Phantom Cramp

Thursday. Eighth grade English. 

I had covered this about a month ago (and I have covered Ms. R's class many, many times), so I knew what I was in for. I also knew that her co-teacher was going to be out. The night before I made a silly wish. "Wouldn't it be great if Ms. S was subbing for the co-teacher?" 

Guess who ended up subbing for the co-teacher? 

It made for a way easier day. 

Third period. The class had just finished their warm up, and I explained their assignment. They had chosen a story or article the previous week (there were a limited number of choices, but they did get to pick amongst them), and Ms. S and I had passed out the stories to the students. They were to annotate the story they picked, and then they'd have questions to answer about them. 

While they were getting started on the assignment, Russell "fell" out of his chair. He was lying on the ground, not moving, just lying there. 

Ms. S and I conferred. She remarked that Russell should probably be kicked out of class. I concurred. Having known Russell from the art class, I knew that his behavior wasn't going to improve. This was the perfect excuse to send him out. 

Ms. S called another classroom to find him a spot. Russell complained. "But I have a cramp!"

Uh huh. Sure you do. 

Ms. S escorted Russell away. And when she returned, neither of us had to deal with his shenanigans for the rest of the period. Bliss.

Did this scare the rest of the class? Of course not. But at least they mostly read quietly. 

I do not kick students out often enough. There's a part of me that wants to give them one more chance. Maybe they'll actually "be good", which is what they always promise when I go to assign a consequence. The thing is, they never do. They just get worse. 

Rage Bait

Wednesday. Middle school graphic arts. Fourth period. 

"Five times five isn't ten. Are you stupid?" 

Class was getting started. I had explained the lesson (something to do with a honeycomb-shaped outline that they were to fill in with things about themselves), and they were getting out the materials they'd need. I approached the boys. (If you look at the above photo, the boys were sitting at that front corner, Nigel on the end and Nolan along the longer edge.) 

I agreed with Nolan, that five times five didn't equal ten, but I told Nolan that his tone wasn't appropriate. 

At this point the other kiddos (along the other side of the table) informed me that Nolan and Nigel weren't allowed to sit next to each other as they liked to rage bait each other. (Yes, that was the term they used: "rage bait".) So, I told Nolan to move, and he moved to the opposite end of that table.

Did that end the issue? Of course not.

Nolan kept finding reasons that he had to get up. He needed colored pencils. He needed to sharpen a pencil. He needed to throw out trash. He needed to blow his nose.

And every time he got up, he walked by Nigel. And then did something to Nigel. Like, he went to turn off his computer, or he shoved him, or he just said something to him. 

They rage baited each other? It seemed more like Nolan was bullying Nigel. 

I forbade Nolan from getting up. Nolan created a paper airplane and threw it at Nigel. Then he commanded Nigel to open it.

I retrieved the paper airplane and left if for their teacher. (Nigel saw what Nolan wrote. It was a homophobic slur.) 

I was so happy for the end of the period. As they lined up at the door, Nolan took another swipe. 

"Pink isn't a color for boys..."

Ah, this I could refute. I explained how pink used to be considered a more masculine color, and that really, there is no gender with regards to color. 

Nolan took my point, and then he tried for another avenue of attack. 

But that's when the bell rang, and it was no longer my problem. 

Kids at that age can be awful. That the other students knew of this tells me it's an ongoing problem. Why Nolan's so angry... I have no idea.

Time to Buy a Whistle

ICE has invaded North Carolina. Charlotte. Because of course. 

One thing I've seen is people are getting whistles. The idea is if someone sees the kidnappers approach someone, you blow your whistle and get loud. Draw a crowd. Make it hard for the kidnappers to kidnap. The longer each kidnapping takes, the fewer people they can get. 

@tiredderit.bsky.social @jesscraven101.bsky.social

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— Long Beach Indivisible (@indivisiblelb.bsky.social) November 16, 2025 at 4:55 PM

You may notice a theme to the articles I'm linking to: 

A New Kind of Neighborhood Watch: Sonoma County’s ‘Adopt a Corner’ program aims to protect undocumented day laborers from ICE.

What We Can Do About ICE: ICE is in the Bay Area. And yes, we can all do something about it.

It's a game of strategies. Border Patrol takes a new approach, and rapid responders adapt. This time, the responders are backing each other up. The target was in Santa Ana, where Border Patrol focused their attention on the elderly at bus stops, grocery stores, and one with a cane.

Then They Came for the Dreamers: Immigrants brought here as children were told they wouldn’t be deported. Now, they’re being targeted anyway.

I Study Fascism. I’ve Already Fled America.

Then I saw this, and I had to share:

It is dark times. We need to be each other's light.

Almost to the Interesting Part

The instructions for the front of the sweater say knit even for 24.5 inches:

I'm almost there. For the back, I had to knit a bit more...

Why the difference? Neck shaping. In about 3.5 inches I get to start shaping the neck. No armhole shaping as this is a drop shoulder sleeve. 

Things are coming along. The solo image of where I'm at:

I'm getting there. 

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

Glitchy

Friday. Seventh period. Integrated math 1. (Read: algebra 1.) 

The plan was for them to do their study guide for a half hour, then I'd go over those answers, and then they'd take their test. While they were working on their study guide, I texted the teacher with the names of all the students (nine of them!) who were absent. 

No one had any questions about the study guide. So, then it was time to start the test. I collected their work, and they went to get computers. 

The test was online. 

Dr. R wanted the names of those absent so she only had open tests for those students who were in class. (Absent students could access the test from computers at home, but at home we couldn't guarantee the students weren't using notes or their phones or someone else was doing the test for them.) 

Once they got logged in, a student called me over. Her test was paused. It turned out she was on my absent list. (Which, seriously? I called out the roll. Was she not paying attention when I called her name?) So, I texted Dr. R to open her test. 

Whew. Class was quiet. Phones were put away. Things were going well... 

Sterling approached. His test had been paused. He showed me that when he tried to input a plus sign, he instead got a new screen. And because it was a test, the computer only allowed one screen and one tab open while the test was being done. 

I texted Dr. R. Sterling continued working on his test... 

A few minutes later, another problem. Sterling wanted to backspace to fix something he had mistyped, only backspace wasn't working. Deep sigh. 

I had Sterling get another computer. Clearly the one he had was glitching (or he hit something that was disrupting things), and I wasn't going to be able to fix it. So, I had to text Dr. R one more time... 

It was after school when I saw her final response. That she had opened Sterling's test twice. (I got busy with class stuff so I wasn't looking at my phone.) 

I made sure to send along an explanation for what happened. Tech issues. Always gets us. 

This is one reason why the math teachers don't usually give tests while they're out. (Well, those teachers who do the online tests. Some teachers still do tests on paper.) 

Not Seeking Help

Wednesday. Seventh grade English, special ed. 

A couple of the students had to finish their district writing assessment. The rest had a grammar packet to work on. 

I had been warned that the class could be "chatty". Most days that's not a big deal, but the students who still had to finish their writing assessment needed a quiet room. Luckily, I had an instructional aide who knew the kiddos and was able to call them out when they wouldn't settle. 

But seventh graders. 

Mostly the room was calm. But then Dante started talking to his neighbor Garfield. Not loudly, but it was distracting enough. So, I meandered over there. 

I stood between Dante and Garfield. Hovering. Dante looked up at me. And asked me a question. About the assignment. He was stuck. 

Okay, then. That's something I can help with. 

I answered Dante's question. I helped him enough so that he could continue on with the assignment. I went back to the teacher's desk. 

A few minutes later Dante's talking again. Again, I meandered over. And again, it turned out that Dante was stuck. 

By the third time I asked Dante why he didn't just raise his hand to ask for help, rather than turning to his neighbor. (They were not discussing the assignment. The energy of the conversation was playing, not academic.) Dante replied that he thought that if he contemplated the question enough, he could figure it out. 

Well, clearly not. Clearly when he got stuck, he distracted himself with talking to his neighbor. 

This is not unusual. Nowadays, kiddos rarely raise their hands. They rarely ask for help. Unless I'm standing there. If I'm in front of them, they'll take that opportunity to ask a question. But they won't seek me out if they're stuck. They'll stay stuck. 

I'm not sure why this is. But it's something I can work with. 

Catching Assignments

I like to be booked in advance. But last week that did not happen. When I left school on Friday, I had nothing scheduled for Monday or Tuesday. 

Saturday evening, something popped up for Monday. Whew. I wouldn't have to spend Sunday waiting and wondering. 

And then Sunday afternoon that assignment was cancelled. (The teacher sent an email apologizing for cancelling. I assume whatever reason she was going to have to miss school resolved itself.) 😞

I tried to be happy about the prospect for a day off. (There was going to be a little construction in the house, so I wanted to be away from home for that.) I went to bed planning what I would do with my day off. 

Then, at about 5AM-ish, a job popped up. Whew. 

All day Monday I kept my phone and computer open. Hoping for Tuesday. 

(Monday's assignment was an English class. The tenth graders were doing prelim work before reading Animal Farm while the ninth graders were analyzing the poem "Ozymandias".) 

And a couple assignments did pop up. Sadly, they popped up while I was doing my job. 😞

(If I don't grab the assignment when it pops up, it's gone. One of them I saw four minutes after it posted. I tried to grab it. It was gone.) 

Tuesday wasn't going to be a problem being off, though. No work planned in the house. 

But, at about 7:30 PM, something for Tuesday popped up. Whew. And this one didn't get cancelled. Again, whew. 

(AP Economics. The kiddos were prepping for a test. But we had technical difficulties with the computers not letting them get logged in. Well, only about a third of the class.  But seniors. In advanced placement. They weren't a problem.) 

The rest of the week was booked. As is this week. So, after Tuesday I could relax a bit. 

Now, as for next week...