Thursday, January 27, 2005
Zero to Eighth Grade in 49 Minutes
Two days at the middle school in a row! I still have some hair left, so the days must have gone OK. After a late night last night (open mic, though TSA and I skipped the trivia and brews at Boston's afterward) I was sleeping really well this morning. Then I got a call at 7:06am. Now normally when I get called to sub, it's 6:11am, so I had no idea what this would be. They were looking for a sub, however and asked how soon I could get in. I said I could be in by 8:00 and started in on my abbreviated morning routine. As I was showering, I remembered that the middle school starts classes at 7:55, so if I really hustled, I could be there for the very start of class.
I made it by 7:55, but the teacher didn't have a lesson plan so I had to call him at home and get some stuff. It really wasn't anything too complicated, but I had to have it. I walked into class at 8:00 and started in on my day. The kids were great, they had taken attendence and the lunch count so I didn't have to worry about that when I came in. I'm sure they were directed to do so by the teacher across the hall, but still it was awfully nice of them.
The first hour class was supposed to go to the gym that morning, but the gym was set up for something else. I asked them what they do when they can't go to the gym and they said one of the things they did was play US history trivia. Now we're talkin'! They wanted to go get another class to play against but I told them I'd play against the entire class. OK, I realize I was playing against a group of 8th graders, but I still trounced them 6 to 3. I also had one answer that I'd have been proud of no matter who I was playing with. The question was "Who did Nicholas Costalano play on the TV series 'Cheers'?" Of course the correct answer is coach. But the kids decided I had to come up with the character's name. I thought for a minute, I hadn't seen an episode of 'Cheers' in a while, let alone one from the first couple of seasons when Coach was on. Then it just came to me: Ernie Pantusso. Yeah, I left them in awe. Since the first class is sort of a homeroom thing, I would see a lot of these students later in the day. So at the beginning of each social studies class I made a student from the homeroom period tell everyone in the class that I beat them all in trivia 6-3. It's great when the teacher gets to be a complete ass.
In all actuality, today was a good day. Having taught a little middle school recently, I'm amazed at the maturity difference from sixth grade to eighth grade. Today was eighth graders, so they were generally well behaved and they did the work assigned without too much trouble.
I also had my niece in class for the first time today. And her seat was right in front of my desk. So before class started I said quietly to her, "We knew this was going to happen some day, didn't we?" She just smiled and we went about class. It wasn't nearly as weird as I thought it would be.
Then again, after lunch, the kids came in and asked how I liked being on Jeopardy! This was completely unprovoked by me, so someone brought it up. The only eighth grader who would have know that was my niece, so I'll blame her. Maybe it could have been some of the seventh graders from the day before, but do you think eighth graders would really hang with seventh graders at lunch? It was fun anyway.
My only complaint about the day, and mind you it's a small one, is that I bust my butt to get into school by the start of class after being woken from a sound sleep. I made it and taught a whole day. But, since the teacher's day starts at 7:30, I got paid a half hour less than I would have if they'd have called me when they should have. If anything, they should have paid me more, but they didn't. Thanks!
BOJ
I made it by 7:55, but the teacher didn't have a lesson plan so I had to call him at home and get some stuff. It really wasn't anything too complicated, but I had to have it. I walked into class at 8:00 and started in on my day. The kids were great, they had taken attendence and the lunch count so I didn't have to worry about that when I came in. I'm sure they were directed to do so by the teacher across the hall, but still it was awfully nice of them.
The first hour class was supposed to go to the gym that morning, but the gym was set up for something else. I asked them what they do when they can't go to the gym and they said one of the things they did was play US history trivia. Now we're talkin'! They wanted to go get another class to play against but I told them I'd play against the entire class. OK, I realize I was playing against a group of 8th graders, but I still trounced them 6 to 3. I also had one answer that I'd have been proud of no matter who I was playing with. The question was "Who did Nicholas Costalano play on the TV series 'Cheers'?" Of course the correct answer is coach. But the kids decided I had to come up with the character's name. I thought for a minute, I hadn't seen an episode of 'Cheers' in a while, let alone one from the first couple of seasons when Coach was on. Then it just came to me: Ernie Pantusso. Yeah, I left them in awe. Since the first class is sort of a homeroom thing, I would see a lot of these students later in the day. So at the beginning of each social studies class I made a student from the homeroom period tell everyone in the class that I beat them all in trivia 6-3. It's great when the teacher gets to be a complete ass.
In all actuality, today was a good day. Having taught a little middle school recently, I'm amazed at the maturity difference from sixth grade to eighth grade. Today was eighth graders, so they were generally well behaved and they did the work assigned without too much trouble.
I also had my niece in class for the first time today. And her seat was right in front of my desk. So before class started I said quietly to her, "We knew this was going to happen some day, didn't we?" She just smiled and we went about class. It wasn't nearly as weird as I thought it would be.
Then again, after lunch, the kids came in and asked how I liked being on Jeopardy! This was completely unprovoked by me, so someone brought it up. The only eighth grader who would have know that was my niece, so I'll blame her. Maybe it could have been some of the seventh graders from the day before, but do you think eighth graders would really hang with seventh graders at lunch? It was fun anyway.
My only complaint about the day, and mind you it's a small one, is that I bust my butt to get into school by the start of class after being woken from a sound sleep. I made it and taught a whole day. But, since the teacher's day starts at 7:30, I got paid a half hour less than I would have if they'd have called me when they should have. If anything, they should have paid me more, but they didn't. Thanks!
BOJ
# posted by Blind Orange Julius @ 4:17 PM 
