Thank you all for your love!!! I’m doing alright now… I’ve just had a few days of rough classes, straight in a row. I guess that is the “job hazard” of subbing… you never know what you will get!
On Monday, I taught a fifth grade class. This isn’t the first time I have taught fifth grade, but it was definitely the hardest. The other fifth grade classes I have had were relatively well behaved. The class I had on Monday was… chaotic.
Then on Tuesday, I filled in for a high school science teacher. The teaching part wasn’t hard, but I now know that you should NEVER work in a high school filled with 2000 opinionated students who can’t vote on an election day. It felt like I spent the whole day reminding the kids of why we vote, and the importance of a secret ballot, and why we have an electoral college, and why you are not automatically stupid if you voting for *fill in the candidate*. And that’s a quote… I had SEVERAL students who told me that “anyone who votes for *fill in the candidate* is stupid. I had students who felt that everyone who votes for McCain is stupid. I had students who felt that everyone who votes for Obama is stupid. In fact, I think “stupid” was among the nicest words those kids used to describe people they did not agree with. Filthy mouths. *sigh*
Today I subbed for a second grade class that was (to put it delicately) in the part of town that has a predominantly lower socioeconomic class. It was a NIGHTMARE. Part of the problem was that the teacher did not give me nearly enough activities for the kids. A class full of kids with nothing to do is GUARANTEED trouble. But I also had a handful of students that were just really determined to not do the work. After I handed out a math worksheet, I had a student who literally CRIED (with tears!!) because I was making him do such hard work, and because if he didn’t do the worksheet he would have to miss recess, and because I was just being so mean to him. I had another student who literally spent the whole day trying to sneak out of the classroom. I had a student who almost never actually sat in her desk (and consequently never actually did her classwork). I hate being a mean teacher, but when the kids refuse to behave, I have to be. But it really takes a lot out of me… by the end of the day I am so exhausted.
Being exhausted really throws me off. I just can’t process everything going on around me. Between the stress and exhaustion, I am just barely functional. Luckily I have an EASY half day assignment tomorrow… which I will need, since I will probably want to take a nap and recover from this week!
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