Flying Solo, Part 2

Mr. B. was out sick again today. He had warned me this might happen, so we had consulted on Thursday what to do in that scenario. After enjoying a quick, free breakfast with the faculty (Fridays are Faculty Breakfast Day), I hurried up to the classroom to meet the sub. She looked panicked; no notes had been left, and no lesson plans were to be found. I introduced myself, and reassured her that Mr. B. had prepared me to lead the classes. I asked if she would play a supportive role, and assist me in passing out papers, taking attendance, help keep students on task, and give me feedback on my teaching. She obliged, advising that I get my emergency credential paperwork filed with the district office ASAP so that the next time Mr. B. was out, no sub would be needed, and I would be paid for the day.

 

For first period, I played a movie “Life Story” (1987) about how Drs. Franklin, Watson, and Crick discovered the double helix structure of DNA. Students were not listening, talking, and socializing. I told them to pay attention and we would discuss it at the end of class. I then drew the double helix on the board, atom by atom, to discuss after class. Students that had been disinterested seemed mildly curious in what I was drawing. The room was quiet. When 5 minutes of class were left, I paused the movie and asked the class questions about the role of women in science, and the differences between now and then. I also asked them why they thought discovering the structure of DNA was important. Then, I showed them the structure of DNA on the board, explaining that it was a result of those discoveries. We discussed the A:T and C:G hydrogen bonding, the negative charge on the backbone because of the phosphates, and how scientists use this information in the laboratory to further research—PCR, DNA sequencing, and gel electrophoresis.

 

During second period, I hurried out to get lunch for myself and the student I was interviewing at lunch for one of my case study assignments. Third period, I was better prepared. I had saved the structure of DNA for the end, but started with a four questions for students to answer during the movie. This kept students on task. There was no talking during third period, although several students seemed bored or tired (sleeping). At least it was better than first period. The movie was definitely boring though.

 

Fourth, fifth and sixth periods were my Bio classes. Fourth period had met me for the first time the day before. Students were still wary of my ability to teach. My confidence and preparation won them over. The hardest part was I didn't know their names, and the seating chart was really hard to follow. Desmond's became Dillon's, and Jonathan's replaced Juan's. Students hate being called by the wrong names and are not very forgiving.

"Mr. B.'s still out?" they asked.
"Yup. What'd you do to him?" I smiled in return. "Don't worry. He left me completely prepared." I said this, half joking. Students look for opportunities to slack off on sub day, not work harder.

We started with a warm-up--students in Mr. B.'s classes are accustomed to summarizing their Cornell notes from the day before. However, today, I gave them a prompt: "Compare and contrast eukaryotes and prokaryotes." After 3 minutes, I called on a few random students to share. There were some initial protests, "We don't normally share our summaries!"
"We're trying something different today," I replied. We created a Venn diagram to illustrate the similarities and differences on the board. Students copied it into their spirals under their summaries.

Then, we finished up the Microscope lab from the day before. Students peer-graded each other's lab worksheets. Luckily, I had made up a key, allocating specific points for each section so this part was pretty easy.

The last half of class was beginning a lecture on "Organelles". Unfortunately, I spent too long asking students questions so we didn't get too far. At least I know what we covered was truly covered: I waited to make sure all students had enough time to copy down what they needed into their notes and stopped to ask them questions after every 2 slides.

For 5th and 6th period, I thought it would be easy since these are my regular two classes. It wasn't. First, I was flustered from teaching all day and kept forgetting which period I was on. We had just switched to a new seating chart too, and I kept messing up student names, even though I knew better! It was embarrassing. I hate how the brain fails you when you need it the most.

Second, my students misbehaved more because they knew me! I thought it would be the opposite. I guess because they felt comfortable with me, they thought they could get away with it. Mostly, they weren't paying attention and talking when I was talking. I had to move one student to a different chair because he refused to stop talking, turn around, and pay attention. However, on the flip side, students from my classes participated A LOT more than usual, especially the students who had been seeing me individually for tutoring. I think this is because they felt at ease with me as their teacher. This was very gratifying.

Class was fun though. In addition to what we covered in 5th period, we also spent some time going over model essays students had written from the week before. I hadn't had time to give them feedback so it was nice to slow down and review what a few class-generated, full-credit essays looked like.

I also played a :30 second YouTube clip of a white blood cell chasing a bacterial cell so students could appreciate the size differential between eukaryotes and prokaryotes. The students loved the video, particularly because the cells literally came alive before their eyes.

The sub said she loved my energy and how I switched up the activities so we didn't spend more than 10-15 minutes on one thing. One thing she told me I need to work on is not talking over my students. When I'm talking, and other students begin having a side conversation, I need to be silent, make eye contact, and use proximity control instead. All in all, subbing was a FANTASTIC experience. I can't wait to lead the class again.