Sub Adventure #16 - 11th and 12th grade History in the Bronx

This was one of my easiest, most laid back adventures. 1) I've been to this school before so the usual anxiety wasn't present. 2) The teacher left clear plans. 3) 90% of the juniors were gone on a college trip. I had about 25 students altogether in five periods. 4) Students simply worked independently on a project as I supervised and wrote blog post drafts.

Other items of note:
- I should have eaten more than yogurt for breakfast. The teacher I was covering (poor guy) teaches four periods straight after a 1st period prep. I was starving by 6th period lunch.
- The seniors were a hoot. They were reliving/retelling some while night they had. The bits and pieces I heard worried me and I told them so. (A man with a pitbull, a random building, a person trapped, a life saved, a bag of Cheetos eaten, jelly beans eaten, and an arrest.)
- I dunno how I feel about one of the female seniors saying that I'm so "cute" after Chatting with them a bit about my Nerd status and non-participation in Pace party life.

Well that's that. Don't know where I'll be tomorrow. No assignment as of yet.

Til the next adventure,
Fatuma

Sub Adventures #12: 5th Grade History in the Bronx

On Thursday (3/13/2014), I substituted for 5th grade history at a private school in the Bronx. I normally stay far away from elementary school assignments (the thought of being in a room alone with 25 knee-high children sends shivers down my spine), but I decided to accept for two reasons:

1) I had plans to go to dinner with friends. The assignment was close by and ended early enough to give me time to run home and get prettified.
2) Having attended, student taught, and substituted at only public schools, I was curious about private schools and how different they really are from public schools.

I experienced a bit of a culture shock that I quickly got over, when I first arrived. There were some differences in the atmosphere of the private school that surprised me.
- the teachers seemed less frazzled than their public school counterparts
- sprawling beautiful campus with a maze of halls
- catered lunch for the teachers--everyday (I had beef stew and steamed potatoes. Yum!)
- books galore! Each classroom was overflowing with a varied library of brand new books

On to the kiddies: they were so cute and oh-so energetic.  Like energizer bunnies after three cups of coffee.

For the first time, I wasn't left with a written lesson plan from the teacher or admin. I was given copies of Scholastic News. I chose an article about Jerrie Mock being the first woman to fly around the world and quickly planned a lesson.

"Who was the first female to fly around the world?" I began the lesson with this question. The students responded with "Amelia Earhart" as expected. We read the article aloud. Then I had the students write and discuss their responses to the following prompt: Why is Amelia Earhart more well-known for being the first woman to fly around the world? Is this fair? Why or why not? Lastly, the student wrote creative pieces about their own trip around the world and volunteers shared their stories with the class.

The creativity of the 5th graders was astounding. I had one student read aloud in an Australian accent, which was doubly impressive and amusing. Two students wrote poems, instead of stories. Students in another class decided to work in groups and wrote/performed skits.

Overall, it was a great day, but my goodness are 5th graders energetic. I was absolutely exhausted. As I was walking to the bus stop, I posted the following Facebook status in apology of my previous teasing scorn of childhood education majors. They just play all day, I laughed. Oh, how ignorant t'was I?

 

In my next adventure, I return to the same school of Sub Adventures #2.

Sub Adventures #5: 9th and 10th grade History in the Bronx

Today was . . . interesting.

It started off normally enough. Actually . . .  no it didn't. From the second I set eyes on the building, I thought uh-oh. For one thing, the building was absolutely ginormous. And as is typical of many Bronx public schools, it housed 5-6 other schools. Upon first entering the building, I was subjected to walking through detectors. Then, I had to be hand-wanded for some reason. Next, I had to find the main office of the particular school where I was subbing. To avoid getting lost in the maze-like halls, I went against my natural tendencies and immediately asked for directions.

From there, things were pretty normal for the first 4 periods. I think I was covering for a co-special education teacher, so there wasn't a need for me to lead the class. I was kind of bored since I wasn't doing much. One student even took it upon himself to call me out on it: "I would love your job. Getting paid to do nothing." Brat!

Then during period 5, there was a fire drill. I repeat: A fire drill. At a school with thousands of students. In the freezing cold. It was not fun and it was not effective. I could barely find my way out of the building and I lost my students. #FAIL

Period 6 was lunch. Period 7 was a disaster. The teacher I was covering for doesn't have classes after 5th period, so I was sent to help another sub for 7th period. The students had a project to work on, but needed laptops to do so. Laptops they could not use because there was no official teacher in the room. The students then took that to mean that they could sit there and do nothing.

At that point, neither I or the other sub wanted to confront them. However, the level of blatant disrespect towards adults was appalling. I felt invisible trying to tell them to stop yelling at one another. And the potty mouths on these young people. I thought I had a potty mouth, but I ain't got nothing on these kiddies. Every curse word in the book was said. It didn't end there though: they slapped one another; they yelled at the top of their lungs; they even pulled out condoms that one of the boys had and one girl started puncturing them with a pen. Yeah, that was my reaction as well--utter shock.

What upsets me the most is that I'm discovering that these Bronx schools all have the same disciplinary issues and there seems to be a lack of authority. Students get away with too much. They are roaming the halls, yelling and fighting one another in the halls and no teacher, dean, or administrator ever scolds them for the inappropriate behavior. When, how, and why have adults in school buildings started to avoid confronting children?

On another note, I saw a student from my student teaching experience in a Bronx middle school two years ago. That was pretty cool.

Well that's my adventure for today. Tomorrow, we're still in the Bronx. A few blocks away from today's assignment actually, at a middle school.