Places NOT to Leave Books...

As a language arts teacher, I have a large classroom library that the kids can choose from to check out to use for their reading homework. In the beginning of the school year, the parents sign a form that says if their child loses, destroys, or otherwise makes the book useless to me, they will replace it. They can give me an identical book, pay me the cash to replace it, or they can donate a similar book to my library as long as I approve the transaction.

This has worked really well. I lost only one book (that I know of, they might have stolen it off the shelf so I didn't have a record of them having it) my first year, and I lost about 15 books my second year. It's really annoying to lose books, because I buy them with my own money (mostly used, and you can get a great deal at my public library... $.25 each for the juvenile books, but as I have over 1,000, it was still very expensive to get set up).

This past year the kids had to replace quite a few books, and they had to because of strange reasons.

One little brother helped his big sister by pouring his apple juice into the book. That book was so amazingly smelly. It smelled like wine.

Another little brother colored the book for my student.

Another's dog ate it. My student brought me the tiniest sliver of the old book, giggling like a fiend, to show me. I was like... what??

The strangest situation this year was with one of my expensive books... Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire. I had several copies in paperback, but this was my hardback. One of my students who always was checking out books borrowed it, but it wasn't he who returned it... it was an informer, the type of student that makes life easier as they help you figure out what happened.

This student wasn't allowed to read the Harry Potter books. His mother didn't like them, but since all his friends were reading them, he had to as well. So he borrowed them from me, and hid them before getting home. Now, this might not be so bad, but he didn't choose a wise hiding place. He chose a bush at his bus stop.

One of my other students found it, the night after it rained. As you can guess, the book didn't fare so well.

When I contacted his mother, I found out that he wasn't supposed to be reading them at all.

Oops. Well, that's why I encouraged the parents to check with their students, to make sure they know what they're reading and to make sure it works for them as a family. He was doing his reading log on Harry Potter, so if she had been actually reading the reading log as she signed it, she would have known what he was reading.

Anyway, he brought me a brand new copy, and promptly asked to check it out. I said, ask your mother.

Substitute Teachers

Substitute Teachers... they can be angels from heaven or something from quite the other direction. I have had some awesome subs, ones who left my classroom neater than I left it (I do admit I am a messy teacher). I have had some who did everything exactly as I asked, which honestly, is rarer than you'd think.

Then I've had the kind of subs where you have no idea what was going on, and honestly, you're just as happy you don't know. The kids always are thrilled to see you after those subs, because they don't like how out of control the class was.

Sometimes the subs are so old, I am amazed they drove themselves to my school, and managed to walk to my classroom. The kids told me once their sub was a little old lady with a blanket who slept through class.

Sometimes they are so young I could confuse them with my students, and that's saying something, as I teach 6th grade, and they are still quite small.

But the worst sub I ever had was so bad... there really aren't enough words to describe how bad she was. It just boggles the mind whenever I think about it. And to make it even worse, she was only there for 1/2 day! She arrived 1/2 way through my 4th period, so she had only to make it through 4th, then 5th is my planning, and then do 6th period, and that's the end of the day. But that was, apparently, just too much for her.

The day after I got back, everything seemed normal. The classroom was clean (or at least, looked like when I left). The work I had left was done, and on my desk in neat little piles. The report she left mentioned no problems, and told me the kids were wonderful, and she'd just had the best time... and on and on about how fun it was. That was a little strange, but okay. She had fun. It all seemed okay.

Then 4th period rolled around. I knew what they had accomplished yesterday, because class has been well begun when I left the day before. They were firmly under control, working, and quiet. I had lectured them on how they would be behaving for the sub, and they had no issues, and knew I meant business when I mentioned consequences for any issues. They were also my advanced class, so they knew how to behave.

The class started normally. No problems. Nothing was mentioned about the day before as I started class. After doing our bellwork (the 5 minute assignment that is on the board as they walk in, getting them settled and working for the day), I handed back the work from yesterday so they could continue working, as it was a mini-project, and most weren't finished.

The work had been collected by the sub and piled on my desk, as I had asked her to do. I had found one student's work, though, on top of my bookcase as I entered my classroom earlier that morning. I quickly nabbed it and hid it. Nothing makes me crazier than how my students leave their stuff all over everything, as if I didn't have enough mess without their help! I always move things from where they left it, so I can talk to them about how I don't like it when they leave things.

Anyway, after passing back all of the work, the student who's paper I had hidden came wandering up to me, and asked me if I had seen his work. I said, why? Didn't you get it back? No, he told me. I asked him why his wasn't with the rest. He said he didn't know. I asked him if he remembered leaving it on top of the bookcase, and he said, Oh yeah! I scolded him mildly, then asked what it was doing up there in the first place.

This one, innocent question opened up the biggest can of worms, ever.

Because I was working there, he told me.

"Why not use your desk?" I ask, feeling like this is an obvious thing.

"Because the sub was sitting in it," came the reply.

"Wait... what? The sub was sitting in your desk?"

"Yes."

"Why?"

"I don't know," he answered, looking pitiful. He had that down pat.

I looked around my room for my informers. All teachers have them. The ones we know watched the whole thing, carefully making notes, and will tell you all. 6th graders as a whole are all informers, but some are more reliable than others.

I told him to sit, then called one of my angel-children over. I asked her why the sub was in his desk.

"Because she moved everyone," came the answer. Okay, she moved everyone... I provided a perfectly good seating chart, so why the need for movement?

"Well, she said that some of the students were bad, so she moved the bad students, so she could watch them. But the ones she was yelling at weren't the ones she moved." Okay, so what did that mean?

"Okay..." I say, hoping to get more information, but not sure of the questions to ask, "who did she move?"

"Just the boys. Well, she made everyone in 2 rows stand up, then she picked a spot (the boy's desk, apparently) and then she pointed at students to surround her spot. They were all boys."

WHAT??

"All boys?" I ask, carefully.

"Yes," my angel confirmed. "The girls had to just find somewhere else to sit. No one would let him sit down, so he was using the bookcase for his work."

After all was said and done, after calling up student after student, I discovered she had indeed surrounded herself with the boys, and chatted them up. That's the only way to put it. She asked what they did for fun, if they liked to party, where would they be that weekend, etc. Let me remind you... I teach 6th grade. The are 11 or 12. They are NOT high school boys who look like men. They are children!

Not only that, she allowed chaos to rule my classroom. I ended up writing 6 referrals from things that happened in just that last half of 4th and my 6th period. I called up student after student who told me about what they did but told me also they weren't doing it alone, so then I was talking to another student, who mentioned a whole different incident.

I had never written referrals before... I had never needed to. I take care of the misbehavior, and don't need to send them to the Assistant Principal. However, the students were hurt, things were thrown, profanity reigned, and more and more.

Suffice to say, I reported that sub, and waited until summer was out to have another doctor or dentist appointment.