Glutton for punishment?

After my day Monday, I fully did not expect to be called back to that school, or recommended for any more secondary positions for that matter.  But Tuesday came along and as I was leaving from my nice and peaceful day at my regular school my phone buzzed with a new text.  The secondary school had actually requested me to come back for Wednesday. That isn't even the most shocking part.  They actually only needed me to cover 3 blocks (out of 6) but since they were spread from morning to afternoon, they would still pay me for a full day of work.  Well, call me crazy, or wonder at my short term memory processing, but I was not about to turn that down.  I thought to myself, "Maybe they agreed with me that the kid I called ignorant actually is.. or, just as likely, maybe he was unable to recall the word that I had called him..."  Either way, Wednesday morning I was off to survive another day in Lambeth.

My morning started nicely, I met another supply teacher who is originally from Spain and thus actually speaks Spanish. She was very nice and we had some good chats throughout the day.  We both had first block free so we were asked to go help supervise the year 8's who were all in the hall to go through the "Knife Arch". This means that they are in the hall with over half a dozen police officers who are searching their bags as the kids walk through a metal detector.  Not sure if this made me feel safer or not? Apparently they do random checks like this "just to keep the kids on their toes". Lovely.
Then I had Spanish 8 - well at least I could be reassured that none of them were packing. They were alright. Didn't listen, didn't do their work. Huge paper ball throwing game. The usual. The class ended when one girl I had written up for not listening asked me to fill out her Behaviour Report. She had 3 goals for the class, which she had obviously not met since I had to write her up. I filled this out accordingly which she obviously did not appreciate as she yelled for me to F#*% OFF as she left the room. (Yes, this is someone's 12 year old daughter).
Break time I regrouped my thoughts before year 7 French. At least it is a language I speak! They came in and instantly I knew I was in for an interesting 50 minutes.  Half of them decided they would sit on the back counter instead of at their tables.  I asked them to sit down, which eventually turned into me shouting at them to take their seats.  One kid ran around the class on the counters, then on the table tops. Many others refused to listen, one treat of a child dug the paper balls from the previous class from the bin which he then began to throw around the class.  As I told him to stop he then threw them at me. (This is where I start to mentally detach myself from the situation). Hallway support was sought once again and the kid was finally removed from the class.  By the end of the second block eight kids were now formally written up. Now I had a block free followed by lunch and another free block. All much needed!.
Final block of the day I had Spanish 7, so I frantically looked over the list to ensure that none of my special French friends would be in this class and the coast looked clear. I entered the room to find another man in there to support for the whole block plus hallway support checked in every 10-15 minutes.  With the 3 of us on top of this gang we managed to keep them almost under control for most of the class. I most likely would have crawled out of the class after 20 minutes if they had not been there for this group.

But hey, another day another dollar.. right?! Plus 2 more days until spring break :)