily my phone was at home charging, and there was little of value in my wallet, which i carried in my left front pocket, so I declined.
I was accompanied to the classroom, where the security man accompanying me unlocked the door and let me in.
All seemed normal -- except that there seemed only to be about half the usual number of behavioral exhortations on blackboard and paper notices on the wall. Usually these ar=say such things as "Treat each other with respect," "do not bully," "raise your hand if you have a question," and so forth.
If I have complained at times because I do not have the opportunity actually to teach students, the lesson plan left for me was a dead giveaway that nothing significantly educational waqs going to happen to these 7th graders if I did what I was asked to do.
It was a Wednesday, a short day in many of the local schools. Instead of getting out at 3 pm, school got out around 1 p.m. According to the lesson plan left for me, the first period consisted of my taking attendance, and then the students were to play a word game in which one team or leader though of a letter and the rest of the class was supposed to guess words that started with that letter. Remember that this was a 7th grade class, which means that they should not have an elementary school mentality, and that they should be two years away from high school.
As the students filed in at the beginning of the class, I noted that none of them looked different than other students. There were no Downs Syndrome kid, nine showing signs of extreme autisim, or any symptoms like that. They seemed a bit noisy but they went to their assigned seats. I introduced myself, put my name on the board, I picked the student who seemed most in charge -- most aggressive looking, more a leader than the others, and asked his help in taking attendance, and also in getting the students started on the first activity. He did fine with the attendance, but but didn't try very hard to get the other students into the word game. In fact, most of the students were clearly not interested in the activity the teacher had planned for them, and showed this by ignoring it.
The "lesson plan" left for me commented after outlining the day's activities that these kids usually react with anger if confronted, and the way to deal with them was to state the behavior I expected, wait ten seconds for them to conform, state it again, wait another ten seconds, and then state the consequences of not obeying.
But let us run down the rest of the activities for the day. The second period was to be devoted to the students going to the computers and playing games on a selection of web sites. Probably two of them actually did this, while the others visited whatever sites they wanted to visit and tried to keep me from knowing this. The third period was to be devoted to another game, bingo, of which we were to play four different versions. The third period was to be devoted to a board game -- the students had their choice of which among 5 or 6 they wanted to play. There was then a lunch period a half-hour long. After that there was to be about 45 minutes of reading, in which each student was to select a book from a wide range of books at the back of the room, and sit quietly at his or her desk and read, As far as I could see, this was the only period of the day in which students might actually learn something -- if they read the right book -- and the remainder of the day was a total waste of time.
The day started with one girl in the class. All the others were boys. About midway through the morning another girl arrived with a permission slip to be admitted. She had had a doctor's appointment and was just getting to school. When I asked her what was special about the class, she mentioned something about "anger management." About a few minutes after the second period started, a taller boy appeared, too. He was listed on the attendance sheet, so I let him in. At first he seemed more mature than most of the others, and so did the tall girl who arrived late. He went up to the tall girl and hugged her. It seemed just friendly and not sexual, so I said nothing.
I made the opportunity to have one-on-one chats with the tall girl and also the fellow who had hugged her. Both had spent much of their lives in foster homes, she in about 16 of them and he in more than twenty. Having known another person who had been in more than 16 foster homes before he had turned 18, I knew that the foster home situation in California, as in most other states, is a terrible system that practically destroys the people placed in them. I asked the boy that if he could change any one thing about the California State foster system, what would he change. His reply was that he would find a way to give the child a way to choose what family he wanted to go to. He wanted children to be able to go to a home where people actually cared about him. The word he actually used was "love." I asked him how, if given choices, he would know this before going to a family. He was short on specifics, but he said he would know.
When I asked the tall girl who had been in foster homes what she would change, she talked about greater state supervision and better selection of the families. Most these days just foster kids for money, she said. She wanted much greater care in the state's admitting families into the program. She wanted a case worker to come to the family once a month. As it is, she said, a case worked comes twice a year. She also commented that the families taking in foster children do not seem to be thoroughly investigated before they place children in their custody.
It seemed to me that these two students had a little more maturity than the others in the class. I learned otherwise near the end of the day when suddenly the girl came chasing after the boy right uo to my desk, and there was a loud crash and the sound of shattering glass as the girl threw a glass coffeepot at the boy, it hit the board behind me, and pieces of glass went all over the floor. She claimed he had "touched her." I asked if it had been in any way sexual. She stated no. Fortunately a security guard had been walking right by the classroom door, heard the noise, and within about ten seconds came in. He hauled the two to the office. The boy, I saw from some paperwork, was expelled for a week or two. So much for my belief that I could accurately assess any signs of maturity.
The last period of the day was to be given over to reading. Each student was to select a book from a large array of books at the back of the room, and to spend 45 minutes reading. What the students all selected were the sort of Japanese graphic novels that are read from back to front. Not a one of them picked a book that was mainly text with only supporting illustrations.
These were profoundly disturbed students, the entire class of them. They had been placed in the class for good reason, because in an ordinary class they would be unmanageable and would cause such trouble that this would prevent other students from learning. I doubt if I would ever again accept an assignment with this kind of student even though they need someone to look after them during class time. Somewhere my interests need to be taken into account, I told myself. I want to be in a situation in which students who might need help with their schoolwork can actually learn from me. This wasn't it.
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