Say hello to Mr. Van Nerdstrand

On Tuesday while subbing at Dos Pueblos High School, a student was telling me about her dad, whom I know. I mentioned how energetic he is, and she agreed. She said she felt bad for him because he didn't have any boys (it's just the girl and her little sister). She said he builds things like tree houses and forts but he usually spends more time in them then the girls do!

Today I am subbing for a Special Ed teacher. The Special Ed classes are simply classes for students with learning disabilities or severe emotional problems.

My first period class right now has only four students and there is an instructional assistant in the class as well, which means there is a 1:2 teacher to student ratio. Not bad, not bad at all...

Not only does every class have about eight kids or less, but I am done by lunch today! Whoo hoo!

I rode my bike to work and a kid just informed me that it is supposed to rain today. I really hope it is not raining when I have to go home!

Riding my bike is about 2 minutes faster than driving my car. Isn't that crazy? I don't usually wait for stop lights on my bike, so that gives me the edge.

This my bike! Well, this particular picture is not MY bike per se, but mine is the same color, same gears, everything. My seat is lower, though, and my handlebars have red tape on them, not grey. It's pretty bad-ass, and I feel great cruising around town, passing cars on the street, listening to my iPod. My good friend Dave, who sells pistachios at the farmer's market, gave it to me. He has a tendency to collect things like squirrels collect nuts.

There is a kid in my first period Spanish class, we'll call him Grady, because that's what his name is, who is very, how shall we put this?... loud. He demands attention, from before the bell rings until the minute class is over. Throughout the class kids tell him to shut up. Nobody thinks he is terribly funny.

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Ah, in fact, I just sent him outside.
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It's always interesting having students like that in my classes. I can handle the disruptions and they generally provide light humor. The disruptions are funny not for their content but by the pure absurdity that the student embodies. Everyone shares the experience of witnessing someone who lacks nearly all inhibiting reflexes. Haha, type in "Lack of inhibition" and the first entry that Google gives you is a page on ADHD, or attention deficit hyper-active disorder.

Estoy enseñando español todo la semana.

I got asked to take over for a teacher at Dos Pueblos whose wife just had a baby. Today we are learning how to conjugate -AR verbs, such as "hablar," or "caminar."

For example, "Yo camino en el parque."

This teacher is great, because he leaves incredible notes, has a lot of time filling activities, and I get to actually teach stuff. Some teachers just have me show movies, and that's ok, but not fulfilling.

Today we played Matamoscas (flyswatters). This was a great review game! All the vocabulary words are written on an overhead in a random order around the page. One student from each team comes up with a flyswatter and when I say the word in English, they have to find the word projected up on the overhead in Spanish and swat it first, and then pronounce the word in Spanish. We played for a bunch of rounds and team B killed team A.

I went up against a student and beat him soundly. At the game, mind you, not literally. :)

Oh, by the way--

Last year, my seventh grade students set up a "wedding" for my girlfriend Elissa and myself. I came to the classroom one day and, lo and behold, all the seats were arranged differently. And students brought flowers. And made tinfoil rings. It was very cute. Anne was a bridesmaid. And Carter was the father who walked the bride down the aisle. Definitely a memory for a lifetime.

Hello.

I should have written last week but I wasn't terribly motivated to do so. I have time now, since it is a lazy morning and I am only subbing periods 4, 5, and 6 today. This is the best kind of morning...the sun drifts into my bedroom sidelone through my sliding glass door. I can tell from the very first moment that it will be a gorgeous, sunny day. I awake easily on bright days.

Last week I substituted for a Special Ed teacher. All of her students had some sort of learning disability, and the range was great. There were pretty high functioning students and there were pretty low functioning students.

The incident of the day occurred when R kept getting riled up by a couple of the other students in the classroom. A small little girl would discreetly tell him to get to work. Amazingly, almost without thought, R would respond with contempt, "Callate, pendeja!" Which, for you non-Spanish speakers, translates to "Shut up, F____"

Um, that's not ok. In any classroom of any school. Especially for a couple of little 8th graders. So I came over to him and said, "R, please don't swear. I speak Spanish and that's not ok. Ok?"

Then he slaps me on the arm with his book and says "Stop." At this point, the teacher's assistant, a lady who has been working with the students all year long, interjects from across the room with "R, GET BACK TO WORK."

Naturally, R replies to her, "Shut up."

And with that, he was gone. Sent to the office. Has detention for two days.