Well Travelled

Last week, Alana spotted the "design choice" I made. Perhaps this week (with another pattern repeat added) it'll be a little easier to see. 

That kind of double yellow band, where it's yellow, then not, then yellow again, is where I started a new ball of yarn. And didn't look for the color where I left off to make a seamless transition. 

Well, I did look, but for some reason I couldn't find the yellow (even though, clearly, it was right there). And I gave up. 

I kind of like the break in the color sequence, so I'm keeping it. 

A week ago I mailed the previous version in the different colorway to my sister-in-law for her birthday. Which is tomorrow. Plenty of time to get there, right? 

Well, plenty of time if it went right there. Unfortunately, the package made a little detour. On Friday, this is where the tracking said it was: 

Hawaii. The package was in Hawaii. 

Hawaii?!?

That's not even on the way. Unless we're going the long way round the world. (I live in California. Sister-in-law lives in Ohio.) 

I just... I had to double check to make sure I didn't do something stupid like put the wrong address on the label. According to my records, no, I used the correct address with the correct zip code. Sigh. 

So, her gift will be late. Sigh. But it did make for a funny text in explanation. 

*shakes head* I guess my knits are better travelled than me. Sigh. 

Continuing Alarm

Friday. Second period. 

It was as if I had never left. (To them, I hadn't.) I greeted the class at the door, reminding them that their phones needed to be deposited in the box designated for them.

Ariel had a problem. She showed me her phone. It was broken. 

An alarm was set. But Ariel couldn't stop it as her touch screen wasn't responding to touch. The switch was switched to silent. And when the "snooze" was up and the phone alarmed, one could hit the power button to stop the alarm. But it was going to alarm every nine or so minutes. 

Ariel gave me her phone with the warning that I'd need to hit the power button every time the phone alarmed. (At no point did she even attempt to keep her phone.)

And so, every nine or so minutes, when the alarm alarmed, I would hit the button to stop the sound and set it to snooze again. 

Why did she bother bringing her phone to school? I mean, she couldn't do anything with it as the touch screen didn't work. Why bring the thing at all? 

Of course, I did not ask this question. When she was explaining the situation, I was in the process of getting class started, and it did not occur to me. When she collected her phone at the end of class, I was busy with end of class stuff. It was only later that I wondered. 

I hope she gets her phone fixed. It's silly to have a phone that one can't use. 

Too Late

I finished my long-term in the middle school art class on Wednesday. On Friday, I was right back there to cover for Ms. D as she had plans (that she made before she was hired). Because block schedule, it was the same group I said "goodbye, but not" to on Wednesday. 

Eighth period. It was the passing period, so I was standing outside, greeting students. 

Aiden took a spot next to me. 

"Could you give me some assignments I can complete over the weekend to pull up my grade?" 

Aiden is one of those students whose names I now know due to repeated usage. That his grade isn't where he wants it isn't a surprise. But grading the class is no longer my job. 

"That would be up to Ms. D now..."

I explained that he could complete his missing work, but there was no guarantee that Ms. D would accept it. 

The previous day I had gotten an email from a parent about a different student. Similar situation. I forwarded the email to Ms. D. She replied to me, asking if the student had been a behavior issue or had been goofing off in class. 

I can safely say that any student whose grade is still in F territory is a student who's been goofing off. I gave them ample time in class to complete assignments. I warned them that if their grades were low, that they could make up the work. 

Many of them did make up their work. Many of them claimed no name papers. 

Aiden was missing the project. He asked if he could turn it in. I said he could. (I could sneak it in while I was still in the room.) 

So, what did Aiden to all period? Did he complete the project that was 60% of his grade? Did he put together the big assignment that was due that day? Did he get anything done? 

Nope. Aiden did what Aiden's been doing the whole time--Aiden played around. 

I kinda want to be a fly on the wall when Aiden has this conversation with Ms. D. He's not making good choices. I think that's going to burn him. And it's no longer my problem. 

Unappreciated

Tuesday morning.

The only reason I saw the call before I got to school was because I stopped at McDonald's on the way. 

(Sometimes I pick up a little something on the way to work. Their app gives me points that I can get a freebie with every so often.) 

It was from the sub desk. "Since the new teacher is starting today..."

Um, what? Today?!? 

Usually, the afternoon before I get a heads up. (I've done this start-the-year-off-in-a-vacant-class before.) But this time, the day of? Really?

So, I was a bit cranky about the whole thing. 

Not to the new teacher. She's lovely. Ms. D was in the fashion design world, but got bored with it and decided she really wanted to teach. (She gave an intro presentation to the kiddos.) She's excited to have her own class, and I think she'll do an amazing job. 

But I'm really kinda ticked at the district. 

I kinda feel like I've been slapped across the face. Perhaps that's not fair. But it's how I feel. 

(Apparently the school only found out that morning, too.)

I mean, that's the gig. I'm in the class until the new teacher starts. And then I walk away. And I'm good with that. I was getting a little irritated the last week or so, very ready to relinquish control of the classes. 

It's just that some transition stuff, like with the gradebook and the keys and the computer I checked out, is being yanked back as if I'm some sort of undesirable rather than the person who kept those classes going. For a month. The first month of school. 

So, it's all over. Except it's not. Because Ms. D already had some plans in September before she got hired, so I get to sub for her next week. This should be interesting.

Backwards

I had a whole post about the Jimmy Kimmel situation, and now he's back, so... 

(That they attempted to get him off the air is still wrong. I'm happy to learn that the pushback worked. Now, if we could harness that energy for everything the regime attempts.) 

So, Tylenol and autism? Really? 

Someone wrote that the reason they went after acetaminophen is because it's the only pain med that pregnant women can take. And, that could be it. It's like they want to punish women for getting pregnant, but then they complain if the birth rate goes down. 

I can tell you what causes autism. Genetics. 

Of course, what sort of autism are we talking about? Because there's a spectrum. And if we're talking about developmental disabilities, that might be something else altogether. 

I bet if we went back in time, we'd notice all sorts of people displaying autistic traits. And ADHD. We're just more attuned to these sorts of things nowadays, and not so many people manage to get by anymore. This is a good thing. 

As for the long-time debunked vaccine theory, I like to think that they got it reversed. Vaccines don't cause autism. Autism causes vaccines. (The sorts of people who go into science... How many of them are on the spectrum? I wouldn't be shocked to learn many of them are.) 

And finally...

I haven't had much time to look for interesting links of late, but I did find this "How to get rid of a dictator" that you might find interesting. And a local L.A. site called L.A. Taco (which does search for the best tacos in L.A.) has been reporting on ICE going after car washes. Because of course. 

Observable, Perhaps

Do you see it?

It's not a mistake, per se, as I chose to do it, but it isn't exactly proper. I'm going to call it a design choice. 

Anyway, this is the hat I made for my sister-in-law in a different colorway. Because I couldn't take along my eldest nephew's sweater. 

I'm not going to tell you what it is. Look closely. Do you see anything wrong? Let me know in the comments. 

Sixty Percent

I'm doing a long term subbing thing, so therefore grades must be due. 

It was the middle of class when the email popped up. "Oh, your progress reports are due next week," I announced. 

I know the drill. I had one assignment that I had not graded as of yet, but I had time to get that done and the grades submitted. (This is the first progress report of the year, so while I am only obligated to send them out for students in danger of failing, I figured I'd send them for everyone.) 

One small hitch... 

When I set up the gradebook, I followed what the other art teacher was doing. She had set up "projects" as 60% of their grade. The one assignment I needed to grade? Their one and only project thus far. 

Mostly they turned it in. I had maybe three students not do great on it, but the rest earned a 70% or higher. The majority got over 80%. 

But... No name papers. And some did not turn it in at all. Sigh. 

No project? Their grades fell off a cliff. They went from 100% (or high 90s) to 40% and below. Ouch. 

But there was time. I announced to every class that if their grade fell off a cliff, they were missing the project. And many then turned theirs in. 

Some though... Some students are going to get an awful surprise when they get that failing grade. I warned them... 

Things stabilize once there are more grades in the gradebook. A second project will make the one thus far count for less of their total. 

Late Friday (during the dreaded seventh period) I got an email from a parent. Her daughter swore she turned in her project, but her grade was now an F. 

I had to wait until after school to hunt that down. (Seventh period needed my full attention.) But sure enough, that class period had four no name papers. Yeah, I'm sure the girl's was one of those. 

So now I've pretty much hit all the things I have to do when on a long term. The new teacher can start. Any day now...