From the Garden

I finally got to go back to the continuation high school. (And now I'm sort of shadow banned, but that's a whole different blog post.) 

Wednesday. English. 

As it was Wednesday, it was gardening day. Unlike the last time I pulled this gig, this time we actually could work in the garden. 

There was a "garden ranger" who ran the class. She did a short lecture on natural versus chemically derived ingredients, had them make some tea, and had them do some planting and pruning. 

(At various points she videoed the kiddos. Apparently, there's a program to bring gardening into schools. Here's their Instagram. And here's one of the videos she shot that day.) 

Fourth period. She had brought in some mint plants, and the earlier periods had found a spot to plant them and weeded the area. Fourth period got to plant them. She had them lay out the plants in a sort of grid. 

Seth took his shovel, and he stuck it where he wanted it. He jumped on the shovel, pounding it into the ground. He methodically did this three more times, and very quickly created a hole large enough to put the mint plant in. Clearly he had done this sort of thing before.

Seth explained that his grandmother had an award winning garden. It looked like he had assisted her. 

After they had planted about half the plants, Seth invited me to plant one.

Well, didn't want to, really. So, I gave some excuses. My hand hurt. I didn't have the strength. Etcetera. 

Seth? Yeah, he called me out on that. Shot down my arguments. And fair, really. 

I'm usually the one making the kiddos do things they don't want to. This period I had two students who were unwilling to "get dirty" (there are sinks; they can wash their hands after), and I was urging them to work. So, I'm not doing it? I knew I had to. 

So, I did. Slowly. And badly. But I managed to dig a hole with Seth's guidance. And he put the mint in the ground. 

I got a bit of sun that day. And many of the kiddos did kind of enjoy it. It looks like it's a great program.

The Stench

Tuesday. Seventh grade English. Sixth period.

The day had gone pretty well. But the instructional assistant warned me of one kiddo in period six. His seat was separate from the class for reasons. Okay, then. 

As I was getting the class going, the IA reminded Enzo of where his seat was. In the back, next to the door. I recognized Enzo; he had been in the art class (well, likely still is). 

The class settled into the assignment. They were reading something and answering questions. But laughter floated from Enzo's corner of the room. The table near to Enzo was enjoying Enzo's antics. Deep sigh. 

But then, that section of the room erupted in exclamations of horror. Enzo had farted, and they did not like the smell. I did the only thing I could. I ignored this. 

Enzo asked to use the restroom. 

Later, when the class had calmed down, and the table near Enzo seemed to be working, Enzo asked if he could go outside. 

My initial answer: no. But then I considered.

So, I went over to Enzo and asked him why. Yeah, he needed to fart again. 

Yes, please, take that nonsense outside. 

Enzo got no work done. If he had spent half the energy doing the assignment that he spent avoiding the assignment, he would have been done. But no. 

Alas, some of them never learn that particular lesson. 

At least we didn't have a repeat of the stench from earlier in the period. 

Ugh

I saw this video on Saturday (yesterday as I write this), and it's kind of where I'm at right now. I'm Gen X (not a Millennial), but I can relate. (Link to video.)

So, this week I just want to be, you know? What's something you find joy in? Let us all find a little joy this week while the world does what it's doing around us. 

Not the Project I Should Be Working On

So, after finishing the knitting of the sweater I today have a fully finished sweater to show you? Of course not. I didn't touch the sweater all week. 

(I had a rough week last week. Even so, I could have pulled out the sweater and started the seaming process, but no.) 

But when I go and visit my father on Saturdays, I bring along a project to have something to do with my hands. And seaming that sweater was not a bring-along project. Time to find something new...

Do you remember the beanie I knit for middle nephew for Christmas? 

After my father modeled the thing, I offered to knit him one. When I had time. Well, now I have time.

I haven't gotten very far: 

I decided to flip the colors, so the purple will be the mesh thing on top. I was kind of curious how that will play out. 

I will not, however, tell you how long it took to find those size 6 needles that I needed to start the ribbing with. It turned out they were actually in the first bag I looked in, only in a front pocket because they weren't in use. I only checked that front pocket after tearing apart every other place those needles could be, at 11 o'clock at night, so I'd have something to work on the next day.

Sigh.

Of course, I'm going to need the size 8 needles for the collar of the sweater as well as the two-color portion of the beanie, so we'll see if that gets me working on the sweater, or if this beanie gets finished rather quickly. 

Teacher Fail

Friday. First period. Learning center. 

I got a call from the other learning center. Would it be okay if they sent someone over for me to assist? Um, sure... 

The student had homework to complete. Integrated math three (read: algebra 2/junior math). The problems: logarithms. 

Uh oh... 

Okay, so I've had all the math. I took three semesters of calculus in college. I even took senior level math classes in applied analysis. You can throw most math topics at me, and I have at least a basic working knowledge of it.

But not logarithms. 

They didn't bother with logs in my high school. (I think that's pretty much what all the schools did at the time.) We did natural logs and the e function, but that's as far as it went. 

But, pretty decent working knowledge of math, so I can fake it pretty well. Where were the student's notes? Uh, yeah, no notes. 

Deep sigh. 

Third period, IM3. Ms. B went over their homework, the homework I couldn't help the kiddo with. And, after her brief explanation... 

Yeah, if only I had had third period before first period. Because after seeing the example, yeah, I totally could have done those problems. 

Because if the kiddo had had the notes so I could transform the problems, I knew how to solve once the logarithm was handled. 

The one topic I couldn't help with. Naturally. Sigh. 

Out-of-Date Seating Chart

Tuesday. Fourth period integrated math two (read: geometry/sophomore math). 

I was in for Ms. L all week, and I was expecting to find Mr. J. Instead, I found Mr. H. Oh, a two sub day... 

Mr. H has been a sub about as long as I have. (We even went to college together, although we didn't know each other then. Big school.) So, we greeted each other, and I found Ms. L's desk and sat down. 

As Mr. H was covering the general ed teacher, he went about taking roll. Mr. J had left his seating chart, and Mr. H was going about verifying who was there and who wasn't. Only, the kiddos weren't precisely in their assigned seats. 

When I covered for Mr. J when he was out on paternity leave two years ago, I learned that his seating chart was more of a suggestion. The kiddos could sit where they liked as long as they were on task, and some of them drifted to other parts of the room. Mr. J tried to keep his seating chart up-to-date, but it wasn't a priority. (This is true for many teachers.) 

Mr. H asked the kiddos who were out of their "assigned" seats to return to them. The kiddos were not pleased. 

One kiddo loudly complained to me. Others in the class came to his defense. I asked him to sit there just for the day. 

"You think I'm lying about my seat," he complained. 

I assured him that I did not. I knew how things worked in that class. But, I also knew that undermining the other sub in the room never helped things, and it was just for one day. 

Reluctantly, the kiddo remained in the seat, but I could see him stewing. 

The next day I ran into Mr. J. He apologized for also being out. (These things happen. I wasn't concerned.) I told him about the seating issue. 

And... Mr. J had warned the kiddos early on that if they drifted, they might be asked to return to their old seats by any subs who covered the class. It was the risk they took. 

Kiddos can be creatures of habit. They don't like being moved. 

(I did tell Mr. H about the seating chart's inaccuracies between classes so he wouldn't run into that issue again the next class. Or he would know if he chose to enforce the seating chart. 

Kiddos will lie about their assigned seats, and they'll sit someplace they shouldn't--like next to someone who will distract them. Or, they'll sit someplace where they can pester someone they shouldn't. So we subs generally make them sit where the seating chart says, because it will save us from other issues later on. It's one of those things that sometimes need to be enforced and sometimes don't.)

Missed Lesson Plans

Last week I caught a four-day assignment for Ms. L, who I worked with two years ago when Mr. J was on his paternity leave. I knew who she co-taught with, and I had a vague idea of her schedule. So, when I arrived at school on Tuesday, I headed directly for the learning center. 

The class was "study skills" which is code for study hall. As it was the first day back after a four-day weekend, I was not surprised when the kiddos didn't have anything to work on. 

I hovered a little, but I pretty much left them to it. It wasn't like they kept track of what they did or anything... 

Um, well... 

Every teacher has a "home base". For most teachers, that's their classroom. They keep all their stuff in there. For the special ed co-teachers there are desks that are in the two learning centers. Ms. L's desk is in the other learning center. (I thought it odd she taught classes in the learning center where her desk wasn't, but scheduling issues.) 

Ms. L's desk is in the learning center next door to Mr. J's classroom. So, on my way to that period, I breezed by, just to make sure she had left no lesson plans on her desk (as she hadn't the last time I covered her classes). Alas... 

Yeah, Ms. L had left lesson plans. And I had been supposed to give the first class a paper to note what they got accomplished in class. 

Oops. 

Well, I wasn't going to make that mistake again, and I did have three more days of the class. 

In my defense, the special ed co-teachers don't usually leave lesson plans. We're just assisting the general ed teachers in the classes we go to. And her desk was on the other side of campus. 

(I'm exaggerating. A bit. It was out of the way, but it wasn't a terrible distance.) 

At least I took roll.