First Day of School 2014

I had my first day of school this year!  Took a picture and everything.

Last year I finally got everything together to start subbing and within the first week of school I had a call for a sub job!

Want to know how to sub successfully?  Oh, I'll tell ya.

Stand at the door as the kids come in and say hi.  Let them look you over and size you up.

Come in with a smile and an interest in learning three of their names.  Usually it's the three who are the noisiest who you know are gonna be trouble.  There is power in names.  And more often than not, you can find out one of those names before you even take role, just by listening to the kids talk to one another.

Strategy number two.  Make friends with those kids that act out.  This can be tricky for the first day, but really, it's all about building reporte, so go ahead and take the time.  Most kids are acting out for attention, and if you can give it willingly rather than waiting for them to ask for it in a negative way, more power to you.  I always ask them their name and say how glad I am to have them in class.  "I can tell you probably know everyone in this class" and go to them if I need anyone's name or rules explained or anything.  These kids will expect payment, so be willing to hand out a compliment or a huge thank you at the end of class.

And then, to top your class off with a 'super nice cherry' - find some way to reward them.  In Rainier they have an ESP (excellence, spirit, pride) ticket for kids that are showing respect, being responsible or some other R word.  I hand these out like candy.  The kids like them much better than referrals and they're easier to fill out.  As in, it's better to reward than it is to punish.

I was teaching 7th and 8th grade science and LOVED it.  Not really teaching.  I was supervising.  But it was awesome.  The 7th graders were complete angels and I loved every single one of them.  The 8th graders were a little harder to love.  But bless their hearts, they gave me a great work-out as far as strategy and keeping them on task and all that.

I usually bring a book (chicken soup for the teenage soul) to read the last 10 minutes or so of class to break up the monotony of book work, but after working with those 8th graders, I think I may need to get some slow, easy listening music on an i-pod and bring in a speaker.  Some Jack Johnson would do them just fine.  Because really, they can work for the whole hour in class but would really rather talk. If I had something to measure their volume against as back-ground noise then I could let them talk a little and monitor their own volume with a reminder.

It was so interesting.  The first class of 7th graders I just expected them to take notes on a movie because that's what they were getting graded on for participation.  Only a handful did.  A small handful.  The second class I offered ESP tickets for 16 notes and bam - nearly all of them did.  The third group I offered ESP tickets but explained to them what an ESP ticket was and what it got them, and only half of them did 16 notes.  It was so weird to think that they would rather do an assignment for an unknown reward than know what the reward was.  What weirdies, but it was a nice experiment.