Strung out for three weeks

An orchestra teacher in Henderson, NV asked me to sub for her as her baby was due August 24, 2011. I was to start the new school year with the students the day she was due. I called her on August 16 to see if she was going to put the job in the system and learned she had the baby on August 2nd and my job would be three weeks with the last day Friday, September 16

I have subbed long term for orchestra teachers in Plano, Texas for 13 years so I know the drill and I love doing it. Opening the school year was a new experience for me. Who knew there was so much paperwork to deal with? Everything from helping new 6th graders pick their instrument, to lending school instruments to students in financial situations, to grading quizzes, playing tests, and dealing with six classes each day, over 250 students total.

But I really loved it. The first photo is of the first period beginning class of 6th graders. Can I just say one word to describe them: sweet.

This is a view from the the back door where the students enter each day. The pledge to the flag is first, with announcements over the intercom and the TV and taking attendance. Bell rang at 9 a.m.

Second period was another sweet class of 6th grade beginning students. I loved the eager students in the beginning classes.

This class is 3rd period intermediates, mostly seventh graders with the occasional 6th grader who can play better than the other students! Other than a couple of young men who have learning challenges, this was a very fun class to teach. They wanted to learn vibrato so much they kept asking me to teach more exercises .

This is third period packing up three minutes before the bell. Bass and cello players use school instruments during class and rent or own instruments at home to practice. They take their instruments back to the orchestra storage room first, followed by the viola section or the violins, only small groups at a time to prevent a traffic jam in the small room.



Fourth period intermediates follow my 27 minute lunch, during which time I use the restroom, eat, and enter grades on the computer as well as deal with paperwork. Not enough time!

This is the cello section. The viola section is resting while the cellos practice a line in their string basics book, level two. These cello players were sweet girls who knew their music.


The first and second violin players of fourth period. Don't they look great. Some of these students really loved me and showed it. Total respect for the sub was shown by the first five classes each day. I had no problems for three weeks with them.

Well, there was an autistic Asian boy in first period who was acting totally autistic, so I had to constantly be reminding him what the rules and expected behavior was.

A story about the autistic student: he came in tardy every day for three weeks, coming IN the OUT ONLY door, and constantly dropping his violin, his books, his case, etc. The first day he had his instrument in class (he was a week later than the other students), I was helping him learn which string was D and which was A. He looks at me, plucks the G string and says: "This is D." "No, Brian. That is G string and we are not playing on G string yet. This is the D string." (I plucked the D string for him.) He says: "Are you sure?" (In my mind: Yea, I am pretty sure, since I have been playing the violin and teaching it longer than your grandmother has been alive and YOU have only had the instrument in your hands two days! Instead, out of my mouth came patient words. On Friday, my last day, he comes to me and said: "Mrs. W. Are you sure you can't come back to teach us?" And after three weeks, he is finally getting it - sitting up straight, holding his instrument correctly, and plucking the strings when he is suppose to.)

Picture this tiny storage room where 200 students enter and exit once in the morning to put their instrument on the metal shelves, twice during class (to get their instrument and put it back) and the cello and bass players using school instruments all day long, as well as all the students coming to pick up their cases at the end of the school day. And all have to hurry to get to their next class or catch a bus after school. See the student on the far right with the gray shirt? Can I call him "Clueless?"

Fifth period bass beginners: some days I wanted to strangle them and other days hug them. The little boy on the left was so little that I had to carry his bass from the storage room because he couldn't carry it. Now he can. His name is Andrew Jackson! Neither of the three could remember from day to day which string was D and which was A. They were playing the wrong string during plucking or pizzicato work. At the end of three weeks, they got it.

Violins in fifth period were exceptional students. I couldn't keep this class at the same slower rate of learning as the other two classes. Most of them could read the music notes already. Notice the girl on the right side, front row. Her posture is perfect. Feet flat on the floor, instrument parallel to the floor, etc. Notice the young boy, second chair in, first row. Not so much! I can't count how many times I said, with raised arms for the down beat: "Posture! Pulse" and begin counting out loud for them to follow.

The viola and cello section of fifth period were also angels. The viola section of all girls had good ears to hear the right pitches and sing on tune. I loved this class for sure.




No so much loving the last class of each day!

The eighth graders, 6th period and sixty five students crowded in the room. I assigned them a seating arrangement after the first week so I could see who was who and not have to call 65 names every day.
Notice the girl in the front row, second chair with her face looking to the back? She was such a scatterbrain! Not only did she NOT know how to count, she rushed the tempo, and got lost in the music, but that was mostly because she kept looking behind her, while playing, to see if her best friend was looking at her. The really sad thing was my last day, she comes to me and says if she did anything to bother me while I was teaching, she was really sorry! I looked at her and thought: "Really? Are you just saying that now so I will give you a better grade on your playing test you just took?" I had been really stern with her a couple of times and then she was better. I didn't change her lower grade.

This is what the room looks like as the students get in the room, get their instruments and start getting ready for class to begin. And this photo was taken three minutes after the tardy bell rang. The tall cello player on the left has the same name as my granddaughter: Tatum!



I got them warming up on G major scale, half notes with the metronome on 60 then I took this picture. While they are playing is the only time they are not talking, laughing, being loud. Most of the students were angels, but sadly, there were seven students who were disruptive. I finally told the viola player who sat on the far back row on the opposite side of the room from the tissues to stop walking back and forth through the instruments to get one tissue, blow (fake), throw the tissue away and weave her way back to her seat, talking to everyone she passed both directions. I had to be tough and say I would send her to the dean's office to explain her disruptive behavior. She stayed in her seat the rest of class but she left the used tissue sitting on her seat!

On Wednesday, September 7th (while Dallin was in town and his 36th birthday) a girl named Kai in 4th period told me she didn't feel well. I told her she could use the restroom if she needed to, to just go and not ask. A minute later she calls my name, Mrs. W., and says she feels like she is going to throw up. I told her to go to the bathroom and as she stood up I motioned to Samantha sitting next to Kai, to go with her. Moments later the phone in the office started ringing and Samantha dashed back into the room saying: "Mrs. W. I need you in the hallway." I asked, as I hurried to the office to pick up the phone, if Kai had thrown up. "No, but I need you in the hallway. She is acting really funny." I grabbed the phone, hoping it was someone who could help me. It was a front office secretary reporting on the clock issue, and I interrupted her to ask her to send the nurse to the orchestra room right away.

Then I hung up and dashed into the hallway to find Kai sitting on the floor, leaning back against the bank of lockers, with her eyes rolling around a little, her head jerking back and forth gently, and totally unaware of what was going on around her. I recognized mini-mal seizure immediately and sent Samantha dashing to the nurse's office to get help.

I knelt down next to Kai and started talking to her, rubbing her arms and hands, patting her cheeks and telling her to talk to me. Then suddenly she leaned her head to the right side and started throwing up. I jerked my arm back and avoided most of the vomit, then she seemed to feel better and started to act like she was coming around. Just about that time the nurse came in the hallway door with a wheelchair. She asked me a few questions of Kai's behavior and sent be back into the classroom. The students had been angels while I was out of the room. Shortly, two administrators came to collect Kai's personal belongings and seemed very worried. I wasn't able to speak with them and when I went to the nurse's station after the students had left for the day, the nurse's office was locked up.

During lunch the next day, I hurried to eat and then went to the nurse's door. As soon as I walked in a woman asked me what I wanted. I said: "I am Mrs. Sander's sub and I just wanted to check on how Kai is doing from 4th period yesterday." The nurse's assistant who had come to the hallwaythe day before said: "Oh, this is the woman that I told you about. She saved a student's life." What! They praised me for several minutes, telling me I had stayed cool and did exactly what I should have done. AH! I was just going on instinct and the promptings of the spirit. Turns out Kai is on anti-seizure medicine and her dad was taking her for a follow up visit to her doctor. Just saying, it would have been helpful to have this information at the beginning of school!

As the last week was coming to a close, it seemed the trouble makers in 6th period were bent on self-destruct. While I was helping tune on Thursday, I had trouble getting them to stop talking and plucking/playing so we could tune the lower strings. I asked them several times to please be quiet, be respectful, etc. The seven specific students ignored me. I got them playing as soon as possible and that calmed them a little, but the violins needed work on a few measures. I stopped the piece and while I was working with the violins, I asked the rest of them to finger and shadow bow (to keep them busy and quiet) but of course, those few students didn't listen or do anything I asked them. Soon the roar in the room was more than I could take. I glanced at the offending back row of viola students and saw their mouths moving, laughing, standing up, etc. I said: "Okay. I gave you enough niceness. You want to play that way, I can do that. Brian, pick up the phone and dial 4200." When the front office secretary answered I said: "I need an administrator to the orchestra room as soon as possible."

The students were so quiet I thought they had left the room. Shortly the dean of students arrived. He is a tall, bald, handsome black man named Mr. Hannigan who had helped me several times with issues that had come up. He knew who I was and why I was there. He asked what was going on. I told him there were some students who were being very disrespectful and would not allow me to teach and help them learn the music. He asked for the trouble makers to raise their hands. There was silence. I glanced in the direction of the troublesome viola players and their heads were down and I could see their trembling fingers and lips. I waited. Mr. Hannigan waited. He stepped out of the room to answer a two way radio call from another administrator and when he returned, he told me if there were any more disrespectful students to have them pack up and send them to the dean's office and they would be going home immediately. Disruptive students would NOT be allowed on the campus in any class! I didn't have any more trouble with them the rest of class or the next day.

Maybe I should have called Mr. Hannigan two weeks earlier!

My counsel for this post: don't hesitate to get help. Sometimes that help is a more beneficial than we know.

And now I just wait for my paycheck!