Substitutes

So yesterday, I got the joys of subbing for 6 out of the seven periods I work. Periods one through four were in a math class. I absolutely enjoyed this even though some of the students didn't understand what I taught. Then I subbed in another math class where the kids did great. The sixth time I subbed was an art class. Where joy of joys one student constantly was disrupting class, eating paper, and writing on the desk. So, I went him to the office. I can say I enjoyed the experience though by the end of the day my patience was shot. I can now understand why the teachers only teach 5 out of 8 periods in a day. They need sanity time.

Today, I was lucky enough to be the only Aide without any subs to do. Yeah! That is until 11:25 when I get a call from the office asking me to give up my lunch to do lunch duty. First, this is 4 minutes before the bell that brings bliss and my lunch to me. I absolutely HATE giving up my lunch, but I have always had a hard time saying no. Though it does make it harder when I hear everyone is doing it all of the other IA's are giving up their lunch. And then they proceed to name them all. So of course I can't be the only selfish IA and say no at that point. So I did it. It wasn't too bad but still very annoying.

Conversations with Middle Schoolers

Who'd have ever thought my life would be so interesting that I'd have a bunch of middle schoolers asking me questions for an hour, and actually listening to what I say? Really it started when one said something about me being Mormon. I couldn't fathom how this student knew this and asked him. Not that I try to hide it, it's just a weird thing to bring up. Then they started asking questions about missionaries and the temple. Let me tell you for not being LDS, this kid knew a lot about us even what LDS stands for. Then they were asking me about my family and all this stuff. I'm sure the teacher was grateful that they were kept busy. It's a really unruly class, it's art. Anyway, I tried to steer them to a new topic being afraid a student would go home and tell their parents I was preaching to them. I told the teacher this after class and she said since they were asking the questions it was OK to answer them, that it was just bad to stand up in class and tell the students they were drawing a picture of Jesus Christ because he is our savior. The other very interesting topic that came up was honeymoons. They asked me where I went. Which I told them I didn't. One student (male) started saying for his honeymoon they were going to Hawaii where they would take a cruise around (exactly where I don't remember) next would be surfing-somewhere, then they would fly first class to Florida and do something there. This I said would be a very expensive honeymoon and he told me his parents would pay for it.

When I first started working there it seemed as if I were back in Middle School-a horrible time for me. But man these kids are growing on me. I've even started to think of going to school to teach them instead of elementary. I must be going crazy!