Friday, February 10, 2023
I really didn’t want to go to work today. I don’t know why. I had the day off yesterday and wallowed in my life – hot tubbing, reading, writing letters, eating candy – all the amazing things that do not involve any cleaning or general chores. There was no reason at all that I couldn’t go be productive today.
They recently added a CANCEL JOB button on the substitute assignment app. Big red button. Push it and work-be-gone. It looks so inviting. Maybe that is why. Maybe I just really want to push the red button (I can hear Agent K saying it on Universal’s Men in Black ride. I can’t not hear it. I wish you were hearing it, because that would mean that you had ridden that ride as many times as I have and it’s great). Maybe it was because I don’t know this teacher and don’t know how she runs her classes. That seems very possible, because it could have been a tough day. Maybe it is because it was for College and Career Readiness – a made-up 8th grade class (sometimes 7th grade) that doesn’t always have much to do – ending up with free time for middle schoolers on Friday with a sub -ouch.
I would never cancel a job on the day of the job unless circumstances were extreme. I am incapable of doing that. But I reallllllllly wanted to.
I got here and found out that this teacher is not teaching CCR this year. She is doing middle school success – a made up class for 6th graders. Sixth graders. Mmmm. I learned this by talking to a friend who works here. She said that the 6th grade teachers have reported that this is the best 6th grade of ever. (Yes, of ever.) I sort of believed her but didn’t really think that would affect my day. They might be great for their teachers, but subs are different.
I was wrong. This is the best group of sixth graders of ever. WIN!!!!
We had a lockdown drill in first hour. Our job was to lock the door, turn on the light, and hide out of sight. This room has very little space that is out of view of the windows (actually none, if we hadn’t closed the blinds to the outside windows). So, the whole class was squeezed into a corner – that wasn’t even a corner because there is an angled wall for the smart board filling the corner – and no one made a sound. For five minutes. Most of the people reading this have never practiced a lock down drill. It’s weird and can be a little scary. It never goes like you want it to go, because kids giggle and chatter (at best) and push and shove and yell (at almost worst). Today they just sat there and waited. I wanted to talk, because it felt so unnatural. I wanted to say thank you and you are doing a great job and you are amazing, but I didn’t – because I followed their example.
And the rest of the day went just as well. I let them choose their seats and they did work while sitting next to their friends. They got out board games to play when they were done with their work. They worked on other homework. They basically proved that something I didn’t think could exist exists.
Wow.
In fourth hour, there was a kid wearing a Snake Escape (Snake Discovery) hat. Since the morning classes all had at least 20 minutes of free time after finishing their assignments, I chose to use a little time together at the beginning to lessen the time left at the end. The hat led to a story about a secret wife/daughter-in-law and going to Snake Escape and figuring out the plastic tortoise stepstool was really a tortoise. They told me to come back because I have good stories. I would like to come back, now that I know somewhere this nice exists.
When I got home, I heard that there had been a fatal stabbing at a high school in St. Paul. A sixteen-year-old student stabbed a fifteen-year-old student. It was reported staff members gave the victim first aid. I don’t even know what to say. Our friend, Jenny, works there. She is fine, except when five police officers checked her room for weapons, she thought she couldn’t breathe. Obviously, I thought of my terrific sixth graders from this morning, who did all the things they were supposed to do, and I wondered what I would have done if it was a real lockdown and I had 25 kids to protect. I know I couldn’t leave any behind. I hope I would do the right things.
I could go on and on about how horrible the world is, but you know. Or if you don’t know, I don’t want to tell you. Hug your people. Do good in the world. Be kind.
Amen…
❤️🩹