School Year End Stats Post

The last day of school has passed. Last week I finished up the last posts of the school year. And now it's time to reflect on the year that was by tallying up all the classes I covered. (This is a very dry post, so no worries if you want to skip it.) My previous years are linked at the bottom, for comparison. 

There are 180 days in the school year. I worked 161 of them. That's... low... It's down from last year's 173 days and way down from my all-time high of 177 days. But, the district hired more subs so jobs were a bit harder to get, and I had only one long term assignment at the beginning of the school year. It's nowhere near my lowest totals, back when I was a newbie sub. So, meh. It makes it easier to do better next year. 

This total does not include the day I worked summer school at the adult transition center in June nor the three days I worked at the continuation high school in July before the official first day of school. I also worked one day of teacher prep for that vacant art class I started the school year in. 

I worked 84 days at the high school level, 69 days at the middle school level, and 4 at the adult transition center. I only caught one day at the alternative education center, and that will be my last as I heard that they're closing the school. I only worked 3 days at the continuation high school, but I had to stop going there for much of the spring semester for reasons (which I haven't blogged about, but probably will explain eventually). 

10 of those days I covered an extra class while a different 10 of those days I covered a teacher who did not have a prep period. 

I worked both the first day of school and the last. Woo-hoo! (I did a happy dance when I caught a last day of school assignment. It's been a few years since I managed to work both in the same school year.)

Now on to the specifics. But first, some definitions. 

Most teachers do not teach the same class all day. An English teacher might have a period of ninth grade and two periods of eleventh grade. So, when I say "partial day", I mean that I covered at least one or maybe two periods of that subject. When I say "full day", the teacher taught one specific class all day (like biology). An extra period assignment is when I covered a different teacher on the prep period of the teacher I was booked to cover for the day. 

Each subject is listed with three numbers: 5/2/1. The first number is for a "full day". The second number is for a "partial day". And the third number is for an "extra period assignment". 

• My winner (of the core subjects) is, of course, English (like it is almost every year) with 25/11/3. 
• In first place is freshman English at 2/8/0.
• Next is sophomore English at 1/8/1.
• In third place, eighth grade English at 5/2/1.
• Then, following, junior English at 0/7/0.
• And the rest, in no particular order: 
• Seventh grade: 0/5/0
• Senior English: 2/3/0
• English language development: 0/7/0 (which is for students who are learning English. It's generally taught by the same teacher who teaches their core English class, so it's not surprising there's no full day for this.)
• Creative writing: 0/2/0 (which is an English elective. The teachers who teach this only have one period of it.)
• Journalism: 0/1/0 (which is only one period a day. I haven't caught this class in several years.) 
• Yearbook: 0/1/0
• Supervising the writing center: 0/0/1. The writing center is new. It's a place where the kiddos can go if they need help with an essay or such. 
• In second place is math with 6/27/0. Why all the partial days? Many of them were for special ed teachers who also do a period in the learning center. Or there's one math teacher who also teaches computer science (who I did a long-term assignment for two years ago). 
• Winning the math is, of course, IM2 or integrated math 2 (which is sophomore math which was probably geometry when you were in school) at 0/11/0. Which tracks. Mr. J, the teacher I did the long-term for, and his co-teacher Ms. L were the teachers I covered, and neither of them only has IM2 on their schedules.
• Business math (math for juniors or seniors who aren't college bound): 0/8/0. Ms. L co-taught one of those classes, plus I subbed for Ms. C a couple times (who Ms. L co-taught with). 
• IM1 (read: freshman math or algebra 1): 2/5/0
• And the rest are tied:
• Seventh grade math: 0/5/0
• Eighth grade math: 0/5/0
• IM3 (read: algebra 2): 0/5/0
• And finally, statistics: 0/1/0
• In third place, social studies with 12/9/1.
• 10th grade world history: 1/6/1
• 8th grade U.S. history: 0/4/0
• 12th grade government: 2/1/0
• 12th grade economics: 2/1/0
• 11th grade U.S. history: 1/2/0
• 7th grade world history: 1/1/0
• 9th grade geography: 0/1/0
• 11th grade U.S. history, ethnic studies: 0/1/0
• AP African-American studies: 0/1/0
• And rounding out the core subjects: science with 7/4/3.
• 7th grade: 2/1/0
• Chemistry (10th grade): 2/1/0
• 8th grade: 2/0/0
• Biology (9th grade): 0/2/1
• Health (9th grade): 0/1/0
• Earth Science: 0/1/0
• Forensics: 1/0/0
• Environmental science: 0/1/1
• Intro to Health Care Careers: 0/0/1
• Next on the list of subjects is special ed, although this isn't necessarily a subject. These classes overlap with the above. If I covered a co-teacher, I tallied the subject (English/math) as well as here. If I covered a "special day class" (SDC), I tallied the subject and here. This is why these numbers are high: 41/5/1.
• Mostly I was co-teaching: 5/19/2
• Next were the special day classes: 10/7/0
• Then were the mild/moderate or moderate/severe special ed, or the "very" special ed classes: 11/0/1
• Learning center: 0/10/0. This is where the kiddos go when they need a quiet room to take a test in. The special ed teachers supervise the room, generally one period a day.
• Study skills: 0/8/1. Basically this is a study hall for special ed students.
• BEST (behavioral and emotional support teacher): 2/0/0
• My art totals are high due to the vacant class I started the school year in: 30/3/0
• Under the art umbrella are also digital media art: 4/0/0
• Photography: 1/0/0
• Ceramics: 1/0/0
• World languages: 
• Spanish: 6/1/2
• French: 4/0/0
• Mandarin: 1/0/0
• Computers: 4/3/0
• Computer science: 1/2/0
• Graphic art: 1/1/0
• eSports: 2/0/0
• Leadership: 0/4/0. The teachers who cover the student government classes don't cover that all day. They teach other subjects as well. 
• ASB: 0/2/0
• WEBS (middle school leadership): 0/1/0
• Link Crew: 0/1/0
• And then a miscellaneous category for those classes that don't fit anywhere else: 
• CTE (career and technical education): 2/0/0
• AVID: 0/1/0
• Success: 4/9/0
• Woodshop: 4/1/0
• Culinary: 1/0/0
• Credit recovery: 0/8/0
• Drama: 0/1/0
• PE: 0/1/0
• Athletics: 0/2/0
• Film studies: 0/1/0
• Roving: 1/0/0

Whew. Yeah. I get around. 

When people ask me what I teach, I never know how to answer. I substitute. For what? Whatever they need me for. And if the questioner drills down, I still can't give a simple answer. "A bit of everything." Because, yeah. I cover just about everything. If not this year, then last year or next year. 

And here's the stats from previous years:

• 2025
• 2024
• 2023
  
• 2022
• 2021
• 2020
• 2019
• 2018
• 2017
• 2016
• 2015
• 2014
• 2013
• 2012
• 2011
• 2010

Make the Big Things Fail

Did you hear? They're taking his name off the Kennedy Center.

I couldn't find video of it completed (on Sunday), but if you go on YouTube you can find an eleven hour video of the workmen setting up the equipment to get the job done. (I considered putting that video here, but meh. It doesn't get done in the video, so why bother?)

And then one more video:

I hope we hear more about the little acts of resistance that made the big things fail. I'm sure they're out there. 

I wish you a week of little acts of resistance to help make the big things fail. 

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.