Caught in the Lie

Friday. English language development (read: extra English class for students not fluent in English). Ninth grade. Sixth period.

(If the above picture looks a little familiar, that's because I was subbing for Ms. A, who I've done two long terms for, the last one last April. Now that she has her two children, she's unlikely to need another maternity leave.) 

Ms. A left me a list of her students who were on the escort list. And she had warned me (I ran into her the previous day) that sixth period was her difficult group. 

So, when Aiden asked to use the restroom, I was ready. He did not complain too loudly (although when I mentioned he was on the escort list, he played like he had no idea) when I told him he'd have to wait for security to escort him. Although, he wasn't too happy when security took a while to get to the room. 

(Students get placed on the escort list when they take too long to use the restroom. It's not that far. We tell them five minutes, but if it takes a couple minutes longer, no big deal. But some take significantly longer than ten minutes.) 

While Aiden was waiting, Khloe asked to go. I again called security, and when they finally showed up, I figured they could escort both students. It would save a trip. So, both got up and went towards the security person in her golf cart, and I saw her talk to them both. 

Four minutes later, Aiden returned. Khloe... 

Other students were in and out. Because the assignment for the day was test prep, the teacher had said for the last bit of the period the kiddos could watch a movie. I was getting things going on that when Jordan asked to go. I knew I had a girl who was waiting, so I told him to put his name on the list. That's when whoever was out got back, and Jordan convinced the girl to let him cut in line. 

It was only after the movie was going that I noted the list and realized that Jordan was my third escort list kiddo, and he shouldn't have left on his own. (He timed it for when I wasn't paying attention.) Grrr. 

Jordan was only gone about ten minutes. It was later that I talked to Ms. A. (She was on campus in a meeting.) She caught Jordan out and about. He was on his phone. (They are supposed to leave their phones in a box in the classroom, so he shouldn't have had it on him.) Ms. A confiscated his phone (and turned it into the office). 

So, I feel comfortable that Jordan got his consequence for sneaking past me on the escort thing. 

As for Khloe, she returned after more than a half hour out of class with a story about security telling her to stay in the bathroom because she was feeling sick... I didn't catch half the story, and it didn't pass the smell test. If Khloe was feeling sick, security would have taken her to the health office, and someone would have informed me of this. 

Freshmen... 

Yeah, I took note of all of this, and their teacher knows. And she's not happy about it. 

I mean, seriously, the amount of work it took them to evade security... If they only put that kind of effort into their school work. 

Seventh Grade

Thursday. Seventh grade math. First period. 

It was a co-taught class, and I was subbing for the special ed teacher, so Ms. G ran her class as usual. The topic for the day was percentages. 

Ms. G explained the formula to them, gave examples, gave them a chance to try some problems, went over those problems so the kiddos knew what to do, and then she gave them problems to work on. Typical math class. 

And typical seventh graders. 

One boy just sat there, kind of staring off into space. Ms. G was doing notes, and he wasn't copying down what she was writing. When I tried to get him to do something, he said he didn't know what to do. Well, start with copying the notes she was demonstrating for him. That's a good place to start. 

Seventh graders think they can talk and work. What they end up doing is going off on tangents and getting no work done. So, while they were allowed to "work together", they weren't getting as much done as they could. 

Well, at least I could help them when they needed it. Mostly. And for a seventh grade class, they weren't too horrible. 

Shut Down

Wednesday. Integrated Math 2 (read: math for sophomores, kind of geometry). Sixth period. 

If the above room looks familiar, it's because I was there two years ago in a long term for Mr. J. Ms. L, his co-teacher, was there, and she was going over the topic of the day, special right triangles. 

I was in the back of the room, and I noticed a student hadn't gotten out her notes or anything. She was on her phone, but she was using it for pictures that she was drawing in a sketchbook. While I have no problems with students drawing, it was time for the girl to do math. I gently urged her to get out her notes and follow along with Ms. L. She ignored me.

The girl next to her had her notes. And then it was time for the kiddos to get into IXL which is a math program. They are given a problem to solve. If they get it right, the problems get harder. If they get it wrong, they are given how it should have been solved, and then they get another similar problem. 

This girl had the computer open, the program loaded, but she wasn't starting the assignment. I leaned over and clicked open the assignment. (She was right there. It was one click.) The girl? She immediately backed out of it. Sigh. 

Later, girl one had her head on her desk. Girl 2 was busily writing a paragraph on the back of her math notes. Whining. About having to do math. (I didn't read the whole thing, but I glanced at a couple sentences.)

Ms. L, who also went over and urged them to work, told me that the girls hadn't been doing much in the way of math this school year. Ms. L said she was kind of happy that at least girl one was coming to class, as the last year she had spent more time in the wellness center than in class. So, progress? 

Baby steps, I guess. 

So, I helped the students who were actually trying and who actually asked for help. There were several of them, and they really did seem to catch on. 

This is how some students fail. I can only do so much in a class period, so I'd rather help the students who will take the help. 

Thugs in the Airport

Have you heard about this? ICE officers set to deploy to airports as delays mount, border czar Homan confirms. This is such a bad idea. The largest federal workers union says 'untrained, armed' ICE agents should not replace TSA. 

"ICE agents are not trained or certified in aviation security. TSA officers spend months learning to detect explosives, weapons, and threats specifically designed to evade detection at checkpoints — skills that require specialized instruction, hands-on practice, and ongoing recertification," Everett Kelley, president of American Federation of Government Employees, said on Sunday in a statement posted online.

The ACLU is also sounding the alarm: 

President Trump and his allies in Congress refused to fund TSA and manufactured a crisis at airports across the country. Now, the president apparently wants to use ICE as his private security force, reminding all of us that ICE is not retreating from lawlessness but assigned at will by the president for political retribution.

This makes me rethink plans to go away this summer. Probably best to stay home, eh? Some others' thoughts, too: 

Stunned by all the “ICE isn’t gonna do anything more than what TSA already does” rhetoric. 

Untrained white supremacists who’ve been told by bosses they’re not subject to laws will have POC and women lined up in front of them to grope and abuse and they don’t even have to chase them.

I've linked to the Bluesky post (as embed seems to be not working for me today). It's an interesting thread. I urge you to click the link and follow it. And one more thread that says a lot more than I can: 

4) ICE is not trained! And the public in airports is annoying and nasty! And they are going to be having them do sensitive things with sensitive people!

What do you think is going to happen when someone doesn't respect their authority?

Do you have to fly anytime soon? Are you rethinking any travel plans now? 

Just the Collar

I have a sweater.

All that's left is the collar. 

If all goes well, next week at this time, it'll be in the mail. Hopefully it'll be there, actually, because next Monday is my brother's birthday. 

A couple months ago I ordered my brother's birthday gift, and the plan was to have eldest nephew's sweater done in time so I could mail them all together. And... I really would have liked to have mailed this past Saturday. Sigh. I still can mail the birthday gift and just mail this sweater later, but I'm so close. 

So close.

Fingers crossed. 

I mean, it's only three months late for Christmas. That's not bad for me. Really. 

The sweater's previous posts:

• Starting the Sweater
• Getting to the Back
• Missed Deadline
• Distractions from Knitting
• A Month Late
• Inching Along
• Tracking the Growth
• Weekly Sweater Update
• Moving Right Along
• Good Progress
• Almost to the Interesting Part
• Plot Twist
• Not Worth the Effort
• Sleeve Progress
• Continuing Sleeve One
• Sleeve Two!
• Continuing Sleeve Two
• Setting a Deadline
• Almost There
• How I Keep Track
• Some Assembly Required
• Missed Winter
• Seamingly On Track

Observed

Thursday. Eighth grade math, special ed. Third period.

It was a complete-the-online-assignment day, and half the class said they were already done. (On a newly-assigned assignment? Not likely.) I noted who said they were done and left that information for the teacher. 

The phone rang. It was the health office letting me know they were sending over someone to observe the kiddo in the class who already had a one-to-one aide, but they didn't want the student to know. Something about a seizure disorder. 

I don't question when staff shows up in class. We have various observers for various things all the time. One day the new principal showed up while I was doing something with a class. I didn't know who he was or why he was there, but he was with another staff member I did know, so I kept doing what I was doing. Another time, the new district superintendent showed up in class. Again, she was with a staff member I did know. And again, I kept doing what I was doing until we had a moment to talk. 

So, when the staff member, who I did recognize from seeing around campus, showed up, I just kept doing what I was doing. (Read: watching the kiddos play games on their computers rather than do the assignment.) 

But, now there were two other adults watching one kiddo. And they questioned what he was supposed to be doing. So, he dutifully found the actual assignment. And then got stuck. 

Well, that part was my job. 

They were turning word problems into equations. It wasn't too hard, but the kiddos were having trouble deciphering whether they needed to add, subtract, multiply, or divide. 

The kiddo did not have any seizures while in class. (They don't usually.) But at least he got some math done. 

Out to Lunch

As I mentioned yesterday, Monday and Wednesday I was back at the adult transition center. It's been a while since I got to be there, so it was nice to see the school again. The students, however, are ones I met at the high schools now. The ones who were there when I was there for practically a school year have since aged out. 

On Monday we were supposed to go on Community Based Instruction, or CBI. Basically this means we leave school to go out to lunch. But, with the last minute call out of the teacher and with several of the students having not brought money, it had to be cancelled. Which was a disappointment as we were supposed to go out to celebrate the birthdays of two of the instructional assistants. (Yes, both of their birthdays were March 9th.) 

But Ms. J left us stuff to do, so we did that. 

Then I went back on Wednesday. And Ms. J told me they were going to go out to Chili's. So, I headed to the school, expecting us to go out for the day. 

But, of course, things did not go smoothly. 

First, a couple students hadn't brought money (even though this was their usual CBI day). Then, they thought about changing our destination, but we couldn't do that without principal approval (and she wasn't on campus at that moment). 

Eventually, it all got straightened out, and we headed out. To the bus stop. It wasn't a long distance, but we had a student in a wheelchair, and the bus was easier. Then we had a half hour to wait until the Chili's opened. We took over one whole section. 

I sat with two students. Josie had brought a peanut butter and jelly sandwich. She had money, but she didn't want to spend it on lunch. 

After we ate, we headed across the (busy) street to the Dollar Tree. There, Josie spent her money. On nail polish and lip balm. As one of the instructional assistants said she would. 

I mean, that's impressive. I would have wanted lunch. But no, Josie knew she'd rather have something else, so she made sure to bring other food from school so she wouldn't be tempted. 

Then to the bus and back to school. 

It's good practice for the students. And it was fun to get out again during the school day. It's been a while since I got to go out for CBI.