All Excuses

Friday. Period three, study skills.

Study skills is just a fancy way of saying study hall. I mean, technically the teacher is supposed to have curriculum that teaches skills for studying, but most of the kiddos who really want that are in AVID or success. (Or even if they don't but have someone urging them in that direction.) Study skills is the special ed equivalent, and most of the time, the teacher gives them time to work on missing assignments. 

This is a very long-winded way of saying that I had a class that had nothing to do. They were allowed to be on their phones once they were done with all their work. They were done with all their work. 

Except...

I had an instructional assistant, and she warned me of Nick. In semester one, Nick had claimed that he was doing all his work and he had no homework. Alas, his semester grades showed these claims to be lies. Miss B no longer trusted him. 

Miss B then told me that Nick would have many excuses. His work would be on paper, but the paper would be at home. And as it was homework, he'd do it at home. 

Nick arrived. Miss B asked him what he had to work on. He told her he didn't have anything. But Miss B wasn't having that.

It came out that Nick had some maps to complete for his history class, but he had left the papers at home. Miss B sent him to his teacher to get another copy. Upon his return, Miss B sent him to his math teacher to get work from her. 

And then, while he was out, I got a call from the speech therapist. Nick was needed for speech therapy. 

Naturally. 

Miss B set up his computer so the map he'd need was on the screen. She made sure he had everything he needed to complete his work. And when he returned, he did work. Kind of. 

I looked down at his map of the Middle East, and on the Arabian Peninsula he had written "France". He did get Africa and Asia in the right places, though. (My knowledge of geography is pretty terrible, but I can locate France.) 

When I pointed out where various of the list of places he needed to label were, he immediately wrote those down. But he was slow walking the looking up and figuring out where the places were on his own. I wasn't going to do it for him, so I walked away.

If you want to get something done, you find a way. If you don't, you find an excuse. Nick was all about the excuses. Sigh. 

One would hope that at some point he'll want good grades. Until then, he's going to fight us about doing his work. 

He's young. He may grow out of it. 

Repeats

Wednesday. I was expecting to cover eighth grade math only to discover once I got there that the assignment had been cancelled. Sigh. But, because it wasn't my error, they put me to work covering classes where the teacher wasn't out all day. 

Which meant my first period of the day I got stuck covering PE. Sigh. 

Lots of familiar faces. "My class" combined with another PE teacher's class, so I just had to take down how many laps they ran. Chilly day, but otherwise not too terrible. 

Then, for seventh period, I ended up covering a success class. Of the class of fifteen, three had been in the PE class that morning. (This is a frequent occurrence when I'm covering more than one teacher, so I was not surprised.) 

Mostly my issue in success was with one student who was doing anything but the assignment. I kept circling back around to him, pointing out that he hadn't done anything on his paper. He took twenty minutes in search of a pencil. 

When he asked to use the restroom, against my better judgement I let him go. He took along his drone. (Why he had a drone with him, I don't know. It sat on his desk all period, so at least that wasn't a distraction.) And the rest of the class informed me that he wasn't going to return to class. 

He did return. After twenty minutes. And after I called security to shoo him back. (He claimed he had gone to the office for reasons, but he didn't tell me that before he left.) 

The next day I was in a co-teaching situation with Mr. H. As we chatted, I mentioned my roving the prior day. We got to talking about how terrible the success classes were. And as I told him about what they'd done, I realized he'd know them, too. I told him that Simon was in the class as was Orson. 

If you recall, Mr. H was the one who took over that seventh grade science class when I hit my full thirty days, so he had all those students, too. 

Not Just Me

After my dead week the week prior and narrowly missing three other assignments, I was very relieved to catch an assignment for Tuesday. (Monday had been a holiday.) It turned out to be co-teaching, and in fact, it was a teacher I had covered before. 

Second period integrated math one (read: algebra 1/freshman math). As Ms. B was there, she taught the lesson that she had planned, and I "assisted" the kiddos. 

And... The last time I was in this class, it was a two sub day. And the kiddos were a handful. I'd've thought that things would go better with their regular teacher. Uh, no. 

While some teachers aren't that great and I can see why their classes would be awful, Ms. B has been around a while, knows what she's doing, and can handle a class. These kiddos, however, are just terrible. Of course, they are freshmen, which contributes to the problem. 

The lesson for the day was mostly review over what they had been doing as they had a quiz the following class period. (Ms. B: "Everyone needs to listen to this. You have a quiz on Thursday. You've all heard this now, so no one should complain that I didn't warn you ahead of time." Note: I'd be shocked if no one complained about a quiz they didn't know about on Thursday.)

I hovered. While the intent was to be available in case anyone needed extra help, mostly what I ended up doing was to redirect the kiddos towards the work they were supposed to be doing. While their teacher was doing examples and they should have been following along with the lesson. Sigh. 

Suddenly, three different students went outside to blow their noses. But that was too many students. So, I stepped outside to shoo them back in. Which they didn't like. 

Of course, as this was happening, a random student from elsewhere happened along, and he wanted to hang out with the students who weren't supposed to be outside. 

Random student (to student from class): "Who is this?" 

Because, apparently, the kiddo has never seen a substitute teacher before. (He looked familiar. I'm sure I had him in class before.) 

So, difficult bunch. Nothing I haven't seen before. But I left that class feeling kind of relieved. Why? 

It's not just me!

They act like that with their regular teacher, too. 

I mean, that's not great news for these kids today, but I feel better knowing they're not acting up just for me. 

Some days I need to know this.

Extinction Burst

I can't even anymore. Rather than list all the current atrocities (which will be out of date by the time you read this), I'm going to share a bit of hope that ran across my timeline this week. 

The video is from May, and we're still in the thick of it, but it's something I have heard in different contexts throughout my lifetime. I hope he's right. (I hope the video works. If not, you can find it here.) 

I found (via Knitty) a pattern that all the proceeds of which are going to those impacted by the ICE raids. Melt the ICE Hat. It's a protest hat. Anyone want one? 

For those of us not in Minnesota, here's a blog post about ways we can help them.

Continuing Sleeve Two

This past week I made some progress on sleeve two:

Last week I was here:

I'm content with that. 

I wish I had something more to write. But some weeks are like that. No major hiccups. I would have liked to have gotten further, but work. And it's still winter, so I'm not terribly behind. 

I'd say I'll have more drama next week, but I really hope that's not true. Slow and steady is good. I'll get there. Eventually. 

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!

Finishing Reward

Last week I ended up with an unexpected vacation. There were just no sub jobs to be had. So, when on Thursday night I was able to snag a gig, I didn't even mind that it was a middle school class for a teacher I've heard the students complain about. And according to the calendar, an assembly was scheduled. 

It turned out to be a dual language immersion class, so while it was a middle school history class (world history for seventh grade and U.S history for eighth grade), it was taught in Spanish. 

Of course, this isn't an issue on sub days. It wasn't a class for Spanish speakers; it was a class for students who were working on being fluent in Spanish. I'd had many in other classes. They spoke English fluently. 

Fifth period. Seventh grade world history. 

It was after the assembly (Olympics-themed) and after lunch. So, basically everything for a crazy period. But, they were actually not too terrible, for middle schoolers. 

I was to sign off their packets (per the teacher's instructions) when they finished. When I explained the assignment, one boy asked, "What if I already finished?" Because naturally. 

I couldn't check his work because it was in Spanish, but he had written something for each question. From what I had seen earlier in the day, it appeared that he had, in fact, finished the assignment. And at times like that, I let them have free time. (No reason to give extra work to the one student who is ahead.) 

I walked the room. Ended up behind the kiddo who had finished. He was playing a game on the Chromebook. It took me a moment to recall he was finished so as to not growl at him for being off task. I moved on. 

"You're not going to say anything about him playing a game." 

This was from another student. (No one complained about a student on a game while I was at the front of the room.) I shrugged and said he had finished his work. 

"Does that mean we can play games in class?"

Without coming out and saying yes, I heavily implied that I wouldn't care, once they were done with the day's assignment. 

I did sign off most of the students' papers, so apparently they didn't get too distracted by games or such. 

It's really all I want most days in classes like that. It was nice things didn't go the way I had feared. 

Not Quite a Two-Day Install 13

I finally (FINALLY!) have a completed shower. This whole process started in October. And so, to commemorate this long bathroom nightmare, I'll take you through all the snags in 13 steps (for Thursday 13). 

ONE

I didn't particularly want a new shower, as I was afraid the whole thing would go sideways, but it wasn't up to me. Landlady noticed that the old shower had developed some holes. She had been talking about replacing it for a couple years, and then one day she got a company to come out and look, and she signed the contract. This was late September. 

TWO

It was to be a two-day install. Day one they tore out the old shower. (This was October 30th.)

THREE

Day two was Halloween. Because of the way these condos are configured, to turn off the water to the place required access to the neighbor's garage. You know, the neighbors that flooded our place. Twice. They were apparently not home, even after being called repeatedly for two days. (They were home.) 

So, to get the water turned off, we had to turn off the water to the whole condo complex (it's an ongoing problem). Which required 24 hours notice. As Halloween was a Friday, the earliest they could complete the shower would be the following Monday. 

(There are two bathrooms in the place, but the other one is an en suite attached to landlady's bedroom. This will become more important later.) 

FOUR

When I returned home from work on that Monday, I learned the awful news. The shower was almost finished. All that was left was to attach the doors and a couple finishing touches. But...

An hour away from finishing, they got a knock on the door. The city inspector, who just happened to be in the complex for other reasons, noticed the work truck and had a question: Did the company have the required work permits for the construction? No, they did not. 

FIVE

They had to stop work immediately, get the permits, and then they could finish the shower. In the meantime, we could put up a shower curtain to use the almost fully finished shower in our bathroom. (For the record, I hate shower curtains.) 

They would have to prove that the room had no asbestos. (The complex was build in the early '70s. They definitely used asbestos.) Then they would have to tear out the shower so the inspectors could confirm they were building the shower up to code. Then they could reinstall the shower. 

SIX

Although landlady's convinced that the inspector was just in the area was a lie. She thinks that upstairs neighbors turned us in. (Upstairs neighbors have since moved out.)

SEVEN

After much back and forth with the company, the first hoop to jump through was an asbestos inspection. Failed. So, they had to do asbestos mitigation. Thursday, December 18th. I went to work and returned home to:

No bathroom access AT ALL. Which was kinda a big issue as December 19th was a work day for me, and the only other bathroom in the house is an en suite. I generally get ready quietly so as to not wake landlady when I leave for work in the morning. Having to traipse through her bedroom to get to a bathroom is not quiet. 

Oh, and the bathroom and my bedroom share a wall. In the bathroom was one of those heater/dehumidifier machines. They are loud. I did not get much sleep that night. 

EIGHT

The next day, Friday, December 19th, they came and tested the bathroom again for asbestos. If it tested negative, the worst was over. But, of course, we'd get no test results until the next working day, Monday. Which meant for the whole weekend, no bathroom access and the hum of the machine through the wall to my bedroom. They couldn't legally remove anything until they had the negative test. 

NINE

Landlady wasn't having that, though, and she tore everything open and removed the machine. Whew.

Unfortunately, when they did the mitigation stuff, they threw out the shower curtain. Landlady got another from Dollar Tree. Which did the job, but...

Okay, so I hate shower curtains because they float towards me the entire time I'm showering. And so that's what I'd been dealing with. The old curtain was nice and thick, so not as big a problem. But the Dollar Tree one was flimsy, so it attacked me with more gusto. (Eventually I figured out a way to tape the thing down.)

TEN

Monday, we got the results back: negative. Whew. But, that was December 22nd. Ain't nothing happening Christmas week. Or before the new year. 

ELEVEN

Although, we got a call the next week. (Monday or Tuesday, my memory's hazy on this.) Could they stop by with one of the inspectors who needed to sign off before they could install the shower? Of course. 

The guy arrived, parked by our open garage, but there was no sign of him. When he finally appeared, he said the plumbing inspector had gotten to the complex gate, and he went to meet with him. Turned out that he was okay with just seeing photos of the install. 

TWELVE

Monday, January 12th was the day. They had to tear out what they had done so the inspector could approve their work. 

They arrived at 8 AM. Tore out half the shower. The inspector was scheduled for noon-2 PM. He showed up pretty close to noon. Approved. Then they had to reinstall all that they had torn out. 

The guy asked if they could stay late (after their usual 4-ish finish time), and so when he left just before 8 PM, the shower was done. Double whew. Finally. 

THIRTEEN

Ignore the hole in the wall behind the toilet. They had to rip that out when they did the asbestos mitigation. They patched that hole on Friday. 

The Spam Folder

In December a fellow blogger asked how to find their spam comments folder. And as it is rather hidden, I thought it would make a very good blogging post. 

(You should be checking the folder regularly. There was a point when Blogger marked at least 500 of my comments spam, going back several years. While it took a while to get through that backlog, it was better than letting them languish in spam prison. And since I check the folder daily, I can keep up with rescuing many comments that don't belong there but get sent there for vague reasons.) 

You'll click on your "Comments" in your sidebar. Sometimes Blogger hides the sidebar, so if yours is hidden, first you'll need to open it: 

Click on the "hamburger" in the top left hand corner. That'll open up the sidebar: 

Comments is the third thing in the list. Click on it, and you have a list of all the comments to your blog, in order of posting. Next, you'll go to the arrow next to "All":

Click on that:

And on that pop up menu, you'll click on "Spam". As you can see, at this moment I have zero spam comments: 

Yay!

But not every day is like that. Sometimes I open up that pop up menu to find: 

I click on "Spam":

And there's two comments that are not spam. (I redacted them so as to not call out the commenters.) See how one says "4 hours ago" and one is from December? I've had times when the comments that were in the spam folder were from 2014. And I'm not even exaggerating a little bit. 

Move your cursor over the day or date of the comment to get:

The trash can is to trash the comment if it's actually spam. (Sometimes it's spam.) But mostly things get caught in the folder on accident, so click on the check mark to publish the comment to your blog:

Verify that you want to publish, and it's done. The comment will now appear on your blog. 

If you don't already, get in the habit of checking your spam folder. I don't know why it happens, but with some regularity Blogger sweeps comments into the spam folder that do not belong there. 

How often do you check your spam folder? Is there another blogging topic you'd like me to tackle?

On Ice

How goes the invasion?

🚨 SOS FROM MINNESOTA: "WE'RE BEING INVADED... NOBODY SEEMS TO BE SAFE" "Everyone's scared to go to work," Todd Dahlstrom of Minnesota AFL-CIO tells @therealnews.com. "They're scared to send their kids to school. They're afraid to go to lunch..." Please watch & help amplify!

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— Maximillian Alvarez (@maximillianalvarez.bsky.social) January 19, 2026 at 1:01 PM

And they'll come for your area, too (if they haven't already). So, watch and learn. You'll need to know how to resist when it's your turn. 

Some news from the state: 

• MN ICE Watch
• Queer trans ICE protester in small Minn. city recounts agents' violence and humiliation
• DOJ investigating Gov. Tim Walz, Minneapolis Mayor Jacob Frey over alleged conspiracy to impede immigration agents
• ICE’s Tear Gas Sent a 6-Month-Old to the Hospital, the Latest in an Alarming Pattern

It's so bad that Minneapolis issued this statement:

Vehicles that are abandoned due to an ICE detention and towed to the City's impound lot will be released to their owners or a representative at no cost. Learn more: https://www.minneapolismn.gov/getting-around/parking-driving/impound-lot/#d.en.200746

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— City of Minneapolis (@minneapolismn.gov) January 16, 2026 at 12:11 PM

But while it's Minnesota's turn, there are some things we can do to help them. There's a phone bank event on Wednesday to call voters in key states to ask them to call their senators. (And you can keep calling your electeds, too.) You can donate to CANMN for mutual aid, especially for those who have to remain indoors due to the threats of being kidnapped off the street. (Like there's a group that's doing laundry for those who it isn't safe to go to laundromats for.) 

And here again is a link for finding groups to help in your immediate area. 

After getting through all that, how about a giggle. ICE thugs slipping on the ice in Minnesota. It's a thing people are now filming and uploading for our entertainment: 

Sleeve Two!

Sleeve one (complete):

Sleeve two (started):

Sleeves together:

So, progress. Once I complete sleeve two, I then add the ribbing onto the bottoms of both (without the detour into Kitchener stitch). And then I put them all together. To finish, I knit the collar. 

In other words, it's getting there. Will I finish before the weather warms up? Well, before the weather warms up in Ohio, as that ship has already sailed for SoCal. (It's January, and yet as I write this at 4 PM on Sunday, I'm sitting in shorts and a short sleeved shirt with my window wide open.) 

I'll keep plugging away on it. 

(It's been a few weeks since I linked to the pattern, so here it is in case you want to knit yourself one: When Harry Met Lucy.) 

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

Easy Tipping

After winter break, I covered three days in a mod to severe special ed class. (Read: high school aged kiddos who read at an elementary school level.) For the last period of the day, they worked on "life skills". 

The students all had workbooks. Some were working on things like street signs and writing out their home address. I ended up sitting between two girls who were working on activities related to dining out. 

I was later told that Audrey was very anxious and needed lots of assurances. She started with a page that showed various steps in ordering food via phone app, and she had to put the steps in order. Which she did, fairly easily (once I confirmed that she was, in fact, doing it correctly). 

Then we moved on to tipping. 

Explaining how to figure out the tip on a restaurant bill is a challenge even with general ed students. (Everyone hates percentages.) With these special ed students? But I dug in and was ready to work it step-by-step with her.

(And yes, there are shortcuts that are easier in the actual restaurant. And yes, most places now print how much a tip could be on the receipt. Or, it'll automatically add it if you're paying via kiosk. But when it's an actual lesson in an actual workbook, working the actual steps is expected.) 

But then Ms. S, one of the instructional assistants, pulled out her phone. There was an app for that. 

(If you click on the link, the screenshots show just how easy the thing is.)

Oh my. So, so, so much easier. 

Audrey understood what we were doing. Fiddling with the math was the challenge. But the app? She easily could input the total of the bill, slide the percentage to what it needed to be, and have the tip right there. 

This is what we talk about when we talk about accommodations. The student can understand what needs to be done. They just have issues working through the steps to get it done. Take away the fiddly bits, and they can exist in general spaces just fine. 

Audrey needed just a little guidance, and then she was calculating the tips all on her own. 

Phew. That could have been a way harder activity. 

(And if you need such an app, now you know it exists.) 

Working Hard (or Not)

"Could you cover a sixth period..."

Wednesday. Sixth period. Eighth grade English, co-taught. Which meant that the general ed teacher was there. All I had to do was follow her lead. (I've covered Ms. C and I've worked with Ms. C many, many times.) 

Ms. C started with an apology to me and a warning. The room was infested with fruit flies. Someone had left bananas under all the desks before they left for winter break...

Eighth graders... 

They were taking a standardized test (one I've given many, many times), and one of their teachers was there, so I just sat back. The room was filled with familiar faces. Several of them had been in that seventh grade science class I started the year in last school year. (Like Simon.)

At one point Orson called me over. As I search through my previous posts, I see I did not mention Orson before, so let me explain. 

Orson is weird. Probably autistic. I recognize his concerns. Anyway, he speaks very deliberately, and he likes to make sure things are situated as they "should be". He's not a bad kid, but he doesn't fit in well with his classmates. Which sucks, really. 

We're about a half hour or so into the test. The two other boys at Orson's table are clearly not applying themselves. But they weren't talking, so I leaned in to Orson so he could ask his question. 

"Some students are only on question number four," Orson told me. 

I looked down at Orson's test. He was on question 37. The boy next to him was on question four. 

At that point, they totally should have been on at least question twenty. Orson was making decent progress. 

Me: "That's not anything you need to worry about." (I said it kindly. It wasn't his problem and it wasn't anything he needed to do anything about. I was aware the kiddos weren't applying themselves, and when they're still working while everyone else is finished, they'll realize how they wasted their own time.) 

Shortly thereafter Orson informed me he had finished. I told him congratulations. He moved to a different seat and started playing a video game. (There wasn't another assignment after they finished, and the computerized test just closed when he finished, so there was nothing I needed to do.) 

Orson's neighbor? Still working on the test. 

Orson had quite a bit of time to play his game before Ms. C called time. Several students had not finished, so they would be testing the next class period. Including Orson's neighbor. 

And I am not at all concerned. The ones that weren't applying themselves have to keep working until they finish. Those that were got free time. The punishment fits the crime.

Describing the Gifts

Winter break vacation over, and I caught a special ed job. You know, in one of those classes. For three days. 

Actually, things went pretty smoothly. Most of the class had one-to-one aides, and the teacher had clear routines in place. 

Third period, Tuesday. The class had a standing lesson with the speech therapist. As it was the first day back after the break (they had a professional development day on Monday, so no students), the speech therapist did an activity about the break. 

She asked them what they got for Christmas, but they couldn't just tell her. They had to give two hints, and the others were to guess what it was. As an example, the speech therapist said, "I got something that I wear on my feet and it has three white lines on it." 

They easily identified the gift as Adidas sneakers. 

She demonstrated with a couple other of her gifts. Then she left them to figure out how to hint about what they got for Christmas. 

The activity went fairly well. Most of the students got right to work and were able to hint about their gifts. Mostly, I was asked how to spell things. 

Calvin, who likes to smudge his work after he completes it, was having a time writing anything down. His one-to-one aide was trying to assist. He asked Calvin what he got for Christmas. Calvin said he got a violin. 

A violin???

That seemed odd. But then the next day I learned he was in a strings music class, and suddenly a violin made more sense. 

They finished up the lesson with the speech therapist having them read out what they wrote and having the class guess what they got. 

You'd think a speech therapy class would be more about having them work on how they talk. At least, that's what I assumed when I first heard of it. But no. It's more of them discussing things. Whatever works, right? 

And now I have an interesting activity I can apply if I ever have need of it. (I love watching others work. I steal liberally from them.) 

Think Local

How many major news events have happened since my last Tuesday post? Too many. 

How many major news events happened between when I wrote my last Tuesday post and when that post went live? There was a whole Venezuela thing that happened. 

So, between now (Sunday evening) and when this post goes live, what are the chances something else awful has happened? Pretty high, I would say. 

But as of this writing, it's all #ICEoutforGOOD happening. Because ICE murdered a woman for the whole world to see. And people are defending them! 

Of course, they've been murdering people all along. It's just not getting out into the wider news apparatus. And they're hiding it better in those concentration camps. If you don't realize that atrocities are happening there, you're not paying attention. 

Where to begin? What to write about? I've been bookmarking things on Bluesky. Let's see what I collected:

• The Psychiatrist Who Warned Us That Donald Trump Would Unleash Violence Was Absolutely Right
• Experts Warn U.S. in Early Stages of Genocide Against Trans Americans: Genocide scholars say policies targeting transgender Americans match early warning signs of mass atrocity.
• ICE custody deaths
• A great place to find your organizing home
• Want to Stop ICE? Go After Its Corporate Collaborators
• At least four videos show what really happened when ICE shot a woman in Minneapolis on Wednesday. DHS has established itself as an agency that cannot be trusted to live in or present reality.
• You Have What Trump and Musk Want: And you have the power not to give it to them.

But the main thing I was noticing this past week was how to help. And there was a whole thread of where to help locally. The national apparatus isn't doing anything. They've all surrendered in advance. It's the local level that's putting up the fight. 

They don't have capacity to terrorize more than 2-3 cities at a time. Which means they rotate teams to new cities without relief. Which means consistent resistance by fresh activists in each new city will break them over time. Which means if you're city's not occupied, rest up and get ready.

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— borderless (@borderless.bsky.social) January 8, 2026 at 2:17 PM

(Link to the NY Times article, but it's behind a paywall, so unless you subscribe, you won't be able to access it.) 

And finally, some videos:

Continuing Sleeve One

I'm about an inch away from binding off sleeve one:

The plan is to then do sleeve two, and then add the ribbing to the bottom of both at the same time. Much as I did with the front and back (albeit without the detour into Kitchener stitch). 

I don't have any subbing jobs booked for this week (as of my writing this Sunday afternoon), so that means I might not work at all, or I could work up to all five days. The fewer days I work, the more likely I'll get more sleeve done. I'll keep you posted. 

Sweater Tracking:

• 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

Out of Class

The Friday before winter break. (I saved my subbing stories for when I was back at work.) It was a minimum day. Finals had been Tuesday and Wednesday, so the classes were pretty empty, and I was not surprised. 

Second period. Grant asks if he can go to another class. Any other day, my answer would be no. But this day? 

"Let me call the teacher and see if it's okay."

So, I called Ms. B's room. (I did a long term in Ms. B's class a few years back.) Mr. J answered the phone. (I did a long term for Mr. J a year and a half ago.) Because Ms. B wasn't there, Grant couldn't go to the class. No big deal.

After second period was snack. I headed for the restroom. On the way there, I ran into Ms. B.

I told her a student had wanted to come to her class second period. 

"Was it Grant?"

She got it in one.

She told me he had had her last year, and he liked to visit. (Ms. B had been at an event for one of her children, so she had not been on campus.) 

So, if Grant had gone, he would have returned anyway. 

He found something else to do for the class. (They had an assignment, but as Ms. C was out of the country, her grades for the semester were already turned in, so the assignment wasn't going to count, anyway.) 

Disappeared

Thursday before winter break. (I saved all my subbing stories for when school was back in session.) Seventh period business math. 

The last two days before winter break I caught a math class. Although, it doesn't really matter what the class was as the finals had been Tuesday and Wednesday, and with the grades due Friday, Ms. C had to have submitted them before she left. Which meant the class would have nothing to do (that counted). 

But Ms. C left them a math worksheet (word problems relating to Buddy the Elf from Elf). 

Not that they were really doing it. 

We'd been in class maybe fifteen minutes when Harley asked to use the restroom. As she sped from the room, the rest of the class erupted in complaints. 

"She's gone." 

"Don't let her go." 

"She won't be back." 

"She's on the escort list." 

(She was not on the escort list. I checked.) 

Unfortunately, I had already said okay, and there was no warning in the lesson plans to not let her go. If it had been any other day, I would have been more upset, but considering the timing...

About five minutes later, Prescott asked for a restroom pass. I told him he had to wait (I have a one-at-a-time policy as do most subs and teachers). He was certain Harley wouldn't be back, so I let him go. 

Mistake. 

Anyway, Harley did return. Fifteen minutes later. So, yeah, it was a while. I did my usual, "Where ya been...?" that I ask students who take forever out of class. She said she had gone to the office for reasons. (I wish they would just ask to go to the office. I don't generally say no.) 

Harley then asked to leave class again. This time she "needed water". The office people gave her a burrito, so now she was thirsty. Um, no. One outing per class period. (And besides, it was a minimum day. We had maybe twenty minutes left of class.) She was not happy with me. (She complained of dehydration, as the students always do when they insist they need to get water.) 

Remember Prescott? Yeah, he was still not back from his restroom pass. He who had been whining about how long Harley would take. 

As the end of the period approached, I collected back their papers and made sure they returned computers. The bell rang. And that is when Prescott finally returned to class. (He had left his backpack behind.) 

Deep sigh. 

He who howled the loudest? He was out of class for forty minutes. (It would have probably been longer if it had been a regular schedule day.) 

When they take forever to the restroom, I do note it for the teacher. Those who are in the habit of disappearing to the restroom get placed on the escort list. That is, if they need the restroom, they must have security escort them. 

Not His Own Work

Monday. Continuation high school. Math, fourth period. 

(This was the Monday before winter break. I saved all my subbing stories for when I was back at work.) 

The students had work online. It's a program called IXL. I'm familiar with it as all the schools in the district use it. 

When a student answers a problem, the program immediately tells them if they got it correct or not. If they got it correct, they move on to harder problems. If they didn't, the program shows them how to solve the problem, and then gives them a similar one to solve. 

The goal is to get to 100. It can take twenty problems or it can take forty problems, depending on if the student is getting the problems correct. (If it's taking much more than twenty problems, it's time for the student to ask for help.) 

So, when I walk the room while the kiddos are on IXL, I know what to look at on their screen to make sure they're on track. Twelve problems with a score of 72? They're right where they should be. Twenty-two problems and a score of 31? It's time for me to gently ask if they need some help. 

Jasper was on his phone. I reminded him that phones weren't to be used in class. When it looked like he was back on his phone, I stood over him again. I urged him to get on task. Then when he did...

He wasn't solving the problems. He took a screenshot. Then he uploaded that screenshot into Google's Gemini. And Gemini solved the problem for him. He took that answer and input it into IXL...

Yeah, that's not how that's supposed to work. 

I asked Jasper if he didn't understand how to do the work. He said he did. (Doubtful, but okay...) So, then I explained that he needed to do his own work, not use AI to do the work for him. This was cheating. 

He didn't see my point. He explained that he didn't want to take the time to solve the problems. He knew how to do it, but he needed to do it quickly. When I pointed out that Mr. F wouldn't appreciate him doing it this way, he replied that Mr. F would be okay with it as Mr. F knew he needed the credits. 

Uh huh. Sure. 

(I've had similar discussions with students in the past. They're singing a different tune after their teacher hears they didn't do their own work.) 

Mr. F is a very gentle teacher, but he's also very strict. I imagine Jasper is not going to like having to explain how he did his work to Mr. F. 

(Mr. F is also an author. Here's a link to his Amazon page.)

Good News?

For my first screaming into the void current event post of the new year, let's have some good news...

Trump says he’s dropping push for National Guard in Chicago, LA and Portland, Oregon, for now. I mean, he's threatening to come back "when it's needed", of course. And this is only happening because the courts have been pushing back. It never should have come to this, but I guess people needed to see the authoritarian overreach before they really got it. But I'm going to be happy for this win anyway. 

Stephen Miller Is The New Republic’s 2025 Scoundrel of the Year. The next lines of this article are great: "He was counting on a nation of haters. He was wrong." I'm proud of us for that. Enough of us have pushed back that he was unable to fulfill his goals. Now, that's not to say that he hasn't done a lot of real damage, but it would have been so much worse if we did not fight back. And we need to continue to do so until he's being tried for his crimes. 

And finally, We Are Going to Win. I mean, I hope so. The bit under the headline, "Trump's revolution will fail, but we still have a long and painful road ahead of us," rings the most true. I look forward to getting past this era, but it's going to be a lot to clean all of this up and make sure it never happens again. 

Any other good news? Please link in the comments. 

Sleeve Progress and Falling in the Mud

Sleeve progress:

It's hard to tell by itself, so let's compare it to the sweater front:

Decent progress. But I think you can see why it didn't get done in time for Christmas. I still have a second one to make, plus assemble the thing, and then knit on a collar. 

I wanted to get more done during my time off from school, but then I fell... Well, it wasn't a big one, but I'll explain. 

Sweater Tracking:

• 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

Falling in the Mud

New Year's Eve. It was raining. As I do pretty much every day, I took the dog out for a walk. The rain had let up a bit, so I figured it was a good window. 

Buttercup did her usual sniffing around, and she finally did her business a bit too close to the water. 

The scene of the incident

I went to pick it up when the mud underneath my feet gave way, and I landed on my butt and slid, heading straight for the water. Luckily, I managed to only land my left foot in, my right remaining in the mud. 

One shoe (the left) floated away. (I was wearing slides, because of course.) I removed my right shoe and tried to get some traction to get me up, but no dice. I slid more. And, of course, no one was around, so it was up to me to get up and get home.

(Buttercup hovered on the sidewalk, waiting.) 

I flipped over onto my belly, and attempted to find a way to inch up the bank. 

This is pretty much head on from where I was

I reached for those rocks. I didn't have enough to pull, so I wrapped my arms around that tree. From there, I was able to pull myself up to where I could crawl to the sidewalk and stand. 

I was barefoot and covered in mud. I looked back to see my right shoe had now also fallen into the water and was floating away in the other direction. 

I picked up the leash, and I took Buttercup home. We weren't far. I went in through the garage, and stripped out of my mud-caked pants. I went in search of my grabber/reacher stick, and once I found that, I went back out to retrieve my shoes. (I had put on another pair of pants first, though.) 

They were too far for me to reach, but a neighbor happened by, and he was able to get both shoes out of the water. 

So, no visible injuries. I'm only sore, mostly from the exertion of trying to get myself up. The mud came off my clothes in the wash and off my body in the shower. 

I just knew I was due for another fall. At least this one was minor in comparison to my previous. 

2025 Year in Review Quiz

2026 has started, but you haven't forgotten 2025 yet, have you? (I know we want to memory hole the year as quickly as possible...) 

How Well Do You Remember the Year 2025?

I got 13 out of 18. Not terrible, but not great. In my defense, I do not pay attention to soccer, and some of these pop cultural events totally passed me by. 

Warning, this is a bit U.S. based, so my non-U.S. readers might want to skip this. Let me know how you did in the comments. 

Promote Yourself

Happy New Year. 

Today is normally Thursday 13, but I posted it yesterday (as I wanted to do my 2025 in 13 posts in 2025), which leaves me with nothing for today. 

But a couple weeks ago my brother sent me a text. It seems that eldest nephew has started a Band Camp page. And I thought, why not link to a few things I wouldn't normally have a need to mention on the blog? 

So, first, eldest nephew's Band Camp. Don't let the photo fool you. He's actually 20. He did drumline in high school, and now he's making music on the computer. Take a listen. I'm sure he'd appreciate any support. 

Next, my sister-in-law started a podcast called Raven's Lore Cast. The previous link is the podcast on Spotify, and this one is the Facebook page. 

My brother, who has been kind enough to edit my little yarn-y YouTube videos, has made a couple of his own. (Well, besides the actual work he does, as he does actually work in television.) The Night of Zach. And The Night of Zach 2. 

I have mentioned my uncle's YouTube channel before, but as long as I'm doing this, I'm going to mention it again. He does animations that he posts every couple of weeks. 

And then, of course, my YouTube channel, where I make things out of yarn. I have a plan to knit slippers next, but I have not even started this yet. 

What sorts of things do you have out there on the internet? Post links in the comments. Promote yourself, too.