The perfect sub assignment

I had tutored at Castle Park Middle school, so I sort of knew my way around. The instructions the teacher left for me were perfect. The school is on a block schedule and the first period of the day would be taken care of by a student teacher. A student teacher! How cool was that? I totally knew what she was going through and after I met her, I said I'd just sit in the back and read. So on Thursday I only had one class to sub and they were a fun group of students. I then had a two hour prep period, and I went up to the office hoping they would send me home and still pay me for a full day, but they sent me to another classroom, which didn't need me, and then to the library. I sat and checked in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory. And then I left.

On Friday, it is a full day of classes and the only class I hadn't met was 3rd period. The student teacher said they were a rowdy bunch of students. Oh great! Well, what I did was take her lesson plan and used it in 3rd and 4th periods. It was a lesson on "tolerance," what it means to them and how we as a society can be more tolerant. I just followed the ST lead, and asked the students to give me as many derogatory remarks they had heard or used which dealt with race, religion, sexual orientation, gender, etc. 3rd period came up with some good ones and it was an engaging conversation about how people treat others in society. The best part was that none of the students caused any problems and the lesson allowed them to look beyond just the classroom and school. This had to be the best assignment I've had so far. If only they could all be like this.