Just when I thought it couldn't get worse. . .

So Friday marked my first day as a high school sub. I was going to be subbing for the Theater teacher, how hard can that be? The day was broken up into 4 classes called blocks. During block 1, I actually got to meet the teacher I was subbing for. He had to meet with some students, so he showed me around the school and explained how the basics worked. After he left, I had an hour to kill before my first class. Luckily, I brought a book (Harry Potter #3- I'm getting ready for the movie next week!) and read it until the next block began.

The students were very talkative and didn't want to do the assignment-- read the chapter for 40 minutes, then answer the questions 45 minutes. So instead, they just talked. I tried to encourage them to read by allowing them to do popcorn reading, which turned into a bigger fiasco. So I gave up on the reading and just told them the questions to do. They were supposed to work alone; however, I couldn't get them to stop talking so they ended up just helping each other out. At least they were getting the work done, right?

Another teacher came into the room and asked if I had let any boys go to the bathroom (which I had) and he asked who they were. He then took those boys out of the class and they returned shortly (I later found out that during the beginning of the class some boy had smoked marijuana in the bathroom and the teacher was trying to figure out who, luckily not the boys from my class). We made it about 3/4 of the way through class with me fighting them to keep the chatter down. This is when a REAL fight began. A boy in the front row got up and went to a boy sitting in the back row and just started wailing on him! The boy who was sitting then jumped up, pushed the attacker and they started wrestling & throwing punches! I quickly ran across to the next room which had another sub in it (but she had subbed here a few times) so she ran and got another teacher. When the other teacher (who was the same one who had come into my room earlier looking for the bathroom boys) came to my door, another student was pushing one of the fighters out of the room. The teacher grabbed the fighter, slammed him into the wall where he fell to the ground, and then picked him up by the sweatshirt and took him to the office. I returned into the classroom to try to take back control. The teacher then returned for the other kid (the attacker) involved in the fight.

I was pretty shaken up about the whole ordeal but tried to not let the other students see it. However, they thought it would be best to spend the rest of the class talking about the fight (and got a kick out of how I ran out to get help). They then turned the story on me how I was fleeing for my life (I forgot to mention that I was definitely a minority in this school). Whatever.

So Block 3 started with the teacher, who came to my rescue, asking me if I was okay. He then proceeded to tell me that breaking up fights was his favorite part of the job (good for him!). I ate lunch by myself in my classroom (which was an auditorium since I was taken over for the theater teacher). The students returned from lunch and were out of control. They wouldn't sit or stop talking, and they definitely weren't going to read. One girl decided to collect all the textbooks and stack them up in her chair. I told her to put them back and sit down or I would write an office referral. She then proceeded to backtalk and make the class laugh, so I wrote a referral. She then threw the textbooks at my desk. Excellent. The rest of the class thought this was hysterical and wouldn't do a thing I said (even though I've been told once you lay down the law with one student the rest will get the picture- NOPE). I don't even think half the students did the assignment.

Block 4 was by far the best part (besides the fight) of my day. It was a class of 15 upperclassmen who wanted to be in the class. They only had to read a short assignment because a pep session was planned for the end of the class. About 3 students actually read the assignment, another 4 looked through the pages, and the rest just talked. By that point, I didn't care, I was just watching the clock for when I got out of there! These students were the most respectful to me. They asked who I was, where I was from, and then asked how old I was. They couldn't get over how young I looked to be a sub. They kept saying I looked like a student. I'm guessing that this point right there was the reason for all the problems throughout the day. This will probably be one of the last times in my life I actually wish I look older. Oh well, I got paid $70 to watch a fight, yell at students, be made fun of, and get called names-- I got tough shoulders.