Back to middle school

This time I was assigned to a seventh grade Math/science gig. AND THE BONUS--I GOT TO TEACH!! YEAH!! REAL LESSON PLANS!!!!!

Ok...so I arrived about 5 minutes before school started. I got stuck behind a tractor on the highway...BLAH. I walk into the classroom quickly discovering that I had real lesson plans. I was to actually teach the students about Surface area and volume. ARgh! less than 5 minutes to read over the plans and the kids are coming in...

Well I did just fine. I started out by telling the kids if they were not in their assigned seats i would mark them absent! (BTW--did i mention this was the first teacher that had seating charts.) Of course then the kids really disliked me and thought I was mean--but I made a good first impression. They were pretty good. There was one student who I sent to the office. He started cursing at me for mispronouncing his name--but otherwise all was good. The lesson went over well and most kids finished the assignment without a hassle. The select few who didn't were kids that chose not to work the entire time given. (And I made sure to note that for the teacher's return.)

The next class was science and it was fun. The teacher had an interactive lesson on energy. I got to teach and put in some of my own two cents. I really got the class involved in some creative thinking and conversation. It was a very interactive class. The kids were good. I had an SEA even tell me that she was surprised by how good they were. (Music to a sub's ears.)

I then taught another science class (that went just as well) and had lunch. For my prep, I actually subbed in another class where the SEA taught. I was just an extra body. She pretty much had control of things. (In other words, I was present to make the class legal.) At the end of this class all the kids then went into the hall to cha cha. Yes Chacha. This is the second school I have been to that plays music randomly during the day and has the kids dance in the halls.

So while the kids were chachaing I returned back to my class to prepare for the next math lesson. This class the teacher told me the ESL teacher may teach. When she came in (the ESL Teacher) she did want to teach the class, so I left it all to her. Ironically, this was the same class I had had before lunch and all had gone well with them. However, it did not go so well for the ESL teacher. There were three adults in the classroom. The ESL, Me, and an SEA--and I thought the class was pretty bad. They talked while the ESL teacher spoke and did very little. I think two kids completed the worksheet. It was evident that the students did not see the ESL teacher as a teacher. In fact, I spoke with her later and discovered that the regular ed teacher only lets her teach when she is absent. In other words, she is not seen as an equal in the classroom. ---okay-I will vent more on this in a minute....

So the last class of the day was science again. The ESL teacher had the option again to teach it--but I think after the math class, she had just about had it. She asked me to do it. The kids were a bit rowdier (it was the end of the day) but the class went really well. Once again there was a lot of interaction. I just had to take extra time waiting for the kids to get quiet so we could continue on.

All in all I thought it was a successful day. The kids were good. They tried to be bad, but I was strict and learned key names quickly. **Always learn the names of the kids that are most excited that a sub is present--these are usually the key players later on**

After school the ESL teacher lagged behind and we talked a bit. She was in her first year of teaching and was struggling with getting students respect. I spoke with her about my wonderful year teaching with my friend Mr. Dupies. Mr. Dupies was my SEA. He was great! We worked together in the classroom as equals. I supported him 100% in the classroom and he did likewise for me. It was similar to a parent relationship. I did not question anything he did in front of the kids. HOwever, I may ask him later about things after class. Even though I prepared the daily lesson plans, I always had a part for him to teach or go over in the classroom. This way he was an active teacher as well. It also helped the SE students to not be so evident--not all kids knew that Mr. Dupies was an SEA, he was simply a coteacher to them. Anyways back to the ESL teacher---(Oh by the way ESL is an English as a second language teacher--aka helps translate.) So yeah, this ESL teacher never taught and had no respect in the classroom--no wonder she was walked on.

So ESL and SEA teachers are a newer concept over the last 15 years. Many older teachers are not used to having active counterparts in the classroom. I have no idea if this teacher was old, but it was evident that she did not see the ESL teacher as an equal--feeding into the problem...so my thoughts (like you can't tell...)

All adults in a school need to be seen as having equal authority--and that includes janitors and cafeteria workers. A janitor should have the right to tell a kid to pick up his/her trash and have it respected. However, a janitor does not have as much power (no grade control) so they should be strongly supported by administration. This ESL teacher needs to have her position built up and into the classroom. The kids need to see her as valuable as the regular ed teacher (BECAUSE SHE IS!!!) She can bring a different perspective for those that are struggling to grasp concepts. She can give feedback to the regular ed teacher on what she sees (how the students are doing, what is going over well, discipline problems, etc...) She can split the student:teacher ration in HALF!!!! TWICE THE HELP!!! THink of all the benefits!!! Even classroom management should be better. The kids should get caught doing bad stuff TWICE AS OFTEN!!! HELLO!!! Meaning they should be on track 2x better than a classroom with one teacher. THANK YOU ESL's and SEA's for making my life so much easier. From one teacher to another--I am glad you are apart of my classroom!