My migaine has gotten better today. I went to the doctor because my prescription refills had run out, so I had to make a visit just to get them renewed. The question that made me laugh at the doctor today was when he asked if I had any new stress in my life. I think if I would have been drinking milk I would have spit it out my nose from the laughter.
I explained to the doctor that I have a very challenging group of students, the team I am on is added stress, and there is much more. I did not try to go into many details. I think by the amount of laughter he could figure it out.
Anyway, he actually changed my prescription to something called Axert. I took one today and it is clearing my migraine pretty well. I imagine the multi-hour nap helped as well.
I decided to call my teammate after school to see how the day went with our kids. She proceeded to tell me that my substitute was a brand-spanking new sub. Just my luck, I get the newbie. My teammate said that the kids were absolutely awful for my sub. She also said that the sub did nothing to administer discipline/consequences for the kids behavior. I also was told that our kids had to be called down today by the principals during gym.
Let's just say that I am less that amused. My students know that I don't deal well with disrespect. The fact that they acted so atrociously in my absence sends me over the edge. I am glad, however, to know that the principals are finally able to see what kind of group we are dealing with on my team. Maybe they will finally wake up and lend a hand.
Oh, my students don't have a clue to the kind of wrath they will incur when I return to school tomorrow. I don't like to be mad or hateful around the students, but I have to lay down the law. I demand the utmost respect for our substitute teachers when I am not present. My students are going to learn that tomorrow. I imagine that I will be on my soapbox for most of the day tomorrow. There will surely be a good amount of preaching tomorrow. (I refer to this time in my class as "church." Why church??? Because only God can help you at that point!)
I imagine that I will be suspending any outside time for the week as a consequence. I am sure that I will have the student individually write an apology letter to the substitute for their behavior and perhaps one to their parents letting them know what happened. I will not just let this go.
The only problem I have with making the students write the apology letters is that I know that there are a number of students who acted as they were supposed to do. I know each of them. It is not fair to them. I am also certain of the ones who were causing the problems. I have just the right consequences for them. I might even decide to hand down some after school detentions for them.
This is frustrating because I am supposed to be out of town on Thursday and Friday of next week. Now, I don't know that I can trust my students enough to leave them in the care of another substitute. I do know that we have some really great substitute teachers, but I still don't want to have to subject them to this kind of behavior.
ARRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRRGH!
I am getting off of here and going to write some quizzes and do some laundry. Maybe I will hit the couch for another nap to keep my migraine from coming back.
Have a great evening everybody!
- JC
Glad you're feeling better!
ReplyDeleteI'm sure you know what students were the problem ones, but one thing my mom has done is she has the kids write a letter to her talking about their behavior when there is a sub and name any individuals who were giving the sub a hard time, and what they were doing. Middle schoolers have no problem blaming and saying who did what, which helps my mom in deciding consequences.
I feel bad for the sub. Too bad there is no training on how to handle kids, you just kind of have to know.
I took your advice on having the kids write me a note about what happened yesterday. I had them make three columns: The Substitute, My Behavior, and Behavior of Others. Under each heading they had to write about the subject. It was hilarious to read what the kids observed. I told them all I was looking for a pattern in the Behavior of Others section. It was right on. I am going to a few students tomorrow and showing them some of the comments and then discuss the consequences of their actions.
ReplyDeleteThanks for the idea.