What Worked Successfully

Today I substituted in a school I had not been to in a very long time. It's still a great place to teach. But it was a tough class. They were fifth graders. Fifth graders have wonderful and varied personalities. These students were grumpy, chatty, active, attention seeking, snide, and selfish. The saddest was the child hiding like she was in preschool.
        But, the positive part was getting them to cooperate lining up for gym and lunch. I explained what I wanted them to do by steps. I told them I would send them back to their seats if they were noisy or pushy in line. Then I had a student give the directions to the class again in her words. Unfortunately I had to follow through in sending students back to their seats and returning the line back to the classroom a couple of times and they were a little late for gym.
        By the end of the day when I had room to move the seating, I had the opportunity to sit with students in different groups. It was great to have time to talk with them and for us to get to know each other. I hope I am back soon.