(no subject)
This has been an all-around crappy week for subbing.
On Wednesday I went to Mendez Middle School in East Austin. I ended up in the principal's office reviewing security tapes because another teacher reported that a girl was trying to push me down a flight of stairs. In actuality, she only wanted the class to shove me out of the doorway and trample on out instead of being kept after the bell for one minute because of their dismal behavior.
Yesterday was alright, though LBJ high is by far the poorest of the high schools I have ever been at, including Akins. Akins is an atrocity because the teachers don't really give a shit about the kids--LBJ is an atrocity because the teachers really do care, but the kids are really the ones in charge. I lucked out yesterday because the classroom teacher was there for most of the first period, there were only 6 kids in the second class because of a field trip, and then the final class was pre-AP. Even still, I had several kids walk out of class, several taken to ISS, and one who stole my pen, then another student gave it back, and then the asshole stole it again.
Today was the worst though. I was back in the same class as yesterday at LBJ. Besides the lockdown because of the five men in ski masks with guns who robbed a house across the street from the school, and besides having to yell at two students for each having one end of a power cord which was wrapped three times around the neck of another student, I was hit with sharp pencil launched from a slingshot during class. Of course I called security, but since I didn't know which of the five or so most likely deviants had done it, there was nothing anyone could do. The principal, an administrator, two security guards and a police officer all came to the class and talked to the students and threatened suspension. The kids laughed and joked while the principal was talking. Fuck that. If a principal and a policeman together can't control a class of high school freshman, then I have no business being there. For the first time since I started subbing I actually felt like I was in danger.
I was originally signed up to return to the same class tomorrow, but after first period I went to the office and told them that I would stay to the end of the day today, but I would not return to that school on Friday. The substitute coordinator was sympathetic, and told me that after that first class she totally understood never going to that class again. She tried to convince me that not all the classes are as bad, that it was just freshman who are the little shits, but I'm really not convinced.
After three such days, I kind of feel like a failure. Am I that lame to not be able to control a class of freshman? Do I have any right to be in a classroom at all? I mean, I do fine at Crockett High and the one or two kids who did need help with Algebra I was able to help, and I get compliments on how I can manage fourth and fifth graders...
But like it or not, I don't have another job, and this is still better than waiting tables.
Tomorrow I'm going to teach Speech at Crockett.
Forward Momentum, right?
On Wednesday I went to Mendez Middle School in East Austin. I ended up in the principal's office reviewing security tapes because another teacher reported that a girl was trying to push me down a flight of stairs. In actuality, she only wanted the class to shove me out of the doorway and trample on out instead of being kept after the bell for one minute because of their dismal behavior.
Yesterday was alright, though LBJ high is by far the poorest of the high schools I have ever been at, including Akins. Akins is an atrocity because the teachers don't really give a shit about the kids--LBJ is an atrocity because the teachers really do care, but the kids are really the ones in charge. I lucked out yesterday because the classroom teacher was there for most of the first period, there were only 6 kids in the second class because of a field trip, and then the final class was pre-AP. Even still, I had several kids walk out of class, several taken to ISS, and one who stole my pen, then another student gave it back, and then the asshole stole it again.
Today was the worst though. I was back in the same class as yesterday at LBJ. Besides the lockdown because of the five men in ski masks with guns who robbed a house across the street from the school, and besides having to yell at two students for each having one end of a power cord which was wrapped three times around the neck of another student, I was hit with sharp pencil launched from a slingshot during class. Of course I called security, but since I didn't know which of the five or so most likely deviants had done it, there was nothing anyone could do. The principal, an administrator, two security guards and a police officer all came to the class and talked to the students and threatened suspension. The kids laughed and joked while the principal was talking. Fuck that. If a principal and a policeman together can't control a class of high school freshman, then I have no business being there. For the first time since I started subbing I actually felt like I was in danger.
I was originally signed up to return to the same class tomorrow, but after first period I went to the office and told them that I would stay to the end of the day today, but I would not return to that school on Friday. The substitute coordinator was sympathetic, and told me that after that first class she totally understood never going to that class again. She tried to convince me that not all the classes are as bad, that it was just freshman who are the little shits, but I'm really not convinced.
After three such days, I kind of feel like a failure. Am I that lame to not be able to control a class of freshman? Do I have any right to be in a classroom at all? I mean, I do fine at Crockett High and the one or two kids who did need help with Algebra I was able to help, and I get compliments on how I can manage fourth and fifth graders...
But like it or not, I don't have another job, and this is still better than waiting tables.
Tomorrow I'm going to teach Speech at Crockett.
Forward Momentum, right?