Worst Day Yet...and Hopefully EVER!

Things were a little slow with work right after Christmas break. That is to be somewhat expected. You would think the teachers could make it at least an entire week without calling in after a 2 week vacation. On the other hand I sub for 4 different school on a regular basis and there are another 3 schools that I am on their sub list. So you'd think that with 7 schools in the school district somebody somewhere would call in sick. Anyhow I only worked 1.5 days the first week after break which stinks financially, but it was nice to extend my vacation a bit. This little break was good though because I had to catch my breath because it's been go go go ever since then. Which is great for the pocketbook, but can be exhausting as well.

There is one school that I get called to somewhat regularly that I just dread every time. I would flat out tell them no if I weren't so desperate to work. This school is one of the K-8 schools here. Every time I go there it is an extremely challenging day. The students there are just rough all around. You would think that because it is in a newer development of town that there would be some better students there, but all the good students have transferred to the new charter school. I would too if I were them. This school is just rough. With this preamble maybe you can fully understand my worst day yet (and hopefully ever) of subbing.

I had gone to this school on Tuesday and taught a 5th grade class I'd had before. This class has about 6 trouble makers that you have to get after all day. The day went relatively well considering getting after them MANY MANY MANY times until..... I had to break up a FIGHT in the classroom at the end of the day!!!

The next day I got a call that morning to go back to the same school and teach Art. I was just hoping that there were lesson plans as my artistic skills are just a BIT lacking. I tried to get there early so I could find what I was supposed to be doing. When I walked in to the classroom, it was pretty messy. I found that they'd had a sub in the classroom the day before. There were some lesson plans left for the previous day's sub but nothing new. The first class of the day was 8th graders. I showed them what had been done the previous day and they said they already did that. So I told them to just socialize (since that's all they do anyway) while I found something to work on for the rest of the day.

I had brought along some coloring pages just in case, but the older kids definitely would not have been interested in those. Luckily the next class that came in was Special Ed kids who came in with their aids to help them. So they colored the pages I brought and were thoroughly entertained the entire time. :) This gave me more time thankfully. I found a bucket that said Sub on the side of it. Inside the bucket was a packet of ideas to choose from to do with the class. I looked through the packet to try to find something I could actually do AND find all the supplies for. I finally came across something called "Name Aliens and Monsters". It didn't look too complicated and I was able to find all of the supplies easily.

It involved writing the student's name in cursive, tracing it with chalk, folding the paper lengthwise and rubbing the back so all the chalk would transfer to the other side. Then coloring the loops and it mad e a cool monster or alien. I tried it out first to see how hard it would be and mine turned out so cute. I figured if I could do it, then they could do it. I gathered all the supplies and set them out for the next class.

The next class was 6th graders. They really enjoyed the project and theirs turned out great! I should have left just a little more time for clean up, but I was able to get the room ready before the next class came in. As I was cleaning up I found one major drawback of this project. The chalk we were using was not just regular chalk, it was some special kind of art chalk...and it was black. It got everywhere so easily and it was hard to clean up.

Next were the 5th graders, not just any class, but the same class I had the day before!! Once we were getting started their teacher came in and accused one of them of having candy and searched everyone's pockets. This of course was a big to-do and took up a lot of time. I finally got them started and as I was helping some of the students the same trouble makers from the day before were running around in the back of the room. I got them back under control and everyone's project complete. They had just finished when their teacher came back to get them. I came back in and tried to clean the tables real fast before the next class came.

The next class was 2nd graders. I had to help them more obviously since they were younger. While going around the room I had discovered that at the back of the room (where those boys were messing around during the last class) chalk had fallen on the ground and been completely crushed and spread all over the floor. It was a complete mess!

Some of them thought it was neat to rub the chalk all over their hands and watch them turn black. Then with their black hands they touched their faces. As I went around to check on them I sent those that were done to wash their hands. While I was not looking one little boy got his black hands wet and then rubbed his eyes so he had a mask on like Zorro. It was just after this happened that their teacher walked in and about had a heart attack at the sight! All of the students with black rubbed all over their face got an automatic Red card for the day. One little boy had a complete melt down at the news of this. This particular boy really had just accidentally touched his face with his black hands. I told the teacher that he was probably the only innocent one. We worked together to get the kids out of there and she sent them all to the bathroom to wash their hands and faces. I felt horrible.

It was finally my lunch break and I just stood there for a minute almost in shock trying to figure out how I was going to clean up this mess. I called my mom and told her what had happened and collaborated on what I should do. As I was talking to her I saw the janitor go into the teacher's lounge next door. I went in there and asked them if they could bring a mop into the art room. When they brought it in they just stood there and shook their heads and asked what happened??? I was so embarrassed that it looked the way it did. They suggested stacking all the chairs and sweeping with the dust mop first and then using the wet mop. So I got it all swept, but it still looked awful at this point. But my lunch hour was just about over at this point. So I wiped down some of the tables the best I could and tried to get ready for the next class.

The next class was 1st graders. I decided there was no way I was even going to try this with them. So I gave them the coloring pages and crayons and they just colored away. While they colored I worked on scrubbing the rest of the tables trying to get all the chalk off. The 1st graders did great coloring and then I had a planning period. So I started mopping. I started at the back of the room where it was the worst and tried to work my way to the front.

I was running out of time and was realizing there was no way in the world I was going to get this all cleaned up before the next class. As I was frantically trying to get as much done as I could I called my mom for reinforcement and couldn't get a hold of her at all. I was starting to panic. I finally called Brian and asked him where my mom was. He said he was in the bathroom and thought that she was home. I told him I needed him to get off the pot right now and go see if she was home, it was urgent! He wanted to know what was going on and I told him I didn't have time to explain it all to him, that she knew what was going on and I needed to talk to her. He went to look for her and she wasn't home and didn't have her phone with her...obviously. Brian said that he'd have her call me when she got home and I told him that I can't answer my phone during class. I ended the call and tried to get myself under control before the next class came in.

The final class of the day was 4th graders. Their teacher had heard what had happened with the 2nd graders already and threatened her class to be good or they'd lose 2 days worth of recess! I would not let them sit where I had already mopped. So they were a bit more contained. They have boy join their class for part of the day everyday from special ed. They took his paper from him and he started bawling. I mean at the top of his lungs bawling and screaming! I moved him off by himself where nobody else could bother him and got him calmed down with some crayons and paper.

The 4th graders enjoyed the project and were doing pretty good, then somehow things got out of control....there were crayons flying across the room and rulers being used as swords. I made them put everything away and wait for their teacher. Their teacher came and they did indeed lose their 2 days of recess. All the cleaning I had done before they came was null and void...it was a mess again.

This is one of the big spot of ground chalk on the floor

By now I had about 20 minutes before the end of the day and I knew there was no way I was ever going to get the room cleaned up in time to go. My mom had texted me during class and said she had taken my niece to speech therapy. I called her and told her I needed her help. She came down a few minutes later with more cleaning supplies. She looked at it and shook her head, and I had even cleaned the worst of it.

She tackled the tables while I finished mopping the floor. She brought Clorox wipes to help clean up the mess, but she was going through them so fast she quickly had to find a plan B. I think I went through an entire huge roll of paper towels that day. As I was finishing up the last of the mopping, the janitors came in to help. They came in and saw that we were using paper towels to clean the tables and pointed to this big stack of rags. We felt pretty STUPID that we had not seen those there. That made the cleaning go much faster! The janitors finally kicked me out at 3:45 and told me they would finish the rest. At least the room was cleaner by then than how I found it that morning.

I went and turned in my keys and couldn't get out of there fast enough. My hands were so black and my fingernails had black chalk under them for days. I scrubbed and scrubbed but could not get it off. A couple of days later when I blew my nose it was coming out black!!! I was sore for days from all the mopping and leaning over scrubbing tables. I never want to see another piece of black chalk! I was so tired after this and just wanted to go home and crawl into bed. But of course it was on a Wednesday and I had scouts and then had to even go to mutual to help out with something there too.

You would think that after a day like that the rest of the week had to be better....it was, in comparison, but on Thursday a glass jar shattered in my hand while teaching 3rd grade and on Friday while teaching 7th/8th grade a student threw a carton of chocolate milk down the hall way and the assistant principal came and sat in on my last period to keep them under control.

Luckily I have not had to go back there yet, but I know it will only be too soon until I have to go back. Like I said earlier, If I didn't need the work so bad, I would just tell them no. I DEFINITELY earn my money some days!