In-School Suspension

I’m writing this while at work. I have decided to take the year off from school and save in order to afford graduate work next year and the years to follow. In the mean time, I am a substitute teacher in Bourbonnais, Bradley, and Kankakee. I’m at my second day of work. It is only the beginning of the school year, but hopefully this will turn into an every day thing.

Today is weird. I’m at the Bourbonnais Upper Grade School. The school districts are unlike anything I’ve seen before. This school is only grades 7-8. There is another school that is just grades 5-6. All of the middle grade levels in Bourbonnais and Bradley feed into one high school. I am only substituting for grades 5 and above. I did high school last week and today I am in the Upper Grade school.

This is the weirdest position imaginable. I am actually sitting in as the teacher for in-school suspension. I figured that this day would be about 15 kids that would be somewhat hard to control. There are two kids: a seventh grade boy and an eighth grade girl. The office said that this is a large group for this early in the year. Justin got in a fight with a kid who decided not to fight back. Shane is here because she decided she didn’t like her math teacher and walked out of school. A returning field trip saw her out of class and she was caught. Who just walks out? I understand that happening in high school when you are more independent and can drive, but this is eighth grade. I find this somewhat amusing. There cool kids though, and I’ve found that as long as I treat them fairly and with respect they also respect me.

Just a side note, I changed my background picture from Joy and I’s footprints on the beaches in Mexico to a wedding photo of both of us. I started smiling and Shane asked why. I showed her the picture and asked if that was my wife. I smiled and said yes. So she bluntly says, “Oh, I thought you were gay.” She continues to explain that all the in-school suspension teachers are homosexual and she assumed that I was like the others. My first reaction to such a question was a resounding no, followed by a quick thought of whether I actually appear homosexual, and finally to thinking about the audacity to say to her teacher that she thought he was gay. I don’t think I’ve ever come off as gay. I’ve been hit on by a male before, but it was in high school and it was more of a show than an actual attraction. That’s neither here nor there, but part of the happenings of the day.

So my duties today consist of monitoring. They shouldn’t talk, sleep, draw, or do anything that doesn’t relate to school. I walk them to the bathroom and give them 40 minutes for lunch. I sit here and read, write on my blog (except I don’t have the internet so I’m writing it out on a word document), and am listening to Bright Eyes. I played mancala on my computer, did a sudoku puzzle, and read a little from my ESPN magazine. Oh yeah, I’m getting paid for this.