Math and Music and German, Oh My

After our Portugal vacation we settled back into Berlin life.  The kids had a bit of a rough time gearing up for the long school week but they did it.  The second day back Josie had a one night overnight trip with her homeroom class to Havelburg.  I'm not even sure what it was about.  Something with her Ethics, Political Science and History classes. She had a fun time and was given a lot of freedom to explore, eat out at restaurants and enjoy the town with her friends.  They had school work too of course, but as in most things in Germany a lot more freedom than they would be given in the states.  And she and her friends rise to the challenge.

Benjamin had a couple play dates after school with his buddies and I was called in for my first three days of subbing.  Three consecutive days which was a really nice way to start. The first day I was a bit nervous.  It was all new, I hadn't actually taught high school since I left to have Josie....13 years ago!!! I didn't even know where the bathrooms were.  Thankfully I got the call on Wednesday afternoon for the next day so I could at least prepare a lunch and get to bed at a decent time.  When I arrive at school, the VERY nice secretary walked me through everything and was very supportive.  I laughed out loud that my day would be "teaching" upper level MATH.   With one class of Music thrown in for good measure.

The kids were great.  The math classes were upper classmen  One class of Seniors and two classes of Jrs. and Sophomores.  They pretty much led the class.  And good thing because I had NO idea what they were talking about.  That math over my head.  Music was OK too.  The kids were a bit more typical in that class.  By typical I mean not bad but also not brainiacs who led the class themselves.  There were a few reminders of putting their phones away and working on the project at hand but definitely nothing to ruin my day and by the end even the couple kind of snotty girls were on my side and we were joking.

I was then called in for Friday and Monday.  These three days were the only days I was actually available to sub in October since most of the month was taken up by vacation.  Friday I covered two history classes (kids took tests and worked independently on projects) and a 7th grade science class where there was an additional aid and the kids worked on documenting observations from a paper plane experiment.
Monday I was a full time GERMAN teacher.  Haha!! Seriously.  Math, Music and German!!  I just thought it was hilarious that I was subbing in these subject areas.  But that even went well.  Tests were given, projects were worked on and because the school is not that big after 3 days I began recognizing some of the same students.  It was actually fun.  I am VERY thankful that I chose to sub in High School over Elementary.  It was the right choice for sure!!  And I'm super glad that it was three days in a row because by day three it felt like old hat.
And the house remodel continues... slooooowwww and steady.