Second Sock Syndrome

I've been working away on SIL's "Christmas" present. (Can you still call it a Christmas present when you didn't even start working on it until five months after said Christmas?) And things are going pretty well:

It's getting a little lettuce-y, but I can rip one round back. If I increase every other round, upping the distance between increases by one every other round rather than every third round (and the in-between rounds having no increases), it'll probably be okay. 

It's getting pretty big. It's about 19 inches across and about 15 inches top to bottom. I'm a little over halfway to my goal. 

And I realized I was getting a bit antsy. 

Have you heard of second sock syndrome? It's a knitting term, but it applies here. It's when a knitter finishes one sock (or mitten or sleeve), and then realizes that they must make another, exactly the same (or with opposite shaping). Deep sigh. 

There are many knitters (and crocheters) who never quite get around to that second sock, hence the syndrome. 

This week I realized I was going to have to make a second oval. I mean, I knew this, of course. One for the front of the sweater, one for the back. And I've been keeping notes as to how I've been increasing because I want to replicate this exactly for my second side. But suddenly it felt like it was going to be a lot of work. 

So, I decided rather than wait, I could start the second side now. 

So, yeah, the variegated yarn started at a different spot in the striping, but I'm good with front and back being different, color-wise. Starting these is easier as each round is so much shorter. I should make good progress for a bit. At least, until this front (or back, not sure which is which yet) gets to be the same size as the other.

I'm not sure if this is just going to make everything take twice as long or if this is genius. 

Well, both have to get done at some point. Why not at the same time?

Progress is happening. And once these are big enough, then I have to figure out how to connect them, how to add sleeves, and how to make this whole thing sweater-shaped. 

Problems for another time. Later. Now, it's oval time.

The Reluctant Sweater: 

• Questionable Quality
• Planning and Research
• And It Begins
• Watching the Increases

Missing Student

And so, I ended the school year not far from where it began. Literally. I started the school year in room 906 and ended it in room 915. (Both classrooms are within sight of one another.) 

Thursday. Seventh grade math. Fourth period. 

It was the last day of school. Each period was about 28 minutes long. The lesson plan was basically "do what you want". As I have been in this situation before, I knew I didn't have to have them do anything. 

What I did have to do was take roll and make sure I knew where the kiddos were. 

At the beginning of the period several students descended upon me to request permission to go elsewhere. I growled at them that they'd have to wait until I had taken attendance. 

(A science teacher three doors down must have been having a bacchanal as that's where everyone wanted to go. But there were a couple other teachers' classes they wanted as well as the art teacher--the one they hired for that vacant class--needed help cleaning her room.) 

I went around the room, checked in with each kiddo asking their name, and I marked each student present. Then I got the names of those who left, and I wrote them down so I knew where they were. 

Roll taken, I had a group of girls request to go outside so they could film a TikTok dance. Others had grouped up and were playing video games. I didn't much care so long as they didn't trash the room. 

Then the phone rang. Was Jamir there? 

I checked my roll. He was marked absent. No, he was not. 

"His mom is going to be pissed..." 

Just to be sure, I called out, "Jamir..." Nope. Not there. 

Groups of students were coming in and out of the room. (Teachers called to ask if they could send kiddos. I had given permission.) There was one boy in a Lakers jersey who I thought belonged in class, but he did not check in with me, and then he left again. 

Towards the end of the period (so, about fifteen minutes later), I went to check on the TikTok girls. Who should have been back in the room already. Security drove up and stopped the boy in the Lakers jersey. "Jamir, your mother is looking for you," and she gave him a paper. 

Security gave me a hard stare. "You're marked absent," she told him. I protested that he was not around when I took roll and he had not checked in with me when he arrived. 

I mean, seriously? I'm a sub. Most kiddos know to check in with me if they arrive after the bell. But last day crazy... 

I did fix the attendance. Growled at Jamir. He asked to go to his PE class. Well, now that I knew where he'd be... 

And just like that, the school year is over. 

Next week I'll share my year stats, and then the summer schedule shall begin. 

Arranging Chairs

Tuesday. Eighth grade history. Second period. 

It was finals week, but the eighth graders were done. I was to take roll and then escort them to the gym. So, that's what I did. 

Many of the eighth grade kiddos I had taught at the beginning of their seventh grade year in that science class. (And if you click on that link, the Mr. F I reference in the post is the teacher I was subbing for on this day.) It was kind of a full-circle moment for me. I liked getting just a small taste of the end of their middle school career as I had gotten the small taste of the beginning. 

Anyway, we were there to start promotion practice. Mr. S (yes, the same Mr. S as from the linked post) was getting them in the order they were to enter the gym for their actual promotion. And that took a while. 

Me and the other eighth grade teachers (who know who I am and knew that Mr. F was out) helped arrange chairs. Yes, chairs. They were all seated in the wrong arrangement, so as Mr. S called them up, they brought the folding chair they were sitting on, and those got put in the correct arrangement. 

Tedious. 

But that's how these things go. I didn't get to see any practice as the bell rang for the next period, and I had seventh graders, so I had to go back. 

The seventh graders (it was a leadership class) were making candy leis for the eighth grade promotion. I had been in this situation before, too. They were to make at least twenty. They made twenty. 

And then, the eighth graders returned to class for the last class of the day. To do nothing. Sigh. 

But I knew what I signed up for when I took that assignment. I am appreciated, though. Mr. F replied to my email about the day with, "With all the chaos of the day, I was really happy to see your name covering my class." 

Signing Shirts

Monday of the last week of school. Eighth grade English, co-taught. Fourth period. 

The eighth graders were done. Their grades had been submitted the prior Friday. Eighth grade promotion activities started Tuesday. So, the lesson for the day was a streamed movie. 

As it was a co-taught class, Ms. R was there. (I was subbing for the special ed teacher.) And she was really done with them. She wasn't going to permit them to sit next to their friends, but she was going to permit them to sign yearbooks. 

After going over the agenda for the rest of the week (she made sure to stress that the quicker they followed directions on Tuesday, the quicker they could be done with promotion practice), she put on the movie. 

A boy pulled out a red Sharpie...

The kiddos are not allowed to bring Sharpies to school. The kiddos have not made good choices with regards to where they write with that permanent ink marker. 

Ms. R, exasperated, reminded the kiddos that she had spent a lot of time at the beginning of the year warning them about having Sharpies at school. She was not in the mood to deal with it, though, so she told the boy to put it away. 

He explained that he brought it so that people could autograph his shirt. 

Okay, I might need to back up here a bit. It was tradition in my elementary school, and likely many of the elementary schools in the area, that on the last day of school, the sixth graders got to wear a white t-shirt that everyone could sign. I still have mine. Someplace. 

He was in a white t-shirt. In fact, there was a good portion of the class that were in white t-shirts that had various writings on them. (This is the first time I've seen it in the middle school.) Okay, then... 

So, people were signing shirts. A few of them had yearbooks, but more had shirts. (They were complaining about the price of the full-color, hardcover yearbooks. Their yearbooks were much nicer than my junior high yearbooks were.) 

I mean, it is a Title I school. I'm sure some couldn't afford the yearbooks. 

The Tantrum

He's a toddler, and we're placating a toddler. How did we get here? 

You probably already saw the infamous Meet the Press interview where he stormed out. In case you haven't: 

Or, if you're like me and can't listen to his voice, you can find a quick overview here. 

Watching the Increases

Where I'm at:

After I saw you last week, I ripped back a bunch of rounds from this: 

And then I redid them with a different increase system. As you can see, the top image lies flat. Which is want I wanted.

I don't know if you can see that the last round of the top image is curling inward. Last night, when I got to about there, I had to rip back a round as it was starting the wavy of the second image. I crocheted that round again but without increases. 

Because I don't have a pattern I'm working off of, I'm just keeping an eye on the piece as I complete each round. If it's starting to ruffle, then I have to rip back. That curl for an even round is okay as it'll flatten in the next round when I do more increases. 

I've made progress. And it's going so much quicker now that I'm not just staring at it wondering how to start. I've even started wondering about how I'm going to make it sweater-shaped eventually. But that's a ways off at the moment. 

For now, my next round will be an increase every sixth stitch. An increase is when I crochet two double crochets into the same stitch. As long as that lies flat, I'll continue the increase system I've been using.

I've been keeping notes as I will have to make another just like this for the front/back (not sure which side this one is going to be when it's all said and done). 

Suddenly I'm not so reluctant about the sweater. 

The Reluctant Sweater: 

• Questionable Quality
• Planning and Research
• And It Begins

Graduation Season

Friday. Integrated math two, honors. (Read: advanced freshmen and sophomores.) 

They weren't actually having a final the next week. They were taking a quiz on the latest unit. (No cumulative final. I'm not sure if that's a good thing or a bad thing.) They had review work on it. (Factoring and solving quadratic equations.) 

Ah, but it was the last Friday of the school year, and it was the day of the senior farewell assembly. (Their teacher was the advisor for the senior class, ever since they started at the school. So, she was involved in doing all the graduation things, hence why she was out of class.) We had activities that were going to interrupt class (not that anyone truly minded). 

Towards the middle of the period, we all stopped and stood outside as the seniors in their caps and gowns walked the campus. They've been doing this for several years, and I've been present for it several times. In previous years the kiddos weren't all that enthused about this, but this year these students had friends in the senior class, so the seniors stopped and gave hugs or fist bumps. 

(I recognized many faces. Several from various long terms I did last year and the year before that.) 

After the seniors walked the campus, we all went to the gym for the assembly. I had not gotten to go to one of these before, and it was emotional. Mostly for the staff. I'm sure some of the seniors were upset, though. As the festivities started, one girl ran for the restroom. One of the senior teachers followed her to make sure she was okay. 

I warn the kiddos that this is going to happen. Throughout the year I tell the seniors that it's going to go fast, and they're going to feel it when it happens. They don't believe me. Well, some of them believe me. 

After the assembly, we went back to class, but I had the next period group. Back to work... 

Although, the seniors were wandering campus. In their caps and gowns. It's a good reminder to the underclassmen that this is what they're working towards. 

The last day of school was yesterday. Next week's posts will wrap up the school year with my last working days. And the week after, before summer schedule goes into effect, I'll do my annual stats post for the classes I worked this school year.

Finishing Up, Part 2

Friday. Middle school leadership. They were creating "mission statements". 

(The success classes a couple weeks ago were doing a similar assignment.)

I was to remind the eighth graders that this was their final and it was due that day. Their grades were due by 4:30 PM. I mean, some of them could probably afford a zero, but their grade would take at least a letter grade hit, I assume. 

(The seventh graders still had a week, but I don't think their teacher really wanted to grade the assignment twice.) 

And the kiddos? Pretty much worked on the assignment. This was a leadership class, after all. Student government. There are GPA requirements, besides the fact that a kiddo has to be pretty motivated to choose to run for an office and serve the year doing all the various activities that go along with that. 

Today is the actual last day of school. Whew. Made it another year. 

Finishing Up

Tuesday. The penultimate week of school. I managed to catch an English class for seniors. 

Their finals had been the previous week. Their grades were due the prior Friday. They were effectively done. 

Not quite half the class showed up. For the first class. For the second, it was more like a third were present. 

There was no actual lesson plan. "They can play games." The teacher had some board games left out. 

The first class played the games. The second class, well, there were maybe ten of them. 

Three students came up to me to ask if they could hang out in their photography class. Any other day, I'd hesitate. But seniors? Now? No problem. 

I didn't even blink when a random student asked if he could hang out in this class. (His friend was in the class. They spent the period chatting.) 

Then that same student asked if he and his friend could "wander" campus. 

And that's where I had to draw the line. 

While the seniors were done, the rest of the students were not. Some teachers might have been doing early finals. (The finals week schedule is not great, so some teachers start or just do the whole final early.) And if they weren't doing early finals, they were preparing for finals or doing actual school work. 

I could not permit roaming students. 

The student understood. He sat back down and continued talking to his friend. 

I do love the easy days. 

Election Day

It's primary election day here in California. This is your reminder that all elections are important, not just the presidential ones. 

It's the local municipalities that have done the resisting. The national offices have basically rolled over and let this regime do what it wants. But the various state and local governments, depending on affiliation, have done much in the way of pushing back. They've sued. They've resisted. They've sent people to check the concentration camps. 

Local races matter. Make sure to vote in November, even if the only national race is for Congress. (All the representatives are up for reelection this year.) Who your governor is matters. Who your mayor is matters. Who your state reps are matters. 

Let Washington know we're pissed. Effectively end the regime by making sure those checks are in place. 

And It Begins

I've got good news and bad news. The bad news is I have to rip most of this out: 

The good news? Look at how far I got! I've finally cracked the Reluctant Sweater. 

If you've been following along, you know that I barely got the oval started at all. And this was in April. 

But I did a funny thing this week. I actually sat down and watched the crochet oval video (that I linked to in this post) all the way through. When I found it, I hadn't done more than quickly preview it. It looked like the right shape. Once I took the time to sit down with it, I knew it was what I wanted to try. 

And look how far I got! It's almost perfect. 

The issue? See how that oval doesn't lie quite flat? It kind of lettuces out (not a real crochet term). It means the increases are increasing too fast in the outer rounds. My mistake was listening to the video saying that the increases continued in the same way as the thing gets bigger. 

I know how to make a flat crochet circle. You increase every round by the same number. So, if you start with eight stitches, you increase eight stitches for each round, but only eight stitches. 

The video had us increasing every other stitch for every round. That doubles the number of increases every round. So, eight increases becomes 16, becomes 32, becomes 64... 

I ripped that back and started doing the increases the way I know they should be done, but I don't think I ripped back far enough. And I'm wondering if I should do a round even between each increase round. 

Minor irritations. That above oval? That's only a few hours of work. Once I have the increasing formula figured out, it'll be smooth sailing until it's as big as I need it. (That's when other issues will crop up, but I'll worry about those when I get there.) 

I'm thrilled. Now that I know what to do, I can do it. It's the figuring out what to do that flummoxes me. 

The Reluctant Sweater: 

• Questionable Quality
• Planning and Research

On the Down Low

Friday. Fourth period. AP Spanish V: Literature and Culture. 

The AP tests are over. So, the AP classes, effectively over. The lesson plan: "They can have free time". Fair enough. 

Sra. K was on campus in some meeting. Her other classes had a student teacher, who was also in class but off duty. He had had his classes create a "thank you" poster for Sra. K, with the kiddos writing little notes to her. He showed the poster to period 4 and suggested that they might want to do one as well. They agreed. 

A group of girls decorated this poster paper attached to the white board. (Then they got off on a tangent of one of the girls wanting an arm tattoo, and one of the boys wrote on her arm in ink what she was thinking about, and a discussion ensued on whether she should get the actual tattoo or not. "I just turned eighteen. I need to do something crazy.") 

I was about to suggest that the kiddos start writing their messages on the poster when the door to the classroom opened. Sra. K. 

Um, oops. This was supposed to be a surprise. 

Sra. K had returned to class to retrieve her charger for her computer. It took everyone a few seconds to clock that Sra. K was in the room and the posters on the front board were clearly visible. Once they figured it out, suddenly several students were just casually leaning up against the board in the front of the room. 

Sra. K? I don't think she noticed. 

She was preoccupied with getting her charger and getting back to the meeting. She talked to a couple students, talked to her student teacher, got what she needed, and she left. 

The students relaxed. I started directing them to go up to the board and write notes to the teacher. They went up in groups, got the poster done fairly quickly. 

And then the kiddos went back to not doing very much at all. 

Graduation Adjacent

Wednesday. Twelfth grade economics, second period. 

The seniors are about a week away from being done. (Graduation is June 3rd or 4th.) The lesson plan was for me to pass out the last page of their final study guide. And I was informed the classes were "pretty chill". 

Class started. Several were late. And several had yearbooks. I had a feeling not much work was going to get done.

But, then a funny thing happened. The class settled to silence. 

I've been spending too much time in middle school classes, I think. I had forgotten what happens as they mature. 

Were they on task? Some were. Some were looking through the newly acquired yearbooks. (I even had a student ask to use the restroom and return with a yearbook. How long did that take? Not long at all. I wouldn't have faulted him for how long he was out of class at all had I not seen him return with the yearbook.) 

Were they all looking through yearbooks? No. I caught many students doing the end-of-year science calendar. (The science teachers give them a bunch of facts that they list on a calendar as a review for the final.) I caught others doing other random assignments. 

And honestly? At this point they know what the priorities are. If they feel like their economics final is where it should be, I'd rather they spend their time on assignments that are more pressing. 

(See, not all my subbing days are terrible.) 

I spent much of my day working on my summer blogs. 

Reruns

We're at that time of year. Last week I did not cover a class I had not covered before this school year. I kind of needed that after the prior week. 

On Monday I caught an assignment at the adult transition center for the teacher I've covered a couple times this year. While there, a job popped up for Tuesday. After snagging it, I explained to the instructional assistants in class that I knew exactly what was going to happen. 

Ms. S coteaches with Ms. W. Ms. W was going to ask me to swap jobs for the day. She'd teach Ms. S's eighth grade math classes while I'd take over her fifth period success class and her seventh period learning center. 

And when I arrived at school on Tuesday? Exactly what I said would happen happened. (Ms. W's success class is very different from Ms. T's. How? Special ed. Ms. W has a smaller class and an instructional aide. That does make a world of difference.)

There were a couple surprises as I ended up covering an extra period, but that was also in the learning center. The learning center is an extra room where special ed kiddos can take a test in a separate setting (for those that need that, specified in their IEP). It's basically a period of me sitting and watching an empty room (although that class had a study hall type class and a whole math class came in to take a test). 

Wednesday I covered an economics class I had covered earlier in the year. Thursday I covered a special ed co-teacher who I covered for a week in February (and worked with when I did that long term two years ago). And Friday I covered that Spanish class that had a student teacher. 

When I say the bad days balance out, this is what I mean. Two weeks ago: brutal. Last week: cake. 

More Worried About the Boom

Remind me... It is a good thing or a bad thing when randos keep coming at you with guns? I think it might be a bad thing...? 

While the national news media has been fixated by that latest debacle, locally my corner of California is a bit more concerned by a potential environmental catastrophe. By the time you read this, hopefully the tank has finally blown up or cracked open. 

A tank at an aerospace company is leaking methyl methacrylate, a volatile and flammable liquid used to make acrylic plastics. This links to the story in the picture. The good news is I'm not in the evacuation zone. The bad news is if this thing does explode, I'll definitely feel the after effects. 

As for the rest of the country, our primary election is June 2nd (which I need to sit down and get my ballot filled out. We get mail in ballots, and I've had mine for almost a month now). 

When the Speaker of the House admits on right-wing TV that losing the midterms would end Trump's presidency... that's not a warning. That's a TO-DO LIST. Challenge accepted. 

"If we lost the midterms--heaven forbid--it would be the end of the Trump presidency in real effect." --Mike Johnson

Finished the Beanie

I finished it. Saturday.  And promptly gave it to my father, as I had been knitting it at his house. 

It wasn't a birthday present even though he had a birthday last Monday (his 80th). It wasn't for anything, really, other than when he modeled middle nephew's beanie for the blog, I promised him I'd make him one, too. 

And now, I am once again between projects (other than the reluctant sweater which I still haven't managed to start). 

About the beanie: 

• Not the Project I Should Be Working On
• Knitting Another Beanie
• Weekend Knitting
• Inside Out

The Chills

Whenever I find myself dealing with a challenging class, the teacher usually says something about them being "good kids". Only once before has a teacher referred to a kiddo as "evil". (I don't know if I wrote about her at the time, but I had her in a class later. This student.) 

I have encountered another. 

Damien (alias picked for obvious reasons) was noted in the lesson plan as "he won't do any work, but he won't disrupt the class". 

Okay, then. Tuesday. Eighth period. Eighth grade success. 

They were working on a Mission Map. They were to figure out a mission statement (for their life, I guess) and their four pillars (ideals of some sort), and then they were to make a poster with this information. 

They were given a packet of work to go through with setting goals and figuring out where they wanted their life to go. (This is the end of the year, so it was kind of a culmination assignment going over stuff they've been talking about all year.) They had instructions online. Ms. T said she went over all the instructions the week prior, so they should have known what to do.

But eighth graders with a sub for a week. They played weaponized incompetence. 

So, I wasn't much watching Damien. I did note that his desk had brown marker all over it. And he clearly wasn't doing any work. As promised. 

Half way through the period I passed out poster board. They were to make a poster, after all, and while I did not expect them to start the poster yet, I wanted them to have the materials they'd need. 

I warned them that they would only get one sheet of poster paper. (Otherwise the middle schoolers will make a mistake and need another. Not all, but most of them will. This is not my first rodeo. I know how they work.) 

And while most of the kiddos continued with their packets, Damien folded his poster paper into little boxes, and then he proceeded to tear them into little cards. Okay, then... 

I had Damien in class again on Thursday. The first thing he did was to grab the bottle of glue... 

Oh, no. Absolutely not. 

I took that glue from him so fast. (I didn't know what he was going to do with it, but it wasn't going to be good.) Then I noticed he had a blue marker. I attempted to take that away from him... 

And that's when I saw it. He kind of growled at me. 

Not his marker, but I decided not to have that fight. 

I tried to get him on task. I mentioned that he had already destroyed his poster paper. "Oh, was that what it was for?" Someone wasn't listening when instructions were given. 

But, I did give him another packet. (I had extra.) He then did with that what he had done with the poster paper. 

We kind of looked at each other. Damien just looked at me... Yeah, I like to joke that eighth graders are evil, but it is a joke. I know they'll grow out of it. They really are good kids. But Damien... 

Before I could contemplate how to get the blue marker away from him so he didn't make a mess of the desk again, the school psychologist came in and asked to take him for counseling. 

Yeah, I was good with that. Sadly, he returned after a half hour. 

Damien did not do any work. But he did not sacrifice any small creatures, so a win? (And I was able to clean off the desk.) 

Success (the Class) 13

If I commented on your blog last week, I apologize. I wasn't entirely mentally there. It was a long, hard week in the eighth grade success class. I don't have a lot of good stories, but I have a lot of little things that happened. Which makes this the perfect time for a Thursday 13. 

ONE

The assignment was to make a Mission Map. They had instructions. They had resources online. Ms. T had discussed it the week before. (She said this in the lesson plans, and I believe her.) But they had no clue what to do. More likely, they weren't listening when Ms. T was instructing, and they weren't bothering to read through all the materials to figure it out. 

TWO

Ms. T said they were to leave their phones in a phone box that all the teachers at that school have for just that purpose. They've been doing this all year. But with me? They "got their phone taken away". They "didn't have a phone". Yet, I saw many of them had a phone in their pockets.

I got irritated with this, so I took pictures of the mostly empty phone box each period. And I emailed them to the teacher. Petty, but I don't care. 

THREE

Beginning of seventh period, Monday. I warned students should be in their assigned seats. They said they were. I knew they were not as one of the kiddos I knew, and he was not in the seat indicated with his name on the seating chart. When I called him out on it, four other students suddenly knew where they were supposed to sit, too. (Names were noted.) 

FOUR

The fire alarm went off. Seventh period. As this is not the school where this happens frequently, the kiddos all ran out the door. We barely got down the stairs when an assistant principal shooed us back to class. False alarm. 

FIVE

Allergy season? Colds? Or an excuse... In sixth period they managed to go through a box of tissue as several boys kept getting up to go "blow their nose" outside. In groups. Every couple minutes. (I made a blanket rule that only one person could blow their nose at a time, that's how crazy that got.) 

SIX

Sixth period, Tuesday. Blake asked to use the restroom. (After refusing to sit in his assigned seat and giving me a false name.) He was on the escort list, so I called for security to escort him. He left before they arrived. And then he returned with popcorn. Sigh. (And acted clueless when I told him he was supposed to wait for an escort.)

SEVEN

Third period, Wednesday. Fire alarm went off. I figured it was another false alarm, but no. We evacuated. (Someone *ahem* didn't grab the evacuation stuff: roll sheet, sign, backpack, because she assumed it was a false alarm.) And that was a very long walk for someone who was already feeling the week. At least most of them made it back to the classroom before me. (That's good.) The three that took their time... Well, that's what detailed notes to the teacher are for.

EIGHT

Seventh period. A girl got a hold of one boy's paper, and was very loud about how she could not read it. They passed around the paper. Passed it to me. (Yeah, the writing was bad, but most of their writing is bad. It wasn't out of the ordinary bad.) Announced to the class that the boy had bad writing. And that he really needed to work on it. 

NINE

On Thursday and Friday they had guest speakers. Apparently, the state of California has a fund for students to use as a scholarship fund, and the speakers were walking them through claiming the accounts. 

Sixth period was embarrassing. You'd think they'd know how to behave for a guest, but no. Getting up for no reason. Not listening. Talking over the speakers. Yeah, it didn't go well. 

TEN

There were two kiddos who were tasked with making sure the Chromebooks were all plugged in at the end of the day. Odd day monitor did an excellent job. Even day monitor... Sigh. And I like this kid. Had him in the art class. He'll mature eventually, but right now he's giving in to his baser impulses. (Although, he had the best reaction to how much money he had in his CalKIDS account: "I've never seen that much money before in my life". It was about $1500.) 

ELEVEN

Joaquin, one of my problem kiddos in period one (see yesterday), asked for his work during first period Friday. I assumed he was not eligible for the CalKIDS scholarship, so I was going to send him out of class so as to not disturb the others with the presentation. One of the presenters: "He's eligible". Then why was he ignoring...? Free money for college...? Did he do what he needed to do to claim the money? Nope.

TWELVE

Third period, a student disappeared. Not to restroom (as I was keeping an eye on them). I stepped outside to see, but he was not there blowing his nose. He returned a bit later. Where was he? Oh, he had just gone to take something to his history teacher without asking permission. (I think the history teacher was next door, but still!)

THIRTEEN

If this was a Thursday 20 I could make it work. It was a hard week. I emailed all of this (plus what I couldn't include) to Ms. T. I received a reply. I don't think the kiddos are going to enjoy the consequences. 

Within the first day I learned that the kiddos were being bribed. For a good note they were going to get a pizza party. Most of the kiddos knew that they were not getting a pizza party. (Some tried to get me to "write a good note". I explained that I write an accurate note. It's good if they choose to be good.) 

Ms. T has a note on her board: Be Good Humans. Hopefully they will be. Just not with a sub last week.

Stupid Eighth Grade Games

I caught a week-long assignment in an eighth grade success class. And it was as bad as I anticipated. Oh well. 

Ms. T left me a packet of instructions with students who were likely to be issues and places to send them to. Many of the kiddos I had met in other classes, starting with that vacant art class at the beginning of the year. 

First period. Monday. 

Six boys spent the period in play mode. 

If I wasn't spending the period putting out (figurative) fires, I would have written down a list of their random conversations. They were at various parts of the room, so their conversations involved the whole class. And nothing would make them settle. 

So, when I had them again on Wednesday, I had a hair trigger. (The school is on a block schedule, so each period meets every other day.) 

Class hadn't quite started when Royce dropped an f-bomb loud enough for me to hear it. I didn't hear the conversation, but Royce had spent Monday joking with Antonio, and that was a good enough reason to send him out of class. (A neighboring teacher had offered to take a kiddo if need be.) 

Once Royce was gone, Ignacio started in. Well, not started. He sat in a corner, and he didn't do all that much. I had had him in the art class, and in the times I've seen him since then, he's only behaved worse. He was on Ms. T's list of students to look out for, and I was already irritated. So, out Ignacio went. 

As Ignacio was packing up, Joaquin decided it was a good time to start a rock-paper-scissors competition with Ignacio. I went to stand between them. Joaquin tilted a little so he could continue to see Ignacio on the other side of me. Okay, then, Joaquin just volunteered to go, too. 

I told Joaquin to go to the room directly below the one we were in. At this point Joaquin remembered he was on the escort list. (A fact he denied on Monday.) He refused to leave the room without an escort. 

Luckily, I had already called one for Ignacio (who was being sent to the in-house detention room), so I just asked her to escort Joaquin downstairs. She agreed. 

Three down. The class got very quiet. 

Then, Antonio started to talk... 

Me: "Do you want to work in another class, too?" 

I had three more classrooms to send kiddos to. 

Antonio wisely decided that that conversation was not one he wanted to have. 

It was amazing how peaceful things got once they were gone. Well, for a little while. 

The students complained of some high pitched tone. "Can't you hear that?" 

I didn't hear a thing. I closed the door. They said it didn't help. 

That's when I remembered the tones that only teenagers can hear. I spent a class period playing the tones several years back. 

So, I mentioned that someone was probably playing tones on their Chromebook that only the kiddos in the room could hear. As I am old, I was deaf to it. 

Kiddos were plugging their ears. Complaining. But as I couldn't hear it, I couldn't determine where it was coming from. 

The kiddo managed to annoy their classmates and their classmates only. 

I sat back. Watched for issues I could deal with. 

The kiddo must have decided that me not reacting at all wasn't any fun. The rest of the class no longer seemed to have an issue with a noise that I could not hear. 

Not too terrible. Sadly, Friday did not go as smoothly. 

(I'm writing this Sunday afternoon. I already got an email response from Ms. T. She is not pleased. The kiddos aren't going to be having a nice time upon her return to class.) 

Follow the Money

It's all about the grift. 

Headline: Suing His Own IRS? Creating a $1.8 Billion Slush Fund? What the Hell Is Trump Trying to Pull?

Answer: It was always about the money. 

That's what they're after, after all. Enriching themselves. 

Planning and Research

Did I touch the yarn last week? That would again be a no.

But, I really need to get going on some sort of project. Hopefully this week won't be as enervating as last week was. 

I did pull out my start: 

And I thought about ripping it back. The turning the circle into an oval didn't quite work out mathematically. It's a simple process where at one end I make the tallest stitch I can, and then I step them down into the shortest stitch. Then I build back up. And repeat for the second side. 

Somehow I ended up a stitch short. 

Of course, since I'm not doing an eye here, I could just start with an oval...

This is the thing that makes designing hard. So many choices. And I'm not sure what I want to do. So, today I'm just looking through some ideas to see what might spark. 

The original eye I found on this video: 

The only issue with this sweater is that this designer then squared off the oval and turned it into a square. The picture my niece found had a sweater that stayed kind of circular. And my sister-in-law wants me to duplicate that shape. 

So, why don't I just duplicate niece's sweater? Sister-in-law is a different size. 

I then ran across this video: 

Which is fun. But, I don't have two colors, and again, she squared things up at the end. 

Or I could just start with an oval: 

But how do I keep the oval going? I did a lot of guesswork on niece's sweater. Oh, here's something that might help (funny what I find when I start looking): 

But I rather like the idea of starting with a circle, elongating it so it becomes an oval, and then keeping the oval going until the piece is as big as I want it. 

So, decisions made. It's amazing how writing it out does help. 

I'll rip back to the circle, and then sit down and get that circle turned into an oval. And keep the oval going. Which was what I had planned in the first place, but I'm having some trouble executing it. 

In case you weren't around two years ago, this is the sweater that I made for my niece: 

And this was the picture she found that she wanted me to duplicate: 

Wish me luck figuring out the oval part.

Not a Good Sign

Friday. AP Computer Science, fourth period. 

It's AP test time. Most AP classes are studying for their test, taking their test, or recovering from their test. The lesson plans stated they'd be doing some test prep. I figured on a pretty chill class. 

The students started arriving. Saw me. And cheered... 

Uh oh... 

It was passing period. They were arriving. And they were celebrating like someone won a championship. Hugging each other. Saying "Merry Christmas". Jumping up and down. 

A couple of them were disappointed. They weren't remaining in class as they had an afternoon AP test and were going elsewhere to mentally prepare. (Or maybe have a lunch with others getting ready for that test. I was unclear as to what they were doing, but I had no problem letting them go as the AP test is a high stakes test, and they get understanding from me on test day.) 

Once class started I heard all about how much they did not like their teacher. "He doesn't teach," they told me. 

I don't think I've met this teacher. This was the first time I had covered the class. So, I could not argue with them (not that I was planning to). 

But my issue is: is the teacher very, very strict, and now they think they get to play? But, AP class... 

Well, they weren't doing a lot of work. But they didn't trash the classroom. So, a win? 

I mean, I got my stuff done. I was able to take roll. I told them what they needed to complete. Many of them had vaguely programmy stuff on their computers. There was eating in class and some had their phones out, but no one was locked into TikTok, and no one made a mess of food. 

This is all I want most days, so I call it a win. 

And, Friday. So, I got through another week. Summer is coming.

The Conversation

Thursday. Eighth grade math, special day class. Eighth period. 

To start every class, Mr. R has them do "Good Things". This is special ed, so the classes are small, so each student gets a turn. 

When it was Alonzo's turn, all I heard was something about going on a cruise. Well, that's cool. Only, as Alonzo continued speaking, the explanation went into Hantavirus and something about bombing the ship... 

Eighth graders... 

We moved on from Alonzo and finished Good Things, but when it was time for them to start working on their math, Alonzo circled back to Hantavirus. 

He had all the questions. I have not been following the news. I heard part of a report in passing about a cruise ship and Hantavirus, and that's really all I know. I suppose I could have looked this up, but they had math to work on, and I wasn't in the mood to humor Alonzo with this random topic. 

Alonzo? He found other topics to discuss with his classmates. Because I was of a mind to, I listed as many of the topics as I could for their teacher as they happened. As the topic changed, I added to the list. The list wasn't exhaustive, though, as some things were said in passing that I felt didn't merit inclusion on the list, and some things I just didn't get. 

So, what do eighth grade boys discuss when they should be doing math? 

• Hantavirus: Alonzo really couldn't let this go.
• History class assignment roles: apparently their history teacher had assigned them roles for some Civil War project. One boy was a spy. One boy was a slave. And the third boy's role was kind of unclear. There was a long conversation about how they liked/did not like their roles and how things got assigned.
• McDonald's: this was a weird ramble about food that turned into some VR chat that was McDonald's based. I was again unclear on what exactly they were talking about. 
• Tigger: yes, the tiger in Winnie the Pooh. This was more a rhyming thing where they did go there (starts with N...), but they were also wondering if they got the correct name for the tiger in Winnie the Pooh. 
• TikTok Challenges: they went from Tide Pods to a bunch I'd never heard of. 
• Mall food: food is always a popular topic. It ended up being a thing about various things they could get, and then Alonzo said he could also get food when he went to the mall for something else. Somehow this segued into how Alonzo needed to go to the bookstore to pick up a new book coming out (the kiddos were amazingly well-read). 
• Fake dice: they acted like they were playing craps. Without dice. For about a minute. 
• "Why are you rubbing your belly?" He was not rubbing his belly. 
• Movies: Hoppers and Project Hail Mary. They liked both. 
• Someone started whistling.
• "Jesse called some girl 'slave'", which then turned into Alonzo saying that he could say all sorts of career-ruining things about Jesse. 
• Alonzo said that some teacher said that because he did something with his thumbs, that he was double jointed.
• Alonzo pulled out some money and a receipt he had. The receipt got passed around. The money was counted. (After they left, I found a nickel on the floor.) 
• Somehow the money led to them talking about various gum flavors. Mostly listing and stating whether they liked them.
• Video games: a brief mention of some games they liked.
• They circled back to Tigger and words that rhyme with it.
• Kool-Aid pickles: and then pickles in general. 
• Six... seven... Yes, sadly, that's still a thing, and it just pops up at random times.
• And then some sidetrack into Zuckerberg. Why? I have no idea.

So, you won't be surprised that I rated the class as "some made better use of their time than others" and that I doubted they had finished their assignments. Because, seriously? 

Broken Record, Student Edition

Wednesday. English 9, special day class (read: special ed). Fourth period.  

The lesson plans had all sorts of warnings about this class, including the note that this was her least favorite class. The instructional assistant went on to warn me that the half the kiddos just didn't care no matter what they did. So, I was prepared for the worst. 

And... things weren't that bad. They were doing a vocabulary assignment that went along with their reading of To Kill a Mockingbird, and then they could use that assignment on a quiz for the last couple chapters they read in class. 

Early in the period, Kaleb asked to use the restroom. He returned in a timely manner. 

About halfway through the period the instructional assistant left (as that was her usual quitting time). 

It was almost the end of the period, and Kaleb again asked to use the restroom. I said no. 

Kaleb was not pleased. He asked why he could not go. 

I explained that he had already gotten one restroom pass in the class, and getting one pass out of class was all he was going to get. Besides, there were only ten minutes left in the class period, and the school administration had instituted a rule that no students were to be allowed out of class for those last ten minutes. 

Kaleb did not see my point. One pass per period? That was unreasonable as far as he was concerned. 

So, he asked again. Could he go and use the restroom? And again, I said no. 

"But why?"

Me: "I already explained why." 

Kaleb argued that when he asked the first time there had been eleven minutes left of class. (According to the clock on my computer, it had been less than ten minutes.) But even he couldn't argue that since the first time he asked time had passed, and at this point there was definitely less than ten minutes left of class. 

Then, Kaleb: "Can I go to the restroom?" 

Again, I answered no. Again, Kaleb asked why. And again, I said that I had already explained. 

This time Kaleb offered that he would be able to get to the restroom and back before the end of the period. (Likely true, as the restroom was just steps away from the classroom.) I did not doubt him, but I did not give permission. 

It was now time for the class to start getting packed up, so I made that announcement. Kaleb? Asked to use the restroom again. And again, he asked why not?

Now the rest of the class was invested. They encouraged Kaleb to just walk out. If it was them, they would just walk out. (If it was them and earlier in the period, I would have let them go as they hadn't used their pass for the period.) Kaleb did not take the dare. 

Around we went again. Maybe twice? I lost count. Eventually, time ran out. The bell rang. And they all left. 

Deep sigh. I'm not sure why Kaleb thought that repeatedly asking me the same questions would get different results, but freshmen. Kaleb did not realize just how stubborn I can be when pushed. 

Carefully Crafted Insults

Last week I came across this article: "Is Trump a Racist? Let’s Look at the Stats." I have some thoughts...

First, uh, yeah. Duh. There's a whole lot of rather racist things happening, emboldened by this regime. If you find someone defending any of that as not racist, they're probably racist too. They just don't want to admit it. 

So, then I read the article. And they tried to quantify his racism via the percentages of people he calls, "Low I.Q." Okay, whatever. I don't know if you can "prove" racism via data like that, but it's something to write. 

My second thought, on reading the article, was about projection. How people will take things they don't want to look at about themselves, and they'll attribute those qualities to others. I wonder when he was tested and how that test was explained to him. Because he uses this low IQ thing a lot.

When I was in school, I wanted to take an IQ test. They weren't administering them anymore. When I took psychology in high school, I did a research paper on the IQ tests. And the thing is, they're not really great tests of intelligence. They have their biases. That's not something you can measure, anyway. There's a reason they've been sidelined for decades. 

Then the third thing I thought was about how he's been going on and on about those cognitive tests. How clearly he's had a few of them. Why else would he be constantly touting them (as if they were something to brag about)? 

Yes, I've drawn some conclusions. They're not the ones the article set out to prove. 

What do you think? What thoughts does the article bring forth in you?

From Taking Down the Notes to Zhuzhing Up the AI

If you're a regular visitor to this blog, this was not the post you were expecting today. Yes, normally I would post something about what I'm knitting or crocheting. But, I didn't touch the yarn last week. While contemplating what to post today, I figured I could do the A to Z Challenge Reflections post (even though it's late), or I could skip posting today entirely (which was a serious option). 

I don't really have a lot to reflect about, though. Every year it's the same game. I write my blog normally, but I make the post fit the letter of the day. 

The hard part for me is the blog hop. That's why I skipped doing the challenge from 2020 to 2022. If you look back on those years, you'll see I did fit my posts to the letter of the day, but I skipped Saturdays, and I didn't do the blog hop. 

It got to be too much, fitting in the going through the master list and visiting five new posts a day. Especially when very few returned the favor. 

So, I don't do that part. I do return visits to everyone who visits (unless I can't find their blog). And this year I visited everyone I had met on previous challenges who were taking part. 

I keep track of the blogs I visit on Feedly. If anyone ever visits my blog, I add them to that feed reader. (I have several named feeds.) Then it's really easy to find them again. 

Because Feedly, anyone who visited me likely had me visiting their blogs for the remainder of the challenge. I skipped blogs that I couldn't relate to, offended me, or that I found I couldn't find something to say about (read: most poetry). I may have missed a day here or there when I was offline, or sometimes Feedly fails to catch some blogs every so often. (There have been times when Feedly gives me ten posts by someone, and I discover that I have missed a month of their blogging.)

I love the challenge as I discover new blogs to add to my daily reading list. It's the most consistent way to do so. Alas, I have found that these are bloggers that find me, not the other way around. (Not sure why, but that's my experience.) 

And now that we're fully into May, I'll see which of those new (to me) blogs become a regular part of my routine, and which ones fall away. 

So, now I look forward to summer vacation. I'm kind of planning my summer posts. On Fridays I have random quizzes, which are mostly done. I'm thinking up all the lists of 13 I can get set up for Thursdays. And on Wednesdays last year I started doing posts on blogging. That's where I need your help. 

What are some things about blogging you'd like to see a post about? 

I think I'm going to do a post about how to add gifs to your posts. (Or does everyone already know how to do that? I know many of you already know how to do that.) Maybe another HTML basics post? The posts I did last year are on this page (which you can also find at the top of the blog).

It looks like I'll have nine slots this summer. (Maybe less, if I catch a summer school day.) I only have two topics listed. That's way less than nine. Any ideas?

An Overlooked Detail

The very special ed class, Friday. 

The last time I subbed for Ms. H, the class was going on a field trip. This day, same. This time they were going to some event hosted by the LAUSD for their special ed classes. Something about a dance performance? 

Why was I needed? Some of the kiddos weren't going, so someone had to stay behind to supervise them. 

I had two students. And then a third joined us as her whole class was going as well as the teacher. (Why book two subs for two different teachers? I was sufficient to cover all the kiddos not going.) 

It was a fairly chill day. Alice was wheelchair bound and only spoke in grunts and cries. Nate arrived and put his head down on his desk and slept. Apparently, this was his usual. This was good as Alice does not like Nate. Nate has a tendency to (when awake) hover over Alice and bother her. (When Nate awoke near the end of the day, he hovered over me, and I had to make it very clear I did not want to be touched, and he still touched me.) 

Angela was from the other class. She took a seat and asked for paper so she could draw. 

I suggested a movie. Alice's one-to-one suggested Encanto. 

So, things were mellow. But then I noticed a problem. 

Ms. H's prep period was the last period of the day. Usually her students would join the other teachers' classes for the last period. But the other teachers were gone, too. What to do? 

I called Allie (the secretary I check in with). While I had looked forward to getting to leave early for the day, I was fine with staying and supervising the kiddos. But, I wasn't going to do it for free... 

Once I explained the situation to Allie, she readily agreed to credit me with the extra period. 

And so, once we finished Encanto, Angela suggested Lilo & Stitch (the original version). 

We were barely fifteen minutes into the last period when the field trippers returned. 

It had been a long bus ride. The kiddos had been outside. They'd been in the sun. They were wiped out. 

Which was fine. It wasn't like we were going to be doing work or anything. Movie and computer time. 

Some days, my job isn't much more than this. It balances out the more difficult days. 

Zzzzzz

Thursday. Seventh grade Spanish I for Spanish Speakers. Eighth period. 

They had a student teacher, so the class went on as normal. For this day, the students were doing oral presentations on various Central and South American countries. In Spanish. 

The student teacher taught the class in Spanish. 

I may have mentioned before that the language I took in school was French. 

So, yeah, I wasn't understanding a whole lot of what was going on. I mean, I got the gist, but I definitely didn't get the specifics. 

I may have also mentioned that I write about what happened last week, so this happened on April 30th. As it was the last day of the A to Z Challenge, I had distracted myself all day by reading blogs. But by eighth period I had completed that. 

And there's just something about sitting there while the kiddos were going through slides about Cuba, speaking in Spanish way better than I could ever attempt, that did not help my drowsiness. 

Sometimes, before bed, I'll play on my phone or I'll read. And there's that point where I kind of blank out, and when I go back and try to continue what I was doing, I'll realize I'm not comprehending anything I'm doing, and it's time to put that all aside and go to sleep. This is what I was feeling while in that eighth period class. 

Not good.

While I was not actively teaching, I was still there as an observer. (It's a legal thing. Since the student teacher isn't employed by the district, a district employee needs to be present.) And I was fading, fast. 

I needed something to wake me up. I checked my email. I flipped through some catalogs. I worked on the note to the teacher (which was largely unneeded because the student teacher would see her the next day). 

Even the fidgety seventh graders couldn't keep my attention. (And they were not behaving well.) 

Did I fall asleep? No. Well... I took a lot of micro naps. I definitely blanked out, many times, but not for long at all each time. 

Not ideal, but somehow I managed to stay mostly awake. 

(I did not stay up too late the night before, and I had gotten a good night's sleep. I should not have been that tired. But some days...)