#5: Journal Notes on Subbing Assignment for 16 November 2007

In my early days of subbing, I only accepted assignments for which I felt qualified -- English, language studies, social studies, world history, music, and so forth. I would soon learn that schools did not have the privilege of making such distinctions: they would gladly take anyone available. Because of this, within two weeks of this November 16th assignment, I, who know nothing of carpentry, would be subbing in woodshop classes at another school, where I would be asked to play a home improvement video the students had already seen a zillion times, and where I would unwittingly set the stage for being barred from that particular school district.

But I am getting ahead of myself. The November 16th assignment was for 8th and 9th grade Social Studies and World History in a mostly white school only about 10 minutes away from my home. The town is the usual small, rural town but there's a sense of life and vibrancy there that's missing in many other such towns, including my own (in which, despite the large American flags hanging in abandoned storefronts on Main Street, no one is fooled -- you can't turn a sow's ear into a silk purse by hanging up a few flags -- this is a decaying town, more obsessed with hiring a Blight Ordinance Officer to ensure that its citizens' lawns are kept tidy than with coping with serious local drug problems). The November 16th town is about the same size as mine yet it has far more interesting stores and restaurants. In the summers, it also has a much more thriving, colorful farmers market than the mostly ignored one I started several years ago in my own town. I have never understood why two towns so close to each other could be so different. C'est la vie ::sigh::

Anyway, on November 16th I arrived at this town's middle school. I was warned that one young lady had a history of seizures. I was told that her classmates, however, were remarkable and knew how to handle such incidents. She asked for Kleenix in my classroom, and I immediately phoned to ask for someone to deliver a box. Other than that, she was fine. Later, she had a seizure in the hall between classes but students and staff were thoroughly prepared and handled it well. I was touched by the concern everyone showed her. One teacher commented to me that her seizures tended to occur after lunch, which suggested that high carb and sugar levels might be involved. I mentioned that to someone in charge but have no idea what was done with such information -- they probably already knew that lunch could be a possible trigger.

Most of my classes there were working on England's first colonies in the Americas. I have only a basic knowledge of that period and did not swerve from their teacher's assignment. It was a Friday so students were more noisy than usual, especially if they partnered up to work as teams (their teacher didn't say if this was allowed or not but the students insisted that it was -- I found, however, that they got more work done if they worked alone so starting with the 2nd hour, I made that my policy).

In 3rd hour, one young lady with a chip on her shoulder was loud, uncooperative, and spent most of her time punching holes in her worksheet. She insisted she couldn't work alone. I reluctantly let the class partner-up, but this was a mistake as she only got worse. There weas no point in sending her to detention -- that would only increase her animosity. Aside from her, however, the rest were great.

The remaining two classes were on ancient Greek science and philosophy. I would have been fine with that except that the author of the text they were using elevated Greek views and denigrated those of Egypt and Mesopotamia as "superstitious." I could not let that go. So I gave them a mini-lecture on the fallicies of such a viewpoint. I brought in Greece's rainbow goddess, Iris, Plato's positive view of her, discussed Egyptian and Mesopotamian metaphors and symbols, etc. The ancients simply did not make the same rigid distinctions between "myth" and science that we do and I felt it was important for these students to understand that. They seemed to enjoy this journey through science, myth, and philosophy and some even said they wished I was their regular teacher. I brushed that off, recognizing it for being "over the top," but couldn't figure out why. I would later learn on 7 December 2007 from another sub, who had had a similar positive experience at that school, that the reason those students were so nice to subs was that they got double detention if they weren't!

Regardless, they were still great kids and I'd return in a minute -- unfortunately, that school's need for subs seems to be minimal. As of 26 May 2008, I have not found a single assignment listed for them. Hopefully, I'll have better luck when the fall term begins, if I'm still subbing (smile).