Today I was working with my regular groups when the custodian walked in to let me know or to let us know that the office was trying to call us but could not. He wanted us, Miss Hamby and I, to call the office immediately. I did not know what it was for, but I had an idea.  I found out what it was when I called back the office. They informed me if I could go substitute for a six-grade teacher.

When I went to room 21, the students were working on a valentines assignment. Many of them were already finished, most of them boys. I could see that they were bored and restless so they aware a little mischievous. What I mean by mischievous is that they were horsing around and just doing things that showed that I needed to start taking control of the group. As I read the notes from the teacher, the activities were already familiar to the students. Also, part of the classroom students was in their music class. It was hard to get them organized because they were in multiple places.

When all the students were in the classroom, I read the instructions that the teacher left me to run the class. Ninety percent of the students began their vocabulary activity but they were two or three students who did not, for whatever reason, wanted to do their assignment. As always, there’s always one student who will test to see how far they can go. I asked the student if he knew what he needed to do. He responded that he did but continued to linger around the tables. I noticed that he tried to throw something at me and immediately I turned around and I asked him if he was trying to test me. He acted like he didn’t know what I was talking about. I asked him to sit right next to me by a table that was empty. He did not like being moved away from his peers. And he was mumbling his discontent. I asked his name and he reluctantly gave it to me. He was mad because I sat him apart. However, as soon as I did this action, the rest of the students started working on their assignments. It never changes, there will always be a student who will try you and who will test you to see if you can handle them. As a longtime teacher, he came across an individual who knows the ropes and who will not tolerate misbehavior.