Thursday, February 6, 2025

Seat Shuffle

(If you haven't seen my Monday post, you probably should. It's here.)

Wednesday. Eighth grade U.S. history, fourth period. 

I generally wait to deal with attendance until after I've gotten the kiddos started on the day's assignment(s). So, I had done my introduction, passed out their work, and explained what they needed to accomplish. (They had vocabulary, questions, and a game on the Bill of Rights.) 

They had been inattentive, but not loud, so I felt I had been able to get my message across. I told them to get started on the work.

Then, with the seating chart in my hand, I visibly started working on verifying who was absent. 

The first corner seat was empty. I called the name. The student was on the other side of the room. 

As he hurriedly reclaimed his assigned seat, a handful of other students suddenly remembered where their actual assigned seats were. There was a flurry of movement as kiddos shifted to where they were supposed to be. 

I mean, what am I, new? Did they really think I wasn't going to check? 

I waited until they once again settled, and then I began working on attendance again. Suddenly, the room was a whole lot more settled than it had been. 

I haven't had a group try the whole seat swap thing in a while. I suppose I was due for the challenge. Sigh.

Wednesday, February 5, 2025

Stealth Mode

(If you haven't seen my Monday post, you probably should. It's here.)

Monday. Seventh grade math, second period. 

They were working on a study guide for their next test. And a review thing online, also for the next test. (The next test was likely the next class period, but I'm not 100% sure.) 

A student asked to move to work with his friend. I said no. The student moved anyway. Grrr. 

So, as I walked around the room, I came up behind the pair. And... 

They were actually working on the assignment. 

The boy who moved was actually explaining the problem to the other boy. As I listened the boy gave a good explanation of how to find circumference. 

Okay, then. I'm irritated, but the boy needed help, so I'll let that go. 

While hovering, boy two turned a bit... and about jumped out of his skin.

"When did you get there?" 

I had been behind him for maybe thirty seconds. Long enough to see that they were on task. But I didn't tell him that. 

"Seriously, how long have you been standing there?" 

I'm not a small woman. I'm not particularly graceful. But apparently I can sneak up on students quite well. This isn't the first time I've startled a student by being right behind them when they didn't realize I was there.

Of course, it might just be that they don't hear me when they have their earbuds in their ears, they're talking to their classmates, and they're not paying attention to their surroundings. 

It was fun to watch him wonder. Once I saw that he was working fine, I moved on to hover over someone else. 

Tuesday, February 4, 2025

Safe Banks?

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 😉

That was fast. 

Okay, so the U.S. has become a fascist state. Raiding the Treasury records. Retaliatory firings in the DOJ. Setting up Guantanamo Bay concentration camp for immigrants. Tariffs against allies. And dismantling banking safeguards. 

I missed a bunch. Last week was a lot for me personally, so I couldn't keep up with everything. (See yesterday's post.) 

If I had more mental bandwidth, this would be a different post, but today I'm just going to ask a "what if?" that seems like more a matter of time than anything else.

What if they dismantle the FDIC? Would you trust your money in the bank? 

Seriously, would you? I'm wondering if I should start stashing cash in my mattress. No, seriously. 

Monday, February 3, 2025

Mom

Normally my Monday posts are yarny. What I've been working on. But last week... It was a lot. 

Tuesday night my brother texted me to let me know he was taking our mother to the hospital via ambulance. Because, "She had a cough yesterday that went nuclear today. Maybe pneumonia." 

She died on Friday. 

And, plot twist, it wasn't pneumonia. It was a perforated bowel. 

They went in and did surgery. Wednesday. During sixth period (while I had a group of eighth graders, who were fine, but eighth graders) he sent me a text stating, "Bottom line is the surgeon gives her 20% chance of surviving post op." 

She woke up Thursday. They removed the breathing tube. Put her on oxygen. Were doing all the things. But she indicated no. So, Friday, they moved her out of ICU, and she passed (again during my sixth period with a different group of eighth graders). 

So, yeah, last week was a lot.

Pamela Farrah Arundel
November 20, 1946-January 31, 2025

And just because, this wasn't the only death in my family last week. My aunt (my father's brother's wife) passed away a week ago (last Monday). So, a bonus shot:

That picture is from 1979, before my parents' divorce, when my brother and I were still kids. Mom's on the right, Janet is on the left. 

My blogs continue this week (as I did work last week) as normal. Sort of. It was a rather odd week, and now you know why.

Friday, January 31, 2025

Third Period, Starring Jonas

Wednesday. Third period.

Class started. I explained what they'd be doing. (See Wednesday's post about testing.) They got to work. 

Then Jonas made his entrance. Late. 

He announced that he was late. He announced a couple things. And he loudly asked what we were doing in class. 

The rest of the class was quietly working. 

Some students... They never quite get the memo that when you're late, you don't walk into the room like you're the star walking onto a stage. But some students are the stars, and they behave like this. 

I had already explained what we were doing for the students who were on time. I also had the agenda typed out nicely on a cute slide that was projected on the classroom TV. 

I pointed to this in response to Jonas. He could figure it out on his own. 

Sometime during class, Jonas then asked when Ms. B would be returning. Loudly.

The previous week I had said in two weeks. Apparently this was not specific enough for Jonas. He acted like I had not answered the question. 

I had a couple students finishing up their testing. I was keeping a quiet room. If Jonas had raised his hand and asked quietly, I probably would have answered. But he just announced to the quiet room, "When is Ms. B coming back?" 

Yeah, not responding to that. 

Besides, I was going to tell them on Friday that it was my last day. 

Which is what I did. On Friday, I made the announcement that Ms. B would return on Monday. My time with them was finished. 

Jonas? Was absent that day.

Thursday, January 30, 2025

Left Behind

On Wednesday of last week, the theater director at the school stopped by. The theater department was putting on the musical Mean Girls, and they were starting the performances that night. 

Why did I need to know this? The classroom was in close proximity to where the show would be, and so they were going to use the classroom as a changing room for the performers. 

None of this was a problem for me. The performances were at night, after I had left. 

But Mr. S wanted to let me know. And he explained that the students would not leave a mess, but if they did, to let him know.

When I arrived at school on Thursday, the room was fine. Until I found a walkie-talkie sitting on the teacher's desk. 

That is not a mess. But, I figured that someone might be missing it. (And these are the kind that are rechargeable, so they'd want to charge it before the night's performance.) So, I emailed the teacher. He appeared to retrieve it quickly. 

The next day no walkie-talkie. As I was setting up for the day, however, I found a Bluetooth speaker plugged into the wall to charge. I put it on the teacher's desk (so the kiddos wouldn't be tempted to make off with it), and I went about the rest of my setup. 

There was a knock at the classroom door. A student came looking for her speaker. And a necklace. Sadly, the necklace wasn't found, but I gave her back her speaker. 

Very minor issues. (It was a slow week for good blog-worthy stories.) 

Wednesday, January 29, 2025

Getting It Done

As I started this class at the beginning of the semester, I was not in danger of having grades due. So, of course I would have to do some standardized testing

All in all, it went pretty well. For first period. 

For third period, I had absent students and the slow walkers. There are some students who need more time to do tests, and I get that. That's fine. But some students just kind of stare into space and/or sleep rather than getting the thing done. 

Day one I had planned on only testing that day. On day two, I hoped to get the stragglers and the absent students done. And that worked perfectly for period one. 

For third period, I had two students absent. Again. (One had been suspended, so that was going to be unavoidable.) And I had one student who took his time, so he did not finish. 

Which meant that on Wednesday, period three again had to work on the test. 

(This is a very, very long time for seventh graders. The students who were finished had other work to do, but I couldn't change things up a bit until all the tests were complete.) 

I had two students who were just starting the test, and I had two students who had started but were only half way done. 

The two students who were just starting? Yeah, they were playing the slow walking game. And I was not going to have it. 

I started hovering. 

As the test proctor, I had access to what question they were on, but I couldn't see anything else. (The test was online.) So, when the boy was on question 12 for a very long time, I went over and gently asked if the software was stuck. It wasn't. He got going again. 

When the girl was stuck on question 15, I went over to her. She was staring into space. I urged her to get back on task. 

One of the boys who had already started finished. Then the other boy finished. Woo-hoo! 

I went and hovered over the other two again. 

Then the girl finished. 

We had a half hour left of class. Then twenty minutes. Then fifteen...

The boy finished.

And it was all I could do to not throw my arms up in the air and shout "Woo-hoo!". 

I celebrated by putting a video on for the kiddos. One we had started before the testing. 

And then I closed out the software and deleted all the emails about the testing. Because I was done. 

Whew.