Today was really crazy to say the least. ¨Bien pesado¨ (really tiring or literally ¨good (meaning very) weighted¨ is how I described it in Spanish. The first hour and 10 minutes were wonderful. I was teaching in my 6th grade, and I had thought of some cool activities to include in history to make it a bit more interesting. I had the students draw a map to show where Germany and Russia were moving their armies at the start of WWI. I then had them briefly act out ¨war fever.¨ The boys had to goose-step down the aisle of the classroom as ¨soldiers,¨ and the girls had to run up to them and act swooned over. It was a fun and very short activity to help them remember the concept of ¨war fever.¨ We also had an awesome Hawaiian themed birthday party with tons of food and an enormous pop-up card I made and had all of my 55 students sign planned for my cooperating teacher, whose birthday is tomorrow. The party was going to be in the first recess.
Well, I found out at 8:30 that I needed to substitute in 4th grade for the rest of the day starting at 9:10a.m., and I didn't have a free hour other than recess times!! I ended up going to the b-day party for my teacher for 10 minutes, and the rest of my day was consumed with 4th grade. It was an incredible learning experience but so, so hard. Two girls told me their books were at home, but when the coordinator came in and asked them, they both had their books in their backpacks. One student discovered spelling words written in pen on a table that one girl used to cheat on her spelling test, so I had to check her book against the table and report her! Aside from that the students were generally rambunctious. I at least made sure to ask names at the start, and I quickly learned the napes of those who misbehave more frequently. I found myself raising my voice a bit louder than I normally do, so my throat is rather sore now. I also went into Spanish completely, since I wasn't sure how well they'd understand my English, and I wanted my instructions to be completely clear. I realized that I can't function without knowing the procedures, rules, and consequences of a classroom! I felt completely ineffective! I learned that I never ever want to be a substitute on a long term basis, and I think that I'll leave a friendly little manual in my own classroom some day for my substitutes so that they can know all the basic expectations, procedures, rules, and consequences for my classes. With only a rough lesson planner as a guide, it's still nearly impossible to substitute effectively.
I feel much, much more effective in my 6th grade classes where I know the procedures, I have rapport with the students, I know all the names, and I always have back up plans of things to do next or fillers.
This weekend, I'm going to go to a movie with some friends tonight and then I'll go to a birthday party for my cooperating teacher tomorrow morning.
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