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Saida Bogdanovic

As a substitute teacher, I don't work fifth grade often. A lot of people have their qualms or

fears of certain grades---elementary kids are too hyper or high-schoolers are too brooding and

scary. For some reason or another I've never held any of those views and enjoy working

wherever they throw me, yet I've only been in fifth grade a number of days. But in all honesty, that's all it takes for it to get interesting.  

My adolescent profile will ultimately focus on a fifth grade student named Diana, however,

with the bustling and talkative nature of class 511, I'll have no choice but to allow other students

to butt in. On my first day subbing for this class I was assigned as 511's homeroom teacher in an

average size mathematics classroom. It was for the most part your typical elementary

classroom—teachers desk facing rows of student seats, colorful posters and maps on the wall,

books in the cubbies. No reading rug, some say because of COVID, and others say because the

kids are "grown up now" (yet I remember having one in fifth grade and loving it). I'm given a

stack of math assignments that I hand out as the students trail in, but I notice they're all smirking.

"You do realize no one's actually going to do it, right?" a boy named Leo grins sheepishly.

Usually I'll look for those few responsible girls in the class for support, but even they're

chuckling. Next thing I know a tiny blonde girl named Laura is picking up a black dry erase

marker and asking, "Do you mind if I draw something?". She draws one colorful smiley face,

with a strange scarecrow looking smile and names it "Ralph". Before I know it, students are

joining her and drawing all kinds of "Ralphs" on the board—Neon Ralph, One-eyed Ralph, Pixel

Raph, Christmas Ralph and so on. I don't say anything because as a substitute working with

young kids for the first time, would that really get them to sit down? In moments like these I'm

reminded why we still had a reading rug, marbles, jacks, and other toys in fifth grade---because

10-year-olds, especially when there's a sub, just aren't meant to be sitting down and writing out

their multiplication tables for an hour straight. The students have their schedule written on the

board, broken up into blocks that range from A to F. There's a smiley face next to every class but

Steam and Spanish. I can't help but ask them why. "Spanish is boring" Leo says, and that seems

to be about it. "Our Steam teacher is the WORST," Laura says. I have no idea what Steam is so I

ask them. "It's kind of like coding," one student answers. A girl with glasses and curly hair

named Erica comes around with a picture of the Steam teacher on her phone. "Doesn't she look

like a witch?" Obviously I don't agree or disagree, but I do learn at that moment that fifth graders

aren't to be taken lightly. As cute and lively as these kids are, they won't do their work or stay

put, so my patience begins to wear thin. A teacher comes into the room multiple times to inquire

about the noise, pointing at the board and saying "You know they have to erase that, right?". But

it doesn't change much. It becomes a groove of sorts, creepy smiley faces, fifth grade drama (she

likes him, he likes her) pencils being flown across the room. One blonde girl has been smiling

shyly at me from across the room, and at one point she comes up to talk to me. It's late spring, so

thoughts of summer vacation are already floating in the air. She tells me that she's going to

Florida this summer. I tell her that I'm going to Montenegro to visit some family. She grins and

starts talking about her own family overseas. "I'm Polish, I usually go to Poland every summer

but we decided not to this time because of the war in Ukraine.” She tells me about her grandma's

place in Warsaw, a modern apartment that might as well be a castle to me as someone who's used

to the broken mountain homes of my parent's villages. She tells me about how she's often left

there alone with her grandma for the entire summer, and all the interesting stories she tells her

amidst lunch time perogies dipped in sour cream. "My grandma used to live in Medyka, which is

right on the Ukraine border. She used to flirt with the Ukrainian soldiers with her friends." I

could picture it in my head, a group of pretty Polish girls in the 1950s or 60s sneaking off to talk

to the Ukrainians in their attractive soldier uniforms. The students have left for classes like gym

and literacy as the days trickled on, but right now we're in "Science" and the school day is almost

over. I'd be lying if I didn't say I enjoyed myself, but I'm also immensely relieved to have made it

out of there alive. Laura writes "Don't Erase Please!" in big text on the board. After they trail out,

I hesitate. If it were my classroom, I'd leave it up there for some time, because in my eyes it's art.

Instead I take the eraser and wipe it all off.

We've spent a lot of time this semester discussing current events, and trying our best to dig

deeper than what's presented in the news. We've talked about Ukraine and Russia, about war in

general, about fake news, about all the strange politics of the world and how one can possibly

convey it in a classroom. I spent a lot of time in this profile just talking about the craziness of

511, because I felt I had to paint a picture of them before I could go into any sole student. But

besides all the trouble-making there's something important that I think we can take away from

how fifth graders like Diana see the world. Fifth graders aren't very negative, yes they fight and

throw things and call each other names, but you can tell they prefer to laugh, play and imagine.

Their spirit really resonated with me, and although I'll be licensed to teach 7th through 12th, I

think that there are ways for that creativity and imagination to still be channeled. More than that,

as someone going for English, if I get the chance I'd love to bring out these stories in my

students. Because c'mon, Ukrainians and Polakks falling in love at the border is a lot more

interesting than penciling off multiple choice questions and doing “work

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Hi Saida!

Thanks so much for this atmospheric view of class 511. You really do a great job of portraying its whirlwind of dynamics.

I also really appreciate your non-judgmental attention to detail. There are a lot of forces at play that go into a classroom. The kids, the teachers, the physical nature of the classroom. You have captured a nice snapshot.

I added a number of questions to consider. Perhaps think of them when you reflect on the school/classroom as a whole.

My biggest suggestion narratively would be to just say you are looking at 511 as a whole instead of Diana. In short, you do mainly the former, which is legitimate. Otherwise, you inadvertently set up a narrative frame where the reader expects you to go back to Diana.

Thanks again for writing this!

Dino

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