Ahhhhh!

[ryhoyarbie]

So I substituted 8th grade English at this middle school in the city I live in yesterday. Although 5 of the 7 class periods I had went fine, two were bad.

The students in period 3 and 7 just did not care, kept on talking, and did not do their work, especially period 7.

I told the students in period 7 to stop talking 5 times, they didn't. I raised my voice, got mad, and showed frustration at them, and they did not care. I even told them they would get a bad report for their teacher to read, and they did not care. And they kept on laughing and telling jokes. I was thinking if I got tough, that would straighten them. Only 5 kids in that class out of 20 actually did their work. Even some of the students in that period were repeating 8th grade again.

Now I know I was not their main teacher. If I was, I would think students would act a little better, maybe.

But there is no way in the world anybody could make those students get back on task and do their work. I don't even think Mr. T could do anything.

I was acting like a drill sergeant and by 8th period my blood pressure was racing and off the chart. Luckily 8th period were more behaved, after I told them what I did with 7th period.

 

[D'Snowth]

Well Ryan, that's how kids are today; they're not taught respect at home because parents expect kids to learn everything at school.

Here's another anecdote for you: in Grade 7, our reading teacher was a YOUNG lady (only in her twenties... and she happened to be an old friend of my big... I mean, older sister), and she was eager to teach. The only problem was this school was downtown, in the middle of the ghetto sandwiched between two housing projects, and you talk about kids who don't care about learning? These kids were so disruptive and frustrating, she actually had a mental, emotional, and nervous breakdown, and ran out of class screaming one day (not during my period though).

Eventually, she DID come back, but I mean, how bad are kids today if they give authority figures breakdowns like this? This is why I keep saying if each new generation of kids just keep getting worse and worse like this, imagine how horrible the whole world will be in the next fifty years? For all we know, Sesame Street could come to an end in another ten years or so!

 

[ryhoyarbie]

I even had some kids call me dude. I never called my teachers dude when I was in school 10 years ago. Talk about crazy...

And yes by the end of 7th period I was almost having a mental breakdown just like your friend.

It's like if you don't want to show up and learn, why even come to school.

 

[D'Snowth]

I even had some kids call me dude. I never called my teachers dude when I was in school 10 years ago. Talk about crazy...

That's not crazy, that's just downright disrespectful.

Irregardless, if you're being taught by your regular teacher, or a sub, you ALWAYS address him as "Mr. So-and-So", or her as "Miss/Mrs./Ms. So-and-So".

The only exception I can think of is my old Flash animation teacher, who was more "laid-back" so-to-speak with her students, and she and I became such good friends, she prefered to be refered to by her first name.

 

[Oscarfan]

Kids acting bad in school? What else is new? That the grass is green and the sky is blue?

 

[Skye]

Ryan, your experience yesterday sounds exactly like the way my classes would behave whenever we had a subsititute teacher, also. I never understood why having a sub made kids believe they could do all kinds of extra dumb things and run wild just because the regular teacher wasn't there. But I've always felt sorry for substitute teachers. You guys are much stronger than I am!

I am glad at least some of your classes went well, though. But I'm sorry to hear about how stressful those students made your day. If you substitute teach there again (or anywhere else for that matter), I hope that those times will be much, much nicer and easier to handle!

 

[Drtooth]

I'm gonna come out and say Oscarfan and Skye are the ones who are the most correct. Kids have ALWAYS misbehaved like this... maybe not in the 50's as much... but they tend to misbehave. ESPECIALLY when they're a substitute... There's some kid's book that comes to mind... it was by James Marshall.... and it was about this teacher who disguised as a witch or something to get her students to behave... and then there was a similar episode of Recess where a substitute fills in for Ms. Grotkey, and they all feel it's gonna be an easy A day or something... and even an episode of King of Queens where Doug tries to be a substitute...

The plain and simple fact is kids ALWAYS act like that cuz they feel that a Substitute means that there isn't any class, and it doesn't count... and usually subs don't have that much power, so they can do whatever they want. And if you do something about it, you usually look like a bully or something.

It comes from years of experience being the quietish kid that didn't do all that much, and observed others.

 

[Yva Minstrel]

Sorry to hear about your experiences, that does show how times have indeed changed. I graduated from high school close to 20 years ago, and I remember having one substitute teacher (she was a frequent sub) and she was very cool. Her name was Mrs. Black and she was someone who was strict, but also kind. She knew all the tricks of subbing and that was perhaps why she was frequently subbed at our school. The other kids respected her, but they did the typical 'harass the sub' thing, but mostly it was harmless stuff like wadded up papers, but when it was time to get to work, then that was it, work time.

Kids today, I can't really say how they are, but I can say that a lot of kids don't have it so good, both parents work (if the parents are together) and if divorced, the the parent who has custody have to work their tail off. They don't seem to have time to teach their kids manners, and yes, as someone said, they dump it onto the school system. It's not right, but it's something that we have, sociologically devolved to.

Here in Germany it's no better. We have a lot of kids here who can't even speak German when they start school. These particular kids not only have to learn to read and write the language, they also have to learn to speak it. The teachers here have it really bad, and the kids have it harder, because generally neither of their parents can speak the langauge either. The thing is, if the teachers cannot communicate with these kids, how can anyone expect to teach them?

My youngest nephew just started school this week, and he can already write his name. I am very proud that the children in my life. Not just because I know them and am partial, but because they really are as sharp as a tack. I'm also writing this because there are those wonderful individuals out there called 'teachers' who help to inspire them to learn.

Hopefully you will find the inspiration to continue teaching because whether these kids realize it or not, they need you.

All the best!

 

[Xerus]

My junior high had some pretty rowdy and mean kids. One guy even tried to light a match in the study hall. We all had to stay after school until the kid confessed. He finally did.

And in high school, our algebra class was pretty obnoxious. We had a really sweet and kind teacher who couldn't take it anymore and just left the room. Later, I made her a cheer up card and it made her feel a lot better. And she continued to teach.

 

[wwfpooh]

My high school had some pretty disruptive kids, even when the regular teacher was present. Except for me, it seemed as if no one else really cared about doing well in school. Most slept in Sudy Hall, talked over the lecture in regular classes, took repeated courses over, and various other things. Some even dropped out due to irresponsible choices (one being a drunk & the other getting knocked up [and having a kid as a result]). But despite all this, a lot of them still graduated, but I--and my cousin, who was also a top model student--was one of the only ones to get scholarships due to my hard work.