Six More Minutes

Thursday. French. 

The way the lesson plans were written, it sounded like the teacher had been having issues with the class. So, I made sure to watch them carefully and try to keep them on task. 

It wasn't quite the end of the period, and they started packing up... 

Me: "You've still got, like, six minutes left of class."

Them: "Six... seven..."

I walked right into that one.

Just in case you were wondering how "six seven" is going, it's still going. Middle school classes are worse, but the high schoolers are in on the game too, just not as obnoxious about it. 

But something I just realized, as in last Friday... The last two digits of my cell phone number are six and seven. Because, of course. 

(No way am I giving that out to the kiddos, though.) 

The Outrage Machine

Last week, while I had some time in a class where the kiddos were nominally doing their work (they weren't really, but they weren't making a ruckus), I happened upon an article that I want to talk about today. 

The article: "The Conservative Grievance Business Is Always Hiring"

There are people who find ways to make a living about being outraged. And the public falls into the trap of being outraged along with them. The current kerfuffle has to do with a college student who claims she got a failing grade on a paper because she expressed her religious views. 

And... no. 

If you dig a bit deeper, you find that this girl went after a trans teaching assistant and got them fired. Why? Because these people find different people weird, and they have chosen to use their time and energy to chase them from having a life. They want to chase them into the shadows. 

The problem is these people aren't all that smart. If only the media would dig a little deeper, they'd find that out. 

But no. They want to be outraged. They know outrage sells clicks. 

So, let me talk about my outrage. How it sucks that someone can claim bias to get someone fired when they did shoddy work. 

Don't believe me? Here's a link to the assignment: Reaction Paper Requirements.

Then read the paper. (If those links don't work, I got them from this article via Yahoo.) 

It reads to me like someone knew the paper was due at 11:59 PM and started writing it at maybe 11 PM (maybe 11:30). And, in stream-of-consciousness fashion, they wrote down what they were thinking, getting angrier and angrier at having to do the assignment. 

There are no cogent arguments. There is no textual evidence. There's no intro paragraph or concluding paragraph. No hook. Not really a beginning. 

If I were grading this... Well, let's look at the criteria. 

1. Does the paper show a clear tie in to the article? 

No, it does not. She doesn't at any point cite any text. She alludes to the article, but she doesn't paraphrase anything from it. She doesn't even cite the title or author of the article. (The high school English classes are taught how to write a sentence that tags the article they're using. So, it's something she should have known how to do.) 

2. Does the paper present a thoughtful reaction or response to the article, rather than a summary?

Well, she does not summarize the article. Is her reaction thoughtful? Meh. I might have given some points for this, just because she did turn it in and she did react, albeit without providing clear evidence to support her point. Lots of hand waving excuses for why the article was wrong.

3. Is the paper clearly written? 

Not really. She's clear on her viewpoint once she gets going. But the structure is a mess. It could use a good edit. 

The paper was worth 25 points. I wouldn't've given it over 10 points if even that much. I can see why it got a zero. My grade still would have been a fail. (It would need 15 points for a D.) 

But to hear her tell it and to witness the controversy over it, you'd think she wrote a masterpiece that was dismissed because they didn't agree with her viewpoint. 

Did you read the paper? What grade would you give it? 

Whenever I've assigned writing when it's their opinion (not often, because this only happens when I'm on a long term), I never care what their viewpoint is. Just so long as it's argued coherently. I could see giving a paper an A about something I completely disagreed with them about. It'd be irritating, but good writing is good writing. 

Of course, this isn't really about the paper. This is about a girl who doesn't want to think too deeply about gender roles and whether or not what she's believed all her life is right or wrong. And when she got a zero, rather than reflect on what she wrote, she lashed out. 

Sadly, she's not learning what the professor had hoped to teach.

Stupid people follow the authority blindly. And that's what they want. Blind obedience. Not people who think. 

So, keep thinking. Keep questioning. Keep pushing back. They win when we don't pay attention. 

The Tangle

No, I did not touch the sweater last week. It was part dread of attempting Kitchener stitch (and failing), and part just no time to devote the mental energy. 

So, I pulled out the beanie...

I am at the decreases at the top, so it's almost finished. Yay. 

And then I can tackle that skein. 

See that tangle of yarn at the top of the picture? Somehow, while I've been knitting along on the beanie, the skein fell apart. 

And I can't wait until I finally finish this beanie so I can wind that tangle into a ball or something. It's making me a little crazy. 

Soon, now.

And maybe this week I'll get started on the sleeves of the sweater (and bind off the ribbing for the front and back). 

The beanie posts:

• The Next Projects
• Observable, Perhaps
• Well Travelled
• Sidetracked

Bored Runners

It was the Friday before Thanksgiving break, seventh period. (I saved all my subbing stories for when I was back at work.) Cross country.

Cross country is running, long distance. Generally for class time they change into running clothes, and then they go and run a few miles. How many? I'm not sure. But at one point a couple of them were discussing an upcoming 10K and a half marathon. 

But cross country season is over, and the team didn't make the end of season CIF championships. So, they just had to sit in the room for the period with the sub. 

(They asked if I could just dismiss them to go home. I would have loved to have done that, but they're enrolled in the class so they have to be in the class even if they have nothing to do. I explained that if they could get a parent to pick them up early they could leave. Only one student followed through on that.) 

I sat back and watched the room. Several boys got into a group. They had a pad of post its, and they were folding them into triangles. And then one boy tossed it towards the ceiling...

Oh crap! Not this again. 

I have noticed students doing this again. Ceiling darts. They toss these things towards the ceiling, hoping they'll stick. 

Normally I put a stop to this as soon as I see it. But seventh period cross country the day before a vacation, and they didn't have an assignment. Considering that there were worse things they could be doing to entertain themselves, I went a different route. 

I asked. Apparently it's currently popular on TikTok. 

Naturally. 

I told them fine, they just had to not leave the things in the ceiling when class was over. No mess, and it was okay. 

It kept them busy for a while... 

(Yeah, I blanked out any faces you could see. They are minors.) 

They got quite a few up there: 

Some used spin to get them to stick. One boy made a straw contraption out of paper. (I commented on spit balls. They weren't going that route.) I don't think that actually worked at all. 

This only kept their attention for a while. Then they went outside and started racing each other. Sprinting. (Reminder: they usually are long distance runners.) 

They did clean up before the end of the period. No ceiling darts left behind. 

His Girlfriend

The Thursday before Thanksgiving, sixth period. Creative writing. 

(I saved all my subbing stories from before the break until I was at work again.)

The kiddos were supposed to be working on their "capstone" assignment. As it happened, this was NaNo, but only 18,000 words. (Wow, Wikipedia says National Novel Writing Month is no more. Very sad. The end of an era.) 

Mr. C warned me the class could be talkative, but that sort of thing doesn't bother me so long as they get their work done. And so long as they aren't being crazy. If they're just chatting while working, they tend to have the most interesting conversations. 

Somehow, we got on the topic of glasses. 

I make no secret of the fact that my vision is terrible. I've worn contact lenses since I was 14. (The kiddos are weirded out by contacts, so I try to normalize them. I tell the glasses wearers how much easier my life is wearing them rather than wearing glasses.) 

Kinsley complained that she needed glasses, but there was a holdup in getting them. She said she'd finally asked one of her teachers if she could move closer to the board so she could see. The teacher, naturally, wondered why she hadn't spoken up sooner. 

However, the move ended up being a problem. She was seated next to this boy, and now the boy was sure Kinsley was into him. 

She explained that she had befriended the boy, and they texted back and forth. They got along great. But the befriending did have an ulterior motive...

Kinsley was into his girlfriend.

She heard a rumor the girlfriend was bi, and she's hoping if things go south for that relationship, she can swoop in and charm the girlfriend. 

I mean, as long as she isn't actively sabotaging the relationship... 

After that, Kinsley and her friend in class swapped horror stories that they had written a while back. (The other girl said she wrote her story at age 11.) And gave each other feedback. 

And I listened in. It's fascinating to listen to teenagers talk. 

A Reading Lesson

Tuesday of the week before Thanksgiving, I had nothing. (I saved my subbing stories for when I was back at work.) I had the rest of the week booked, but not Tuesday. I just missed catching two assignments during the school day Monday, and as I was leaving school for the day, I was trying to accept that I might not work that Tuesday. 

Then, just as I was pulling out of my parking space, my phone alerted. I grabbed that assignment so fast... 

Tuesday. Senior English. Co-taught. 

Since it was a late(erish) call out, the general ed teacher taught the class as planned. (Even if it had been longer planned, I think Ms. U would have just kept on with the plan for the day anyway.) They were getting ready to start a new book, and they were doing the prelim work for it. 

Me? I sat at the back of the room, unneeded. 

The lesson went off very smoothly. The students were attentive when Ms. U was instructing, and they actually discussed what she asked them to discuss as the period wore on. (I know this as I walked the room then, listening in. I didn't have to prompt them.) 

This is not normally the sort of day that makes the blog. The only reason I'm mentioning it is because of what they were going to be reading...

A comic book. A graphic novel. This one: Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon.

It was fascinating. Ms. U had the class do notes on the superhero genre. What were the expectations? What sorts of stories are usually told in this medium? How does one read a comic book, anyway? 

She used terminology (frame, gutter, etc.). She had them write about what they knew of this type of story. She explained how they were to look at the various panels and how to compare panel sequences. 

I learned a lot. 

I would have loved a lesson like this when I was their age. Graphic novels have come a long way. 

As I was looking up the graphic novel so I could link to it, I found it on YouTube. In case you're interested, this is for the first story in the graphic novel. (It contains five. The class was only going to read the first two or three, time permitting.) 

Ms. U got them started with the first couple pages. She hinted about how they'd also be learning about subverting expectations. 

This Is Racism

A couple weeks back I was doing my (now) usual of railing against how ICE is an evil entity hell-bent on kidnapping people and sending them to horrible places (either concentration camps or to detention centers... well, those are the same thing), and I got a comment that they were after criminals, and... 

I'm going to leave off debating whether or not they're going after criminals (they're not), because what gets to me is what they're doing with these (mostly innocent) people they're taking. No due process. No trial. Just shipping them off to... concentration camps. 

The whole thing is evil. And it bothers me no end. 

It all boils down to white supremacy. That's what this is. They don't want "brown people" here, and that's what this is all about... 

Mark Kelly: "We have a president who doesn't understand the Constitution, who installed an unqualified secretary of defense. I cannot think of a secretary of defense in the history of our country that is less qualified than Pete Hegseth. He should've been fired after Signal-gate."

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— Aaron Rupar (@atrupar.com) November 30, 2025 at 6:31 AM

That's why I love stories like this: How 200 New Yorkers Foiled an ICE Raid Before It Even Began.

And most of this is really not legal: DOJ Says Noem Made Final Decision on El Salvador Removals in Breach of Court Order

If this is about removing criminals, why are so many children getting caught up in it?: ICE Sent 600 Immigrant Kids to Detention in Federal Shelters This Year. It’s a New Record.

They're not going after criminals: College Student Is Deported During Trip Home for Thanksgiving

But it does not matter what I (or anyone else) says. Those who are supporting this regime are enjoying this. They're for the cruelty. And you won't convince me that those who have excuses for this stuff are anything other than on the side of the concentration camps. 

This is destroying the U.S.: America’s Formula for Greatness Is Under Threat