Kids say the darndest things...

This week, I've had two really excellent substituting experiences. The first day of this week was my first time in a high school classroom, and as usual, I was assigned an English class. Only one class was really terribly, and I forgot how mean high schoolers can be and spent the majority of the screening of "The Crucible" yelling. The rest of the day was great, and my ninth graders were hysterical. 

Today, I went back to a school I was at before. I really liked the kids the last time, but felt a cold shoulder from most of the staff, save the principal. Today was a total 180 from the first day I was there, staff wise. The office staff was sort of going nuts because of a computer issue and my lesson plans never made it to the teacher's inbox, but the admins and the other team teachers were really helpful and helped me look at her agenda for the day, the worksheets she provided for me and take a plan and go from there. My first class had a lockdown, which honestly scared me, but I'm guessing it was something K9 related. 

The kids were wonderful. Incredible, even. SSR was actually...SILENT. Only one class was really out of control, not-so-ironically, that was the class that told my 6/7 period class that I was mean. 

My 6/7 was by far my favorite, and absolutely the reason I can't wait for my own classroom someday. The teacher described them as "interesting" in her instruction sheet for me. She somehow managed to get a class full of pre-pubescent boy comedians. They were testing me, but I actually really liked it. They each had their own, very intelligent sense of humor, which was fun for me because I was able to fire the sarcasm right back at them. 

This is absolutely what I need to be doing with my life. I've never had a job where I could work for eight hours a day and not be exhausted, but actually feel optimistic about something at the end of the day - which is how today was until I had to head to the outlets and slave to the bras. 

The principal stopped by my classroom at the end of the day when I was reading and straightening up the classroom during my teacher's planning. He said he recognized me from the last time, and asked how my day was. I was thrilled about this. 

Seems like I'll be asked back at this school, and I have no problem with that. 

I'll update something more entertaining soon. I've been burnt out and prepping for Christmas recently, but I'm feeling my creativity creeping back. 

Stay tuned!