Starting Off on the Wrong Foot

Thursday. Fifth period geography. 

Tuesday had been a scramble. There weren't enough desks for the students. I let them sit anywhere as I hadn't had a chance to set things up. And then they had a video to watch that many of them ignored. 

Thursday was a whole different ballgame. Because I had adequate seats, I had randomized the seating assignments. They had a lot of work to complete, but they had time to get it all done. 

While on Tuesday the class was talkative, on Thursday they were quiet. Most were busy on the 200 point assignment that was due. (They could have started it on Tuesday. Most had.) 

I had two boys having a conversation. About sports. The boy on the soccer team was scrolling on his phone...

I reminded the boy that he had to maintain his GPA to be eligible to participate in his sport. He said he knew this. He said he was done with his work. 

Because I'm going to be covering this class for three weeks, Ms. B had given me access to the Google Classroom. So, boyo was done with his work? I could check. 

He had done about half of the 200 point assignment. Enough to earn about 50%. Which is an F. Fs make him ineligible to play. (And I will track down who his coach is and send them an email about the student's lack of work if that becomes necessary. I've done it before.) 

I pointed out to the boy that he had quite a lot to still complete on his assignment. And that he should maybe do that rather than scrolling on his phone. 

Did he see my point? Not really. But freshmen sometimes need to learn things the hard way. He's on sub behavior, not realizing that things are going to be graded in a timely manner. It'll be fun when he finds out just how quickly he can get behind when he chooses to scroll his phone in class rather than getting his work done.

A Bad Choice

Wednesday was way calmer on my nerves than Tuesday had been. I had had a day to get acclimated to the class I'd be covering for the next three weeks. And I got the extra desks I'd need. (See yesterday's post.)

The school is on a block schedule, so on Wednesday I had a whole new group of classes. All were semester courses, so the kiddos would be new to the room. I got to assign seats.

I like to randomize seat selection when assigning seats. That way I'm not picking on any student (or appearing to). 

I learned in teacher school to not let the kiddos pick their own seats. When you do that, the kiddos will group in ways that make classroom control harder. Difficult students will find each other and feed off each other to make things more difficult. The good kiddos will sit in the front. And friends will sit next to friends, which makes them less likely to pay attention to the teacher when instruction is being given. 

So, to randomize, I had index cards with numbers on them that I shuffled. As the students gave me their names at the door, I'd pick the next card, give them their number, and write that number on my roster. (The desks were numbered.)

Fourth period. Ninth grade geography. 

I had assigned seats. Gotten the kiddos logged into Google Classroom. And then I had an intro video about South America for them to watch while they took notes. 

As they watched the video, I translated their roster into an actual seating chart. 

I compared my seating chart to where the kiddos were sitting. There was a discrepancy. I had a boy sitting in an unassigned seat while I had a seat with a name attached that was empty. 

Carson was sitting in the last seat of a row where I had assigned him a seat at the front. Ah ha. I found him scrolling on his phone.

I went over to discuss. He swore I had not given him the number 6, that I had given him seat 9. It's kinda hard to mistake a 9 for a 6 in speech and in my writing (on a clipboard, so I didn't flip it over). He was lying. 

But, I decided to let it be. 

Why? Because I wasn't in the mood for an argument. Not on the first day.

And, the teacher's station was at the back of the room. Rather than the front.

I have way better access to him if he's in the back. 

It'll be fun to hover over his shoulder. Frequently. 

He should have taken the seat I actually assigned. 

First Day Scramble

We went back to school after winter break last Tuesday, and I already had a gig lined up. Ms. B was going to be out for the first three weeks of the spring semester recovering from surgery. 

Ms. B has two classes that are year classes, meaning the kiddos had been in the class for the first semester. Her other four classes are semester classes, meaning the kiddos would be new to her and to me. And to the classroom. 

The classroom had 32 desks. I had rosters with 35 and 37 students. Uh... 

Luckily, Ms. B is just at home recovering, so when I emailed her with a "what do I do?", she contacted the school's custodial staff to get more desks delivered. Which they delivered... after I had had the classes. 

Well, that was only one day with inadequate desks. 

(I found a folding chair and the teacher's stool for the kiddos to sit on that first day. And luckily we had a couple absences.) 

There's nothing quite like walking into a class you're going to be covering for a while cold. Something was bound to go wrong.

No Help for You

What if? It's the basis of many stories. We ask. We ponder. We wonder. 

On Tuesdays I throw one out there. What if? It may be speculative. It may stem from something I see. It may be something I pull from the news. 

Make of it what you will. If a for instance is not specified, interpret that instance as you wish. And if the idea turns into a story, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements 😉

You might have heard that Los Angeles is on fire. According to the weather report (I'm writing this on Sunday), more Santa Ana winds and red flag conditions are expected this week. Which means things are likely to get worse (even though things are getting slightly better as of Sunday) before they get better. 

And so...

In our current political climate, I had a thought...

What if the federal government refused to provide disaster aid to areas they declared "the enemy", even though they are part of the country?

This isn't very far-fetched. Last time a certain president was in charge, he wanted to deny California aid for fires. He only relented when it was pointed out that that particular county was pro him. 

(I'm too lazy right now to go looking for links for this. It happened. I'm going to be very cranky if anyone has memory-holed this and claims it didn't happen.) 

For the moment, I'm far enough away from the fires to not be in danger. I hedge this as with continuing dry conditions and winds returning, it is possible that new fires could pop up at any time. And I don't want to tempt fate. It ain't over until the winds are gone and our humidity rises.

New Project Loading...

As I predicted, the Creeper I wrote about last week:

...ended up being given to my nephews. The twins. 

I know this because my brother sent me a video of them "opening" it. (I had wrapped it in tissue paper to mail. My brother brought them the thing in that tissue but out of the mailing envelope.) It's a thing my brother does. He always films his kiddos opening gifts. 

Knowing that this would go to twins, I offered to make a second one. When my brother asked the boys, they threw out other characters that they'd like: Enderman and Zombie. (These are all Minecraft characters. I realize I haven't specified where these characters are coming from. Minecraft is a video game.)

Well, why not?

I haven't found a Zombie pattern, but I did find an Enderman one. (I haven't looked very hard so a Zombie might be possible. I saw amigurumi Zombie critters, just not links to patterns. And it was only a cursory search. Because I'm going with the low hanging fruit here. Easier one to find is the one I'm going to do.) 

There's a video:

I'm not sure how quickly I'll get this done. I'm back at work, so I have less mental energy (and less time) to work on yarny things. But there's no rush. It wasn't timed to a birthday or anything.

Attending the Wrong Period

Note: You may have heard my area has been hit with multiple wild fires. As of now (Thursday night), my immediate area is safe. The fires are north of me. We are, of course, holding our breath as the red flag warnings are still in effect as our area is dry and anything might spark a wild fire nearby. (I'm not tempting fate. I'm knocking on wood, crossing my fingers, and doing anything else in hopes that my area remains safe.)

Thursday, the last week before winter break. Seventh period. 

Elise hovered at the door, looking in. "I'm not going to be in eighth period today." 

Me: "I'm not your teacher. You need to tell your teacher this."

Ms. D had a class called "math support & enrichment". This is an extra math class for kiddos who have difficulty in math. Which means that for a sub it's an nightmare, usually. Imagine a room full of kiddos who hate math, who will avoid doing any math work, and it's their second math class. 

As Ms. D is a co-teacher, she only used the room seventh period. For eighth period, Ms. F took the room for another math support & enrichment class. As I'm sure Elise was well aware. 

Elise: "I have cheerleading practice today, so I won't be here."

Me: "I have no access to Ms. F's attendance. You have to tell your teacher." 

It was a weird day, with us having every period for 29 minutes. (Usually they're on block schedule with only odd periods or even periods.) So, when Elise asked to stay, I allowed it. (Some of them might not have a seventh period but will have an eighth. It's weird.) 

Of course, this was a mistake. Elise was with her friend, and there were two boys. And, the four of them were in play mode. (They had no work to do. Normally I'd tell them to get caught up on missing work, but we were near the end of the day, and the grades were due. There was no work for them to get caught up on.) 

If the class had been any longer, I would have kicked her out. As it was, I had to separate the group for doing inappropriate things in a classroom. ("But we're friends. We always do this at lunch.") 

(Read: swiping each other's cell phones, taking video and pictures of each other, kicking each other, pulling elastic and smacking each other with it, etc.) 

So, since Elise hung around seventh period, she remained behind for eighth period to tell Ms. F she wasn't going to be in class, right? 

Nope. I ran into Ms. F the next day and asked. Elise was not there. Nor had she checked in with Ms. F. 

Friday. 

Elise: "I won't be here eighth period."

Me: eye roll.

Then I shooed her out. She asked to stay. After Thursday? Nope.

Can't Sit Still

For the last three days of the semester (the last three days before winter break) I caught a special ed assignment. Ms. D is a co-teacher, so I was expecting to be all over the place. What I got was a day in one classroom proctoring the final for two different seventh grade math classes. 

(Ms. D co-teaches seventh grade math with two different teachers. On test days she takes the special ed kiddos to another room. The special ed students test in a different room to help them focus.) 

Fifth period. 

I had seven students testing with me. They could have spread out in the room, but they sat in groups of two. The final was online, so once I verified that they had logged in, I sat back and watched. 

Calvin couldn't sit still. He changed position a couple times. He found a loose chair, pulled it up next to him, and then twisted so he was half in that chair and half in his desk. Then he started humming.

I warned Calvin that they were taking a final and he shouldn't be humming. He found he did not like the seat he was in and he wanted to move. I had a classroom of more than thirty desks, so I told him to pick another one. He did.

Then the humming started in earnest. "Last Christmas". I reminded him that not only was he testing, but the other students in the room were testing as well. 

Eventually, he finished his final. I was to keep the kiddos with me (rather than sending them back to their usual classroom which is usually what happens, but finals), so I allowed them to be on their phones. 

Calvin? Found "Last Christmas" and played it. Sigh.

I told Calvin that the room still needed to be quiet for the other students who weren't finished. He didn't get my point. And the shifting and squirming and such he was doing before became constant movement. 

It was a long, long period.

The next day when I talked to the general ed teacher, Ms. M, she asked how the final went. When I mentioned some difficulty, she had one reply. "Calvin?" Yup. She got it in one. 

I asked if he had ADHD. Because, seriously. Of course he did. 

I hope he matures out of some of these behaviors. Because special ed doesn't necessarily mean difficult kiddos. But seventh graders? Yeah, some of this is his age.