Open your mouth

The phone rang and the caller id displayed Breast Cancer Of or BCOF. Kiersten chuckled and asked if we should answer the phone to try out our missionary efforts. During our recent general conference, Elder Mervyn Arnold had relayed a story of Sister Reeves sharing the gospel with each telemarketer who called. Maybe we should try it once to see if they'll let us be.

The Lord wants and expects us to open our mouth and speak. To stand and declare. To bear witness. This is no easy task. For many years I was terrified to open up and say what was in my heart. I've gotten a little bolder each time I've stood and testified. It is no longer as great a weakness as it once was.

Today I was put in a missionary situation where I wasn't asked to defend my beliefs but to answer questions put before me. I was subbing a ROTC class where the students really take over and are in charge of the entire class leaving me free to read or fill out my grocery list or talk to the French teacher whose classroom we were in.

The students were outside and Mr. C. and I were inside chatting when the conversation took a turn toward religion. We had been discussing how knowing languages is an important skill for the job market. I mentioned to him how Tyler had taken three years of German and ended up in Korea on an LDS mission.

Immediately he wanted to ask a question about missionaries and the church.

I said a silent prayer that I would be able to answer whatever came my way.

"Why aren't missionaries allowed to pick where they want to go? They pay for it. And yes, I know about God sending them wherever they end up."

Not too hard. 

I explained that they can put down a preference whether they'd like to stay in the states or go foreign. Mental and physical factors also play into it. I also explained how this church is a large worldwide organization with somewhere around 80000 missionaries. They are sent where there is a need. If 1000 potential missionaries put down they'd like to go to Paris, France, chances are 1000 missionaries probably wouldn't be needed there.

This was an okay answer but didn't quite seem to satisfy him.

At this point I wasn't sure what exactly he believed. I think if you're going to do missionary work, a good place to begin is to find out what they do believe in. My next response couched a reference to God in there to see if he at least believed in a supreme being. That's kind of a basic doctrine to know if you're going to talk religion.

I went on to explain that I believe in a God who knows me way better than I know myself. He knows my strengths and weaknesses. He also sees things on a much larger scope and knows where to put missionaries to use their strengths to further the work.

He nodded at this and said it made sense.

Mr. C., apparently, was two classes away from becoming a youth minister but changed his major to finance. I asked him, "Why the switch?"

"Academically I knew everything there was to know. I had studied just about every doctrine -- even doctrine within your church. I felt like I would be able to tell the youth about who God was but I couldn't tell them about God. I didn't have the personal relationship with Christ."

What an interesting thought. Here was a man who had studied many years to learn about God and his ways but never came to a real understanding of who He really was.

I guessed that if he had studied so much he must have read the Book of Mormon at some point. So I got brave and opened my mouth and asked.

He had and didn't have anything ill to say about it. To him it was a good book with some good life teachings.

About this time we got interrupted with students coming back in the classroom. He did mention how he never turns the missionaries away who come to his home out of respect for what they are doing.

What an interesting day. This morning I had prayed for God to help me with whatever different circumstances might head my way.

The Lord is real. He is very aware of his children. I hope another opportunity comes my way to sub the ROTC class again that puts me in the classroom of a certain French teacher.

Respect

This last week was NOT a good week for substituting. I don't think I made any friends, but then again I don't really want to be friends with kids who are so disrespectful. Honestly, I don't know how teachers manage. I know if I were a permanent teacher, the one thing I would do it take all their phones hostage to be returned at the end of class. They are such a distraction to learning.

In an 8th grade math class I was asking a student what her teacher meant by MOD problems. She looked at me and in a voice that was so condescending told me they were math problems. Duh.

Oh the steam that came out my ears. We had a little chat about respectfully answering a question and then I sentenced her to the back of the room to work. Ten minutes later she came to apologize. I had to accept her apology, but the next hour (yes, I had her for two straight periods) I took her phone when she wouldn't put it away. And ya know, she sat there so quiet because she simply didn't know what to do without a phone in her hand.

In a high school chemistry class I stood at the front of the class to get started after the tardy bell rang. I waited and waited and waited for them to quiet down and for the TA (teacher's assistant) to take his seat and quit talking to his friends. I finally had to tell them to hush and even after I started class they continued to talk. And then they thought it would be all right to just leave class without my permission. And then they thought they could sit in the back of the classroom at the lab tables and work together. Did they work? Did they even get the books to read? No. One girl sat on the counter with her feet crossed, on her phone, munching her chips. There were two kids in there I knew -- one is in my ward and the other is Kiersten's friend -- and so I asked if their class was typically like this, refusing to work and not shutting up. They said that yes, even their teacher has issues. Well, I put a stop to it when I found that three or four girls had just disappeared together out the door. I made them move back to their seats, get out a book, and start reading. I then lectured them on respect and being responsible for their own education and that just because I was there did not make it a free, social hour.

Okay, done with my rant for the week. I haven't felt the need to state my expectations right up front when I introduce myself to a class, but I think I'm going to start doing so.

Some good news is Kiersten has completed her quilt for one of her projects. It only took her . . . years? We just have to wash it.

I'm a workin' girl

Never in a million years did I ever think that substitute teaching would be in my future. After having subs when I was a kid, I told myself I would never ever be one. It seemed like the worst, thankless job ever.

Many years later I am a substitute teacher and this is how it all went down.

I applied for the job (they only open the hiring pool a couple of times a year).

--took a sub essentials training online to even be considered for an interview

--interviewed

--got accepted

--filled out more paperwork and got fingerprinted

--completed hours of online training

--attended a one-day, all-day orientation

--completed still more training

FINALLY I was cleared to work.

I think it took longer for me to get clearance to be a substitute teacher than it would have been if I was applying to work for the United States Department of Defense.

FIRST JOB

My first job happened rather quickly. I was not given my login information until right before I left for a young women volleyball game. I quickly logged in to see what positions might be available and saw several. However, I was running late so I didn't do anything. As I was dropping girls off at home I got a call from Middle Canyon Elementary asking me to sub the next morning for a first grade class. I took the job.

First grade is quite the experience and I have new respect for first grade teachers.

"Teacher . . . "

"Teacher, she stuck her tongue out at me."

"Teacher, can I use the bathroom."

"Teacher, can you help me."

"Teacher, teacher, teacher."

All. Day. Long.

What they didn't tell me was that it was a dual immersion Spanish class. So halfway through the day the class switched with the one across the hall. It made the lesson plans easy because it was simply the same things I had done in the morning.

We had multiple potty breaks, only to have one kid need to use it five minutes later. Apparently they didn't need to go when we all went.

We talked about cats. They informed me that cats can have kidney stones. "My dad had kidney stones." It was very easy to get off topic.

I found I knew a handful of the kids even though it was a Tooele school. I finally caught on when I realized it was an immersion class. I told them I knew their mom or dad and pretty soon EVERY kid wanted to know if I knew their mom or dad. I even had one kid invite me to his house after school.

My best idea that I will use with every elementary class is to have a quarter-sheet paper on their desk when they walk in that they are to put their name on and decorate/color how they choose. Throughout the day I would walk around and reward those who were on task and being helpful with a star punch on their paper. At the end of the day they got to take them home. All kids need rewards.

It was a very busy, fun first day subbing.

2nd AND 3rd JOB

My next two jobs have been at the high school. One day it was a Foods class where we made chocolate chip cookies. Since the classroom was right across from the lunchroom, Erik and his friends popped over to see how things were going. I think he liked having me there; in fact I know he liked having me there because the next time I subbed he invited me to eat lunch with him. And afterwards Kiersten and he walked with me to my class. That was the day I got to sub his PE class.

First hour was a weights class with the football team. I might have been a little intimidated if all 40 had shown up to class, but apparently since they had won their region game the night before, the coaches gave them the all clear to stay home. I had about 12 total in the class and they were all a little unmotivated to do anything knowing they had missed the memo that they could have not come or at least not come to first hour. Some tried to get me to let them leave and go to another kid's house. Some tried to go together to "work" on another class assignment in the library. I did have some lady poke her head in the classroom and ask if I was the sub (I happened to be reading something on my phone -- bad timing). At the end of the day when she was behind the front desk, I wondered if she saw kids leaving and came to check to see if their was a sub or not. First hour didn't go so well, but I could hardly blame them for not wanting to do anything when their coach had even taken the day off. (And no, I didn't let any kids leave; I know a couple did take off and then showed back up at the end of class for a second roll call.)

After three days of subbing, so far I've liked the high school better. AND if it's a high school class, I would rather have a class of all boys than a class of all girls. I did have a Child Development class of all girls and they were hard to deal with between cell phone usage and talking. My PE classes were mainly boys and we played lightning and poison and I didn't have to deal with cell phones. 

That, my friends, is the enemy of education at school. I honestly don't know how teachers deal with all the influx of media, from phones to ear buds. These kids have such a small attention span I'm amazed that they can sit in a class for 85 minutes. "Teacher, can I go get a drink." They are as bad as my first graders and sometimes I have flat out told them that I know they don't need a drink, but go do whatever you need to do and hurry back.

The biggest surprise has been how much I have enjoyed it. Maybe it's still something new. Maybe it's the fact that it's something different every day. Maybe it's that I can pick and choose which days I want to work. My kids actually enjoy having me at their school. And bonus that I get paid for it.