Hello! Subbing for two days in a row: 8th grade math. Today we are watching A Charlie Brown Thanksgiving!



I actually learned something new about America. Did you know that the first settlers didn't even settle at the first land? They had to travel up and down the east coast to find good land. And two people died on the trip over, but one baby was born.

Yesterday I substituted for some 11th and 12th grade English classes.

I have a pen pal named Lisa who lives in Iowa. We exchange mix-CDs.

I asked a student to help design the cover of an envelope that I was sending off to my friend across the states (hi Lisa!). I've had students draw me things in the past, for my refrigerator, and I've received some pretty awesome pictures. I like this one a lot:

Ahhh, my hope is renewed for junior high. I had a great day today! Really mellow classes, nothing terrible like razor blades under desks, etc.

Something that I love is that kids actually give me hugs when they see me! How awesome is that? I'm not even a teacher there and kids stop by and hug me with big smiles and ask why I'm not subbing in their classes.

Let's see, anything funny to reproduce here? During lunch, I was sitting at my desk reading and eating a sumptuous Subway sandwich with my door open. Some guys started running by my door to distract me or trip me out or something. When I ignored them, they stepped it up a notch and started sliding past my door. I would hear a patter of feet and then a horizontal body would breeze by on the ground.

It was pretty funny, but I still didn't give them my attention. I'm a mean old man like that.

Yesterday and today I subbed for an 8th grade English class at a junior high in town. I get so tired of some of those junior highers sometimes. Just over it. I was talking with the school psychologist for a bit and she was agreeing with me that the main difference between high school and junior high is behavior management. Junior high is like 50 percent behavior issues, 50 percent teaching. 1/2 reigning them in, 1/2 getting stuff done. In contrast, high school is maybe 5-10 percent behavior management, and over 90 percent teaching. And that means that the teaching doesn't have to be boring or strict. If the teacher is relaxed and trusts the class, things can actually be fun. Believe it or not.

But for junior high, all this means is that most of class is just a brutal waste of time because of a handful of, well, let's be honest, assholes who don't care about school and their classmates and the teacher.

In other news, I found a razor blade underneath a trouble girl's desk.

One of the most beautiful things about substituting is that I can take whatever days I want off. I didn't work yesterday and I didn't work today. It's nice to not feel too stretched and stressed.

Watching the news!

Obama WON.