aero

I just started substitute teaching this month. For the most part, I have enjoyed it. I've subbed for elementary kids, special needs kids, and high school students. I've had a couple of problems with the teenagers, which I kinda expected. But one student gave me fits. He was about 17 and I'll call him Jack.

I had the students do a group activity, and from what I observed, Jack contributed very little. When I had them go back to their original seats for the nongroup activity, he kept ignoring my request for him to move back to his original seat. I believe he was trying to copy someone else's work since he was craning his neck looking at other students' work.

I had to go stand next to him before Jack finally "noticed" me - and since he was only 5 feet from my desk, I'm pretty sure he was ignoring me on purpose. Even then all he did was stand up and turn his desk to where it was facing the front of the classroom. Told him again to go back to his ORIGINAL seat, and he moved a few seats towards the back of the room - again, close to friends where he could copy their work.

I stopped everything and told Jack point-blank, more assertively, get back in his original seat. He said this *was* his usual seat, that he had sat on the front row earlier for the fun of it. Told him AGAIN, a little more edge in my voice, to move, and he stood up about two feet from my face and asked "why?" Pretty sure he was trying to intimidate me, but I said it once more and he did sit in the correct seat.

I'm very new at this. I realize from talking to my daughter and her b/f that probably half the high school kids are simply not going to listen to a sub, and that at best, unless there is an assignment from the teacher, all I can hope for is that the students will keep it down to a dull roar. I'm not trying to rule with an iron fist by any means, but it really did get to me when he stood up trying to intimidate me. Thinking back on it, maybe I should have had discipline slips in front of me and simply gone with sending him to the office.

Anyway, I'd like to get a few suggestions for dealing with kids like this ,,,, who are a foot taller than me and have the balls to stare me down while insisting I am wrong. I want to do a good job and keep the teachers happy with what I accomplish while they are absent. And while I don't like conflict, I did surprise myself when I eventually had to stand toe-to-toe to the high schooler.

If y'all could help me some, I'd really appreciate it. I do enjoy the jobs that I've had, and I think if I can learn how to handle some of the students' attitudes, I'll be subbing as long as they let me.

I am making calzones for the first time in probably 8 years. I took the frozen bread dough out of its bag early this morning, and wrapped it in foil for thawing during the day. This afternoon, the dough had expanded out of the foil.

Is the dough still ok to use to make calzones? Any suggestions for what to put in the calzones?

And any suggestions for my daughter who doesn't want any type of red sauce in her calzone? She prefers ranch with everything, but I don't know if it would be advisable to put either ranch or mayo inside the calzone before it goes in the oven.