Teacher's Day Off

Teacher's day off = my day of substitute teaching. I was left in charge of the Language Arts classes/the 8th grade on Thursday. Nervous does not begin to describe how I felt about this event. But I had an Ana at my side and complete lesson plans for the day.

I started with the 7th grade. I had a quick, nervous moment where they told me they had already done the questions I had for them. But, come to find out, they wrote the answers. So we had a class discussion on them, and for the first time since coming to the school, I heard the 7th graders engage in class and in a story. I still don't have the skills/know-how to get the entire class to participate, or even pay attention, but I could get enough of them to answer to have a class discussion.

On the flip side, the 8th grade remained pretty much silent. It took them until Friday to realize that when I ask questions I sincerely want answers. And not just one cookie-cutter "right" answer.

As for the 6th grade, they are still learning about indoor voices. I did discover that the 8th grade can do quiet, though, and quick for lining up. As per a fantastic suggestion from my beloved roomie, I offered them a competition and an incentive: kindergartners can line up in 3 minutes. Can you go faster? 2min30secs to line up, every time you line up for me, 4 days in a row, and you get a snack at recess time. We cut the time down from 5 minutes to 55 seconds. These kids are amazing when they put their mind to it.