2 Kids + 18 Squirrels = Insanity?

Seven year old children: I have seen quite the range this month. From nearly angelic to constant motion. This is the range of the second grader. Over the past four weeks I have subbed in 4 different 2nd grade classrooms.

The range of behavior has been amazing. One class is loaded with cooperative, well-behaved children. It turns out that, because it's a 2nd/3rd combination, the students were "hand picked" to make management of the class easier. Two of the classes have a mixture of children. Some of the kids are constantly focused and quiet. Two or three kids are easily distracted, talk frequently, and get off task. The majority of the kids are mostly on the job and can be redirected easily when necessary. Another class is composed of 2 or 3 students who can be counted on to stay on task and to make excellent behavior and activity choices in the classroom. The remaining 17 or 18 range from "often off task" to "nearly always off task".

Beginning this week I took a long term substitute teaching job for a teacher who is trying to recover from a physical injury. She job shares with another teacher and so I will be filling in for her for 6 weeks on Wednesday, Thursday, and every other Friday. You may have already guessed that her class is NOT the combination class of hand-picked students. It's also not one of the two classes that are a typical mixture. No, it's the one that's filled with 18 squirrels and 2 civilized children.

For the remaining 5 weeks I will be teaching this class and doing all the things that a regular classroom teacher does: grading papers, preparing lesson plans, attending staff meetings, and trying to survive the squirrels without going insane. Of course I will still receive normal substitute wages for the privilege. I'll continue to accept other sub jobs on off days, work at the Big 'n' Nice Bookstore at night, and try to squeeze my workouts into my non teaching days. Because of this, and 3 other obligations that have approaching deadlines, there will likely be fewer postings on this blog. (Besides that, Laz is no longer publishing his blog. With a combined total of 317 posts on this and the Get Sladed blog, I've won!)

What I do post will probably be tales from the classroom. To my loyal reader: check back next week.