No I'm Not Fired!

I perfectly understand why a school system wants real teachers to administer standardized exams. I simply wish they would warn poor substitutes like me ahead of time. "Hi, you're likely not going to work for 2 weeks because the regular teachers are under threat of death to stay on the job." Okay I could work with that.

Learning disabled kids aren't that bad. My job is to follow the lead of the Instructional Assistants. They know what they are doing so I'm just an extra pair of hands. Sadly I have to wonder if some of these kids will ever be truly independent. One child can make sounds, but not words. Does he truly understand what I'm wanting him to do? Does he truly associate the pictures with the words? I held up a symbol of the girls restroom and he just left the classroom to hit the boys room! He did wash his hands afterwards as I chased him down. Maybe he understood the picture pretty well.

As I read a book one girl attached herself to me. It appears red headed third graders and learning disabled sixth graders are the ladies attached to me. Oh dear what vibes am I sending off!!!

I hated to leave in the middle of cookies and a movie, but I was needed elsewhere: Social Studies! This was the outright coolest classroom I've ever seen. It had artifacts and representations from Egypt, Asia, Europe, and South America. It was a one room travel bazaar. Sadly the normal kids were worse behaved than the L/D kids. I see that again I'll go ahead and pull the trigger on sending half the class to detention at one time. Sometimes I have to accept the paperwork of getting a disruption out of my way and making an example out of them so others will do their work. Some must be sacrificed so the rest can learn.

By the way, it is cool to watch their heads snap in concern when my voice raises 20 db and drop 2 octaves when I express my extreme displeasure. I coulda been a drill instructor!