I substitute teach at Orem Junior High School. Nick, a boy in and out of trouble, is in many of those classes. He calls me Mr. Jesus and causes trouble when ever he can. I think he’s funny, but I’ll never tell him.

Second period has forty five kids in it. They also think they have power. Here is the basic situation: I am subbing for Mr. Wilson who is gone to a funeral who in turn is doing a long-term substitution for Ms. Holman who has cancer. I am the sub of a sub and thus the weakest kind of sub possible (the kids think). That came to light today. My answer: Pop Quiz.

Explosion & Revolt.

I wrote the To Kill a Mockingbird questions on the board and told them I would be emailing their scores to Ms. Holman direct. Four kids refused. They insist I’m bluffing. The quiz over and we graded it together and then had a discussion. The four kids then started really acting out forming up a drum-line and be-boxing rap-tunes.

Right then, the flex slips show up. I hand them out to the class except to the four. “You can’t do that!” I let them know I didn’t care and that they would have to stay with me for flex. Flex is a mini-class where kids with passing grades go do fun activities like watch movies. The kids with less than passing grades go to an intervention course and do homework. All four of these kids are in a program called Claw, where they meet daily with a school disciplinarian and often a cop to go over their grades and behavior. Most of the kids in Claw have court orders to attend. If they are late for any reason, the school cop hunts them down.

I kept their flex slips.

When it was time to release for flex, I let everyone go and told the four that needed to stay and clean the classroom. They said they wouldn’t and one just walked out. I said fine and started helping the kids who came to my class for flex. I told the kids just walking in to get old homework out or read the novel, but to stay quiet. All the kids coming in were very interested in the four rebels. As time was running out, the three rebels in the class started cleaning. The one who left came back in and said the cop in Claw said he was tardy if he didn’t have his slip. I told him he better start cleaning.

He refused.

The others did what I wanted and ran off barely making it to Claw. The other kid was mad. “I didn’t make the mess,” he said. “I know,” I replied. “I think you are right. That isn’t the issue. You were disrespectful to me. Not messy. If you need to go you better start cleaning.” I then turned away and let him sit. After five minutes of stewing, he started working. Eventually, I let him leave with his slip.

The cop stopped by during lunch. He was glad I stuck to my guns. He said these four had been pushing Mr. Wilson around terribly and often other subs. The boy in question was going to go back to court for other behavior issues and this was just going to be added to the stack of charges against him. The cop said he’s probably going back to jail.

“Mr. Guile,” one of the girls asked. “What’s so funny?”

“The boys,” I said, squishing a giggle.

“Huh,” said one of the boys.

“What makes us funny?” asked one of the the others.

“Oh look,” I said. “The bell just rang. Okay everyone, take your seats . . .”

I remember when I was in middle school. I knew I liked girls. I even had a crush on Amanda who by seventh grade was four inches taller than me. I just didn’t get them or the need for things like Valentines. I was busy with wrestling season or math or science or art or drafting or violin or playing DnD. It wasn’t until I was seventeen that I figured out a girl who was practically my best friend while I was in middle school would have liked a Valentine’s card from me: “Who Samantha? I don’t think so. She beat me up once,” I said to myself. She was funny and was in bunches of my classes. She had kinky blonde hair, blue eyes and a vicious right cross.

I could tell many of the boys were just as confused by the girls as I was. Oh sure, some of the boys certainly seemed to have it together, but I have my doubts. In third period, a Polynesian boy came in and gave one of the students a Valentine’s Balloon.

“What’s that for,” another boy asked.

“Shuddup foo,” the Polynesian boy said. “This is for [Asia].”

She didn’t know what to say. She blushed a lot. I don’t think she was expecting anything. All the other girls giggled and whispered. The Polynesian kid had a lot of class and left quickly.

Sure, we studied and had a lot of fun, but I enjoyed most the Valentines misadventures. I know eventually some of them will get it, whatever it is, but I never got very good at Valentines Day. My favorite school Valentine’s Gift came the day I was moving from Oklahoma City to Provo when Christine Hicks kissed me in hall and ran off. I never saw her again.

The seventh graders have so much interest. I did get a warning from the regular teacher to go light on the description of the holocaust; one of the girls had nightmares last week from the descriptions shown in videos and pictures. I told him nightmares are a good thing regarding the holocaust. The holocaust is a nightmare. I think the complaining mother needs to spend more time with her child discussing the holocaust and The Diary of Anne Frank is a great discussion starting point.

The ninth graders know more about Mockingbird then I expected. I should not be that surprised; Orem Junior’s student body is quite diverse. The Hispanic and African-American kids really get it. In one of the classes, racism became a big discussion because some of the white kids thought there is no racism anymore. That discussion had the opportunity to go sideways, but thankfully it did not. I let both sides talk and then I described what my kids faced in school and church in Orem, Utah. I also pointed out that yes racism is not nearly as bad as it was before, but that there is so much more Americans must do to make sure everyone receives equal treatment.

I promised the kids we would talk more and that we would have focused work specifically on the texts for both books.

(Parker ball point pen & sharpie)

Today was the second assignment I’ve had at Orem Junior High School. I am very glad they called me back. For a new sub that is a big deal.

I taught the same group I taught before (here, here, here and here) except for forth period when I subbed a Physical Education class.

It was nice to meet Nick, Dulce, Josh, Cody, Jacob, Stephanny, Chase, Candace, Jose, Asia, Adrian, Skyler, Winston, Alec and the many others (even if some of them think otherwise). The reason I mention the students above is because they are a group of at-risk-kids in a particular program in the school. This class is much like Dixon’s resource class I subbed for before (here), just not so many at once and where there is a para (even if the kids have less respect for her than for anyone). I actually like these guys a lot and think they are pretty funny. Nick called me Mr. Jesus whenever he addressed me.

First period was math. The teacher, Mr. Henshaw, set-up a great plan where we would split the class into three groups between me, Mr. Serassio (another math teacher) and the para, Mrs. Chrstensen. I still had the biggest group with the worst attitudes, but I am better equipped to deal with them (according to the other two teachers and Mr. Henshaw’s letter). The plan worked well. Mr. H specifically told me to let Nick, Adrian, Jose and Josh to sit at the computers and do their own thing and to focus on the other seven students. This worked great until the four at the computers noticed I wasn’t paying them any attention. They then started acting out, but I ignored them and kept a good record of what they did leaving their behavior for Mr. H to deal with. The other kids though got some one-on-one attention as we learned the distributive property (a subject most kids see in forth or fifth grade).

The two reading classes went fine. Even the one Adrian went to. The picture above comes from a two minute sketch I took while second period was doing pair reading.

The final cap was the PE class. I loved it. When I was a kid I never took PE, because I was a student athlete in football, wrestling and swimming. Still it was good. One of the other PE coaches told me I was a natural and took my number so he could call me if he needed a sub.

Well, the class I was the most worried about, A1-Reading, went well. Nick did not do the word search, but he did do the spelling test. Everyone else participated. I had to make a deal with two girls to allow them to use their cell-phones if they did the test and the word search. That is not a deal I would normally agree to, but Mr. Henshaw said a lot of flexibility is needed in this class.

The rest of the class went smoothly. Nick participated in everything. The two girls settled down and stopped using their phones once they noticed that I really didn’t care.

After the class was over and during prep, I spoke to Mr. S, the math teacher the kids had no respect for on Thursday. He said a lot of the problem comes from Mr. Henshaw being so permissive and not being as strict as he should be. He said the kids resent teachers who make them work hard when the one teacher who coordinates their program is so lax. He said the kids are never ready for high school where the teachers never make exceptions for the rules, particularly electronic devices and music. I had to agree with that. I know of only one teacher who lets kids listen to music while they work and that is an AP class and those kids have to be earning As.

The good thing about OJHS is the way the other teachers treated me. They were nice where teachers at other schools often treat subs quite dismissively. I hope I can pick up another assignment there again soon.

The classes where there were problems were the classes I was not responsible for, but the regular lesson plan/class sucked: math and English 9. The math section was taught by another teacher and there was an aide in the room. The other teacher whispered and could not engage the kids in a discussion and the aide only upset the kids more. I walked around and got kids working, but the second I walked away, the kids stopped. At one point, the aide got confrontational with a student and the student became quite upset and used the opportunity to get angry and disruptive which is what he probably wanted in the first place. Personally, I did not think it was that big of a deal and that the aide let it get out of control.

The other was in English 9. The teacher in there has a poor handle on discipline and classroom dynamics. They ignore him for the most part and are very disruptive. Today, we had to split the class up and he took the majority to the typing lab and left me with the kids who had either finished the assignment already and were supposed to work ahead and with the kids who had not gotten far enough to go to the lab. There was also one boy, Chance, who should have gone to lab to type, but decided he didn’t want to and stayed behind with me. For the most part I was able to keep the kids working except for two girls who kept talking about sex and two boys who thought that since they were ahead, they didn’t have to do anything. After doing some creative rearranging of the seating chart, I was able to focus on the kids who authentically needed help and to focus the others who needed to do classwork. That is until Chance decided he wasn’t getting enough attention and started going through the teacher’s desk, girls’ purses and other kids’ backpacks. This was a little nerve-wracking, but when he started getting confrontational when I repeatedly called him on it and when I several hands up from kids who had academic needs, I sent him off to detention/in-school suspension.

I failed.

I followed up and wrote a report for the school about his behavior and outlined the work he had to do in in-school detention for the next three days. The biggest problem is that I did not want to do this ever. Ever. I am quite embarrassed by my lack of creative discipline. I should have done better.

Anyway. Tomorrow, I have reading again and another batch of spelling tests. Over the weekend, I’ll read more about differentiation and managing a educationally diverse classroom. The biggest problem in the English class and the math class is that there really is no expectation of discipline and work. I got the feeling from the other adults in the class that this is just the way it is and to not expect anything.

The first thing I did was create the review for the test (OJH Spelling Review) and then wrote the actual test (OJH Spelling Test). My train of thought was that I wanted to give two different study options for the review and then use an EFL trick I learned in South Korea where the letters for each word that needs to be spelled are rearranged so the students will be able to know which letters they need as a minimum.

The biggest problem will be if the kids decide to take the test. Most of them will take the test I am sure, but a couple will choose not to. I have been going into some of the other classes they take (classes Mr. Henshaw team teaches) and I’ve seen that the way they behave in my class is not unique. In Nick’s English class, the teacher, Ms. Hudson, has him sitting next to a Samoan kid who is bigger than me. If Nick misbehaves to the point where it annoys his neighbor, he gets an elbow from a kid at least four times his size.

Ms. Hudson reports that in her class she has no problems with Nick. I think it is a combination of the Samoan kid and Ms. Hudson’s strict approach. She has been teaching since I was in middle school and knows many of the teachers I had at Provo High School. She is pretty formidable.

Today, I had the regular teacher there. I was supposed to sub for the para, but the regular teacher’s grand-father died last night, so I’ll be taking his place and there will be another sub there for the para. This is a little frightening considering the potential for an explosion in class, but for the class with the most potential for problems there will be a regular teacher present who follows the same lesson plan: basic math.

The kid with the most potential for problems is Nick. He has scarring on his face and is quite short. His attitude is confrontational and has made it known that he hate all subs and is planning to make trouble. I saw him in the lunch line and said “hi Nick.” he became unglued: “What’s up with you already memorizing my name, you jerk.”

Personally, I think he’s funny. A friend of mine at Wal-Mart is just like that. Short and confrontational with authority, but Rick is in his fifties now and has raised his two sons on his own.

Hopefully for the next couple of days, Nick and I can get along.