Thursday, March 15, 2007
2nd Grade and Recess Duty
I have been asked to substitute teach 4 times this week all for 2nd grade classes. I learned alot about 7 year olds this week.
For one, they love to help. I was moving the overhead projector, and a box of rulers fell off the bottom shelf. About 5 students jumped from their seats to pick them up for me. I learned to use their generosity to my advantage. I now get a "special helper" to pass out papers, pick up papers, erase the board, and write down lessons on the board. I have a quiet leader that is in charge of keeping the room quiet by turning out the lights when it gets too loud. Most all 2nd graders love help. One bad thing about this characteristic is that because they like to help, most 2nd graders are tattle-tales. Most kids seem to try to get other kids busted. Now I know why my teachers in grade school frowned upon this. It gets very annoying.
Another thing about 2nd graders is they will tell you what is on their mind. Whether it is the appropriate time or even an appropriate story at all. In the middle of story time, one little girl raised her hand. I called her name because I thought she had a question about the story. She proceeded to tell me about how her great grandmother had just passed away and that the viewing was that afternoon, and that her parents would not let her go to it. Well, normally, I would cut her off because it was off topic, but I couldn't bring myself to do that considering the subject. I have also learned about students father in prison and a dog and cat card collection.
I also learned alot on the playground. One day while at a small outlying school, I was told that I was on recess duty. I have never been on recess duty. I didn't think too much of it because I figured that there would be another teacher or adult that would also be on recess duty with me, that would "show me the ropes". Well, As you probably guessed, I was the only "adult" on recess duty. As I took the kids outside, a little girl asked me where my whistle was. I decided I must need a whistle and went back inside. She wanted to show me where I could find it. I began to walk back out and the 1st grade teacher asked me if I had a key. I did not. As I started to walk back to her she told me to head on out and she would send a student out with a key. Well, I had 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders on recess. Total of about 70 kids. It was absolute mayhem. There were kids running everywhere. They were climbing on snow piles, jumping in puddles, throwing those red rubber playground balls at each other and girls I have never met come up and hug me. The ground was messy due to the recent thaw so I decided that all students were to stay on the mulch or blacktop. So, I spent the first part of the recess rounding up kids on the grass and informing them of my new self imposed rule. Then I saw about 20 boys jumping horizontally feet first into each other on the snow pile. New rule... "everyone off the snow piles!!!" Then a girl told me another girl called her the "B" word. I told them to separate or I'd put them on the wall (do they put kids against the wall here I thought). Next crisis was a boys hat came unbuttoned from his coat. This is easy I thought... as soon as I started to re-button his hood to his jacket, a bunch of girls run toward the fence. I hear them say "blah blah blah fight blah blah blah". Yeah, the girls that were calling each other names evidently didn't separate. There wasn't any fisticuffs, just yelling. So they were on the wall seperated this time. ok, I look at my watch and it is time to go in. I assume this is what the whistle is for. I blow the whistle. The whole world stopped! balls stopped bouncing, yelling and screaming was silenced, and every student lined up quietly in rows of perfectly straight 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders. Thank goodness I had that whistle! I unlocked the door with my borrowed key and went back to class! I still think about how recess would have went without my whistle or key.
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For one, they love to help. I was moving the overhead projector, and a box of rulers fell off the bottom shelf. About 5 students jumped from their seats to pick them up for me. I learned to use their generosity to my advantage. I now get a "special helper" to pass out papers, pick up papers, erase the board, and write down lessons on the board. I have a quiet leader that is in charge of keeping the room quiet by turning out the lights when it gets too loud. Most all 2nd graders love help. One bad thing about this characteristic is that because they like to help, most 2nd graders are tattle-tales. Most kids seem to try to get other kids busted. Now I know why my teachers in grade school frowned upon this. It gets very annoying.
Another thing about 2nd graders is they will tell you what is on their mind. Whether it is the appropriate time or even an appropriate story at all. In the middle of story time, one little girl raised her hand. I called her name because I thought she had a question about the story. She proceeded to tell me about how her great grandmother had just passed away and that the viewing was that afternoon, and that her parents would not let her go to it. Well, normally, I would cut her off because it was off topic, but I couldn't bring myself to do that considering the subject. I have also learned about students father in prison and a dog and cat card collection.
I also learned alot on the playground. One day while at a small outlying school, I was told that I was on recess duty. I have never been on recess duty. I didn't think too much of it because I figured that there would be another teacher or adult that would also be on recess duty with me, that would "show me the ropes". Well, As you probably guessed, I was the only "adult" on recess duty. As I took the kids outside, a little girl asked me where my whistle was. I decided I must need a whistle and went back inside. She wanted to show me where I could find it. I began to walk back out and the 1st grade teacher asked me if I had a key. I did not. As I started to walk back to her she told me to head on out and she would send a student out with a key. Well, I had 1st, 2nd, and 3rd graders on recess. Total of about 70 kids. It was absolute mayhem. There were kids running everywhere. They were climbing on snow piles, jumping in puddles, throwing those red rubber playground balls at each other and girls I have never met come up and hug me. The ground was messy due to the recent thaw so I decided that all students were to stay on the mulch or blacktop. So, I spent the first part of the recess rounding up kids on the grass and informing them of my new self imposed rule. Then I saw about 20 boys jumping horizontally feet first into each other on the snow pile. New rule... "everyone off the snow piles!!!" Then a girl told me another girl called her the "B" word. I told them to separate or I'd put them on the wall (do they put kids against the wall here I thought). Next crisis was a boys hat came unbuttoned from his coat. This is easy I thought... as soon as I started to re-button his hood to his jacket, a bunch of girls run toward the fence. I hear them say "blah blah blah fight blah blah blah". Yeah, the girls that were calling each other names evidently didn't separate. There wasn't any fisticuffs, just yelling. So they were on the wall seperated this time. ok, I look at my watch and it is time to go in. I assume this is what the whistle is for. I blow the whistle. The whole world stopped! balls stopped bouncing, yelling and screaming was silenced, and every student lined up quietly in rows of perfectly straight 1st, 2nd and 3rd graders. Thank goodness I had that whistle! I unlocked the door with my borrowed key and went back to class! I still think about how recess would have went without my whistle or key.
links to this post
