Private Tutor

Going into the weekend, I had nothing booked for Monday, so I was glad when something popped up Sunday evening. Then, Monday morning I got a call from the sub desk asking if I could switch from that assignment to the alternative education center. Sure, why not? 

I was told that I would have one seventh grade student. I'm used to going with the flow when it comes to that school, so I figured all would be explained when I got there. 

Basically, this seventh grade boy, Walter, was being isolated from the other students for reasons, so he had his very own teacher. But, that third teacher at the school had taken a new position at a new school, so they were getting various subs to watch Walter. I was sub number five. Although, I was the last sub as they were planning to move Walter back with the other students the next day.

With that kind of build up, you'd think that working with Walter would have been difficult. It wasn't. Of course, my bar is low as there was no throwing of chairs...

We started with science, and I managed to find a plate tectonic simulation, and Walter enjoyed playing with that. (That was where he was in the science textbook.) Then we switched over to math.

Walter knew how to do the math. He finished it very quickly. And then I checked his answers. Um, nope. 

So, I made him slow down, and we did it together. 

At some point, I pointed out that his arithmetic was off. We were adding together two odd numbers, so our answer should be even. 

And that's when I found out Walter didn't know the difference between odd and even. 

It's always interesting to find gaps in a student's knowledge. That was one I wasn't expecting. I took the time to explain. Did Walter grasp it? I have no idea. He rejected the idea that five wasn't an even number for a while. I hope this lesson comes up again to reinforce the concept, but I have no idea if it will. At least Walter accepted that I might know what I was talking about.

After lunch, we rounded out the day with art and reading. For art class, I found a how-to video. This one:

(It was Halloween week. I decided to go with the season.)

Walter wasn't having it. He wanted to trace something easy. I urged him to give it a try. Finally he found a step by step video of something else and did that. 

(It's a middle school thing. They want things perfect. I push for them to allow themselves to make mistakes.)

And then finally, we were at the last hour of the day. He'd been reading The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas and was on the last three chapters. Knowing this was his last day solo, I pushed to finish the book. Walter said he was only reading one chapter a day. 

Eventually, we did get to the finish. I don't know if Walter appreciated this, but at least we finished something in his time in a class solo. 

That's the thing about subbing. Every day is different, and I never know what I may step into. This could have been such a difficult day, but it wasn't, really. I hope Walter is doing well with the other kiddos at the school. One of these days, I might even get a chance to see for myself. 

Last One Out

When I left school on the penultimate day, I assumed I was done for the year. I went to bed that night thinking about how I was going to begin my summer break. But then, at about 10:30 PM, I got an alert.

The assignment was for the alternative education center. The one school that did not have a minimum day. And all the behavior problems from the students. Did I really want to work the last day of school?

I really did want to work the last day of school.

For a while that morning, we wondered if we'd have any students. School started at 8:30 AM. The first student showed up closer to 8:35. And then others trickled in. In all, five students showed up. (Total enrollment is something like seven or eight, so that was pretty good turnout for them.) 

Both of my students for first period were absent, so when second period started, I went in search of my class. Mr. O, the math and science teacher, had all five, and he was showing a movie. So, I joined Mr. T and Mr. O and we watched the end of the movie. (The students were more interested in their phones, which they're normally not allowed to have, but last day and all.)

I should mention that Mr. B hadn't left me any lesson plans, and Mr. T said the teachers had all turned in their grades the previous day. So, the kiddos truly had no work. (One of Mr. B's children was promoting, so of course he wanted to attend the ceremony.) 

I had two students for third period. Jensen and Jensen. Yup, two boys have the same name. Jensen C. I've mentioned many times before. Jensen T. hasn't made the blog before as he's not an issue. Jensen C. objected to me and tried everything he could to not be in my class (because, apparently, I'm "boring"). So, Jensen C. called his mom to come pick him up early. She refused. He called his dad. Apparently he agreed, as Jensen left shortly thereafter.

I had two students in fourth period. I was informed that Ronny would continue to sleep in Mr. O's class. (Ronny is not a nice kid. He uses words as a weapon, and I find it easier to not antagonize him. Just asking him nicely to do something can be met with a cutting remark.) 

The second student needed to ask another teacher a "quick question". After five minutes I went to retrieve him only to find him playing a game (Mysterium) with Mr. T, security, and the other three students. 

Mr. T: "You told me you asked her."

I don't know why he didn't ask me. I would have said yes. 

After lunch, I was supposed to have the majority of the students in class. I went to retrieve them. I learned that Ronny had gone home, so we were down to three students. Two of them were "playing with" the chickens.

(They did a thing where they got fertilized eggs and left them in a warmer. Since their hatching, the students have been "caring for" these chickens.)

As Mr. C (security) was cleaning up the game, Mr. T said that they were going to play Sequence. Did I want to join?

Of course I wanted to join.

Mr. C and Jensen T. were one team. Mr. T and I were the other. Jensen was good. They beat us the first two games. Mr. T and I pulled out the second two. They won the fifth. We won the sixth. 

And that was the end of the day.

At some point during the game, the principal had the other boys help her gather the chickens (there were five) and take them to her car. She was taking them to their new home. Before this, all the instructional aides had left for the day. The school's secretary left for the day. (They left about lunch time.) 

So, at the end of the day, there were three students and three adults left on campus. Mr. C noted that there were three cars in the parking lot.

And we were the only school still in session.

Yup, I was definitely the last sub standing. 

It's officially summer vacation. Next week I'll do my annual stats post. And then it's summer schedule on the blog. Happy summer.

No One Told Me

Tuesday. After doing a transition day with Mr. J, I was back in the day-to-day subbing pool. And my first day back I pulled an assignment at the alternative education center. Because naturally. 

Deep breath.

It was snack time. Apparently, the students had been using the classroom I was in as their snack spot. Security was there to supervise, so I let them be. Keeping these kiddos on an even keel works better when I don't mess up their routine too much. 

Then snack was over. I had one student in the class. He had settled in. The others had moved on to the classes they were supposed to be in. All except Jensen. 

Remember Jensen? No? He was at the AEC school the last time I subbed there, which was a surprise as he had just been at one of the traditional high schools for first semester finals. Although, not really a surprise, as he really had the personality to fit the alternative education center. 

I told Jensen it was time to go to his third period class. He wasn't budging. He argued. He'd rather stay in "my" class. I told him his teacher would miss him. He said someone would come to get him.

Sure enough, not two minutes later, an aide did arrive to shoo him to the class he was supposed to be in.

"What? No one told me it was time for class!"

Yeah, right...

Calmly, I refuted that claim to the aide. She gave me a look that told me she was used to Jensen's shenanigans. 

Then security stopped in to shoo Jensen to class. He again protested this was the first he was hearing of it. 

Deep sigh.

Jensen did then go to his actual scheduled class. But alas, I had him in fourth period...

Ah well. I was expecting something of this sort when I accepted the gig at the AEC. It comes with the territory.

Rainy Day Rules

Thursday. Rain had been predicted for about a week, so it was no surprise when I woke up to lots of water falling out of the sky. I had booked the day in advance at the alternative education center (the school they send the kiddos to when they get kicked out of the other schools for reasons). 

Only four students showed up for school. (I think total enrollment currently is seven.) So, someone decided to modify the schedule. 

(For first period, the English teacher had no students present, so he offered to go out for cronuts.)

I had the math/science class. For first period, I had three of the four present students. So, rather than have one kiddo on his own in history, they sent him to me (for science). Then I kept all four students for second period (for math). And then I was done for the day. 

(The history teacher took the four for third and fourth periods. Then fifth and sixth they had counseling, but they figured rainy day, so they'd just watch a movie.) 

And here I was gearing up for trouble. 

But it ended up being a mellow couple of periods (and a quiet rest of the day). 

This was good, as I've had run-ins with these boys before. Remember Jensen? I last saw him at one of the traditional high schools right before winter break. (He was notable for being very late to class consistently and then not doing any work. He was in the English class I started the school year in.) I was not terribly surprised to see the district had changed his placement. 

And... Do you remember Austin? Chair-thrower Austin? (Check out the link for that story.) He's back...

(I should mention that the chair throwing incident is famous. Or infamous. I cannot tell you how often a student would walk up to me and reference the chair throwing incident last school year. It was a lot.)

The worst I can say about Jensen and Austin on this day? They did no work. (Jensen claimed he completed his online work, but I doubt it.) They entertained themselves by watching videos on the computer. 

I'll take it. 

A Friendly Game

Last Monday I was back at the Alternative Education Center (aka, the school where Austin was throwing chairs). So, I was prepared for the worst. 

And... nothing terrible happened. It was a pretty chill day. So, win.

Fourth period. Health. I had one student. 

Security, who had been hanging out in the room on and off all day, returned and started getting things set up...

The student, Jocelyn, was ready to start the sex ed unit, but a parent conference had to happen first, so until then, they had been passing the time playing Sequence. 

(I was given the option of doing something else, but I'm all for keeping things as they've been going. Besides, I enjoy a good game.) 

I've seen the game on store shelves, but I've never tried it. As he set up, security explained the gist. We play in teams, so he and I were on one team, and Jocelyn and the school counselor, Ms. R, were on the other. Apparently, Jocelyn and Ms. R are formidable opponents. Security was itching to beat them.

The basic premise is to get a row of five checkers, but you can only put checkers down if you have the right card. 

Jocelyn started. By the time it was my turn, I had an idea of what to do. Jocelyn's team got one row, but to win you need two. I focused on blocking, but I built up our rows when I could.

We won game 1. 

Game 2 we lost. 

I wasn't too disappointed. We tried. And now we were even. But we had about twenty minutes left of class, so we had time for game 3. 

Neither team was making much headway. We'd get three in a row, and then the other team would block. 

It was getting close to lunch. Then it was lunch. But we were close. Each team had one row, but we needed a second.

And then I had the opportunity to play my wild card. I had been dealt a wild card at the beginning, but I held it until I could use it. I saw the win, and I took it. 

Yup, I play to win.

I suppose I should have let the student win. Right? Maybe?

I don't know. I mean, she did win one. Of three...

Ah well. They'll know not to let me play next time if they don't want me to really try.

Flushed

Thursday. I was back at the alternative education center (the place where Austin was throwing chairs). 

At the start of the day, every student is checked in. They turn in their cell phones. Security waves a wand over them to check for weapons. They remove their shoes and show they're not smuggling something in. And they turn out their pockets. 

Jaron was sporting a backpack. 

The students don't really bring stuff to school. Mr. T immediately mentioned the backpack. Jaron pulled out a gallon jug of water. As there was nothing else in the backpack, Jaron shoved the empty backpack into his drawer. (The students each have a drawer where their cell phones and other items live until they leave for the day.) 

Jaron explained that he had to drink that full gallon of water that day.

Mr. T understood. "Drug test?"

Jaron confirmed. 

I had Jaron in third period. He had the water with him, The jug was about half empty. 

(They can bring in outside drinks/water so long as they're still factory sealed. Same with food.)

Unsurprisingly, Jaron needed to use the restroom during class. 

Later, security poked his head in the door. He motioned to Jaron. It was time for his drug test. 

I guess the test is quick, as when Jaron returned, he was relieved. He had passed the drug test. 

I wonder. Was it the water that did it? Or, knowing that he had a drug test coming up, did Jaron lay off with enough time to pee clean? I didn't ask. 

Switcheroo

Thursday, and I had taken a gig at the alternative education center. This time I had the math and science classes. The day was going about how I expected with them sort of doing the work. 

Third period. Business math. We were getting started, but things were going sideways. I was getting ready to go over how to do simple interest with them (and probably do the assignment with them) when the door opened and the principal arrived.

Mrs. V shooed the kiddos out of the room. Then she turned to me.

The alternative education center and the adult transition center both share facilities. They are technically different schools with different hours, but they are right next to each other. Mrs. V oversees both.

Ms. J at the adult transition center was throwing up and needed to go home. They had called for another sub, but at this point in the day, they weren't going to get anyone else. 

They needed to switch me to the other school.

Well, one must be flexible when one is a substitute teacher...

So, not quite halfway through my day, I switched campuses entirely. Kind of.

(This is not the first time I had to go to a different campus midday, but it wasn't really a different campus.) 

And my day went considerably easier than it looked like it was going to go at the beginning of third period. I had Sydney and Logan who I had had last school year in Ms. S's class. I knew the other students just from them being around last school year. 

The rest of the day was pretty mellow.

While I felt a bit bad for abandoning Mr. O's class (the class I agreed to), it wasn't like I had chosen to make this switch. It was thrust upon me.

Swapping Names

I am on winter break this week. As is my custom, I will save the stories from last week for when we return to school in January. And so normally I'd be on the "summer schedule". 

But, as luck would have it, on the day of the chair throwing incident, I happened to have written a whole other blog post earlier. Obviously, a student throwing chairs is way more interesting. Rather than deleting this post entirely, I figured it would keep until school was on a break. 

It has been a while since I worked at the alternative education center. The kiddos I knew are now gone, replaced by a whole new batch of students. 

It was the Friday before Thanksgiving break. I had certain expectations going into the day. So, none of what happened truly surprised me.

First period. U.S. History. The students had a chapter to read and questions to answer. I was supposed to read the chapter with them, but immediately upon them entering the classroom, I knew that that wasn't going to happen. They were shouting out insults at each other, and I wish they had been just using F-bombs. The terminology they used was much ruder.

And then a couple of the boys were playing sounds out of their computer. It started with the Taco Bell bong, but it was soon audio clips of people speaking. Over and over a woman said something about her chest. There was some swearing as well. 

I was irritated. 

It didn't take long for me to figure out who was playing the audio clips. The boy who was doing it said his name was Ubaldo. His "friend" nearby was Verne. ("What kind of name is Verne, anyway?" he asked.) 

For other reasons, I went and looked over his shoulder. I was checking out the questions he was supposed to be answering.

In Google Classroom, the assignments posted automatically attach the student's name. So, I glanced at the title for the doc the boy was on, and it said his name. Verne. 

Yup, he was trying to confuse me by swapping names with his classmates. 

This is a very old trick. And, as I've noticed many times, they are very bad at it.

The next time Verne played an audio clip and I growled at him, he made some comment about himself being Ubaldo. 

Me: "Uh huh, okay, Verne." 

And then he knew. He had failed at getting me to believe he had a different name. 

I doubt that he really cares what I wrote in the note to his teacher. And I'm pretty sure Mr. T will not be surprised at what he got up to during class. But it's a little win for me, anyway.

Reprieve

"Did you ever find out who was throwing the chairs?"

After the last time, you would think that I would avoid the alternative education center, right? Nope. I'm stupid that way. 

Someone said the above behind me as I was letting myself into the classroom at the start of first period. I did not see who asked it, but I suspect it was Austin. 

On this day I was covering the English class. (I covered this class before. A couple times. The current teacher of the class is Mr. B. Mrs. B was the teacher of the success seminar class that I covered for a month in October. Yes, they're married to each other.)

First and second periods went pretty smoothly. But I was dreading third as that's when Austin had the class. 

Before third period is snack. The students sit outside and eat. There are basketball hoops, so some will occupy themselves that way.

Some of them get into fights.

At the high school level, the kiddos mock fight all the time. They start slapping at each other, or they throw punches that look kind of real. We've learned to ignore that. 

So, when two boys started throwing punches, it was a couple seconds before anyone realized this was an actual fight. (The rest of the boys helpfully didn't start chanting, "Fight, fight!" which usually lets us know right away an actual fight is happening.) 

Security jumped right in. He pulled one boy away. Mr. T distracted the other boy, immediately taking him to the office. 

And that was about the time to start third period, so the other students got shooed into class.

I got class started and took roll. Guess who I did not have to deal with as he instigated the fight and was now in the office? Yup, I was spared another go-around with Austin. Yay!

The other boy returned to class about halfway through. 

The other students were happy Austin wasn't in class. He annoys them, too. 

They informed me that Austin hadn't been in school since I was last there. Apparently, he had been suspended. (I checked the online attendance. He had been suspended, and then he took about a week "off" as those days he was marked truant.) 

And it looks like he was suspended again. Although, as I'm not scheduled to be there, I won't know the difference.

I had reasonable classes the rest of the day, too. What a difference one student makes.

Watch Out

The Friday before the Thanksgiving break, I agreed to cover a class at the alternative education center. It has been a long while since I was there last, things had only started opening up again after the virtual learning of the 2020-21 school year. 

But now things are back to somewhat normal, so I was expecting a challenging day. 

The alternative education center is where they send kiddos who have been expelled from other schools. At the beginning of the day, they "check in". This includes them getting wanded for miscellaneous metals and them taking off their shoes to show that they aren't hiding anything in them. 

Pretty much every student has a probation officer. 

Fifth period. It was "elective". They usually watch a movie, but for the day before Thanksgiving break, I put on a documentary I found on YouTube about Thanksgiving traditions. (The lesson plan said to find a documentary on YouTube.) 

The class wasn't into it, so they were entertaining themselves on their Chromebooks. I figured this was fine.

But Austin was bored. (No, not that Austin. And not that Austin, either. I'm not having good luck with the name Austin this year.) 

First he tried to change the video, but of course he chose something not appropriate for school. Then he decided that he'd rather draw on the smartboard, and he attempted to block me from changing the display back to the video. 

I got my way. Austin gave up and headed to the back of the room. I fiddled with the TV to get something appropriate playing.

That's when the first chair went flying. 

Earlier in the day a couple chairs had fallen over, plus a desk. I didn't think too much of this, earlier or then. When the second stool went flying, that's when I knew I had a problem.

But I didn't call the office until the third stool hit the ground. 

Was Austin throwing furniture at me? He waited until my back was turned, so I didn't see him do it. 

I don't know what they were expecting, but when I dialed the phone, every student was whispering. "She's calling the office." 

Shortly thereafter, the principal arrived. She removed Austin from class. And things got way calmer after that. (Austin heckled her, and he had already angered her earlier in the day, so he kind of selected himself for removal.) 

And you know what? No more furniture got hurled. So, win. 

(The chairs fell to positions nowhere near me, so I didn't feel like I was in any danger.) 

With fifth period finished, I was done for the day. (I do love a sixth period conference. I get to leave early.) 

I went to check out. Austin was stuck in the office. 

"Did I hit you?" He actually sounded a little apologetic. 

"No, you missed me." 

Austin: "It wasn't me throwing the chairs..." 

As he wound up for more denials, the principal barked out that Austin needed to be quiet. 

And I went home. 

Unsuccessful Ditch

Last Tuesday was our first day back after the winter break. And Tuesday is one of our off-campus days. The class decided we'd go to the mall (as that's where the Burger King is), and we got ready to head out. 

Before we leave campus, we have to sign out. While one of the students does this, the rest of us wait around by the gate. 

On this day, we were heading out while the alternative education center was on their morning break. 

The adult transition center and alternative education center are separated by a locked gate, but they share a main office. So, while we were waiting, we were on the same campus as the alternative students. That is, the students who were expelled from the other schools in the district, usually for behavior. 

This is not unusual. Pizza will talk to them sometimes.

On this day, however, Yorik was hovering around the gate. 

And I just knew... 

All signed out, we headed out. One of the aides unlocked the gate, and our students walked off campus.

Surprisingly, Yorik was nowhere near us. I thought perhaps I was borrowing trouble.

I was the last one out. I locked the gate behind me. 

Yorik came up to the gate. He waved for attention. I gave him mine. He asked for the attention of one of the aides. She turned around.

"I need to go for a walk," he told her.

She explained that we were going to the mall. He was fine with that. He wanted to go along.

Nope. He just wanted someone to let him out. And the aide wasn't even tempted to unlock the gate for him.

I was expecting him to be way sneakier than he was. I thought he was going to be in the group as we left. While there are only nine students in my class, he would be far more likely to be successful if he had tried that.

But I'm not about to volunteer that information.

Kiddos are not smart. Such deviousness really does not occur to them most of the time. So, as the adult in the situation, I just have to not let slip all of the ways I know they could exploit the situation. 

Finding Coverage

Because last week was a holiday week, I pushed the stories from the week before to this week. 

I think I've mentioned the sub situation, which is to say that subs are in high demand. 

I'm firmly entrenched in this long-term gig at the adult transition center. So, I haven't seen what's going on in the other schools. But going by what's been going on where I'm at, I think things are pretty dire. 

First, a brief explanation. The adult transition center has four teachers. It is on the same campus (separated by locked gates) as the alternative education center (which is the school I was at this past summer, the one with the students with behavior problems). The alternative education center has three teachers. 

And the whole school is next door to an elementary school. 

The week before Thanksgiving break, at least one other teacher was out each day. (Illness. Bereavement.) And while the teacher who was out for three days (and had put in an absence request early) got a sub, the other two teachers (who had called out the morning of the day) didn't. 

What to do? Now they're pulling a teacher from the alternative education center to cover a class at the adult transition center. Yes, a teacher who already has a class with students in it is pulled from his class to cover another class. 

And they've done this more than once. 

I don't know how they're covering the class he's leaving, though. They might just be period subbing, where he's working on his prep period. (The teachers do get paid for the extra work.) As I wasn't watching all day, they may have switched out teachers when I wasn't looking. 

But yeah, the district is way short on subs. At least I have job security at the moment...

Rollin'

Yorik has been consistently late, especially for the last week. This is notable as while the school starts at 8:30 AM, we'll wait a few minutes to make sure everyone arrives. We've been starting at 8:40, 8:45, 8:50. So, Yorik has been later than that. 

On Tuesday he was clearly altered. 

Yorik was giggly and distracted. He would ask me a question and then talk over me when I attempted to answer. He'd put his head on his desk. He'd go from one thought to the next, and trying to keep him on task was a losing proposition. 

Yorik was high.

Although, Mr. T wasn't so sure. He said he'd seen Yorik like this in the past. And when his mother was called, she said that he had had a waffle for breakfast. (Yorik is diabetic.) 

Then, on Friday, Yorik showed up to school in a similar state. 

As his grade was in the 20% range, I decided to do some of Yorik's assignments with him. 

Have you ever attempted to get a high person to focus on schoolwork? It was not fun. It was a constant battle to refocus him along with his humming and talking over me while I tried to guide him to answers.

(And trying to get him to keep his mask on... High and masks do not mix.)

Oh, and he knew where the key could be found, so he kept trying to get me to open that so he could see it. When I ignored him, he pressed harder. Even when I told him I wasn't going to do it, he persisted. 

We did not get very much work done. Unsurprisingly. 

The Comeback

Second period English. Tenth grade (although the boys in the class are officially in twelfth grade). It's summer session, so they're making up credits they're missing. 

It was day seventeen of the eighteen-day summer session. We had been reading The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy and doing assignments that went along with the reading. I had been doing a daily edit activity where I give them two sentences with errors that we'd correct together. And they had a daily writing assignment (three to five sentences on a topic I provided). 

They had work. They had largely ignored it.

So, on day seventeen I gave them a peek at their grades. I had done this a couple times before, but it wasn't making an impact. But on this day, their forty-ish percents finally made an impression on them. On day seventeen, both Vincent and Brandon got to work. 

They were missing several of their daily journal topics. They completed them. Various online assignments got done. And I barely kept up with the grading as one after another after another assignment was turned in.

By the end of the period, Vincent was in C territory, and Brandon had just gotten into the Ds. Brandon even did some work that evening, and by Friday he had pulled his grade up to a C. 

I'll take it. (I did tell them at the beginning that I accepted all late work.) I had been worried that I would be giving out only Fs, and I did not want to do that.

Fight the System

Wednesday. Fourth period. It was just Brandon and me. 

As Brandon had finished the book on Nat Turner and no new book was forthcoming, I decided the only way to get him to do his work was to do it with him.

Halfway through the period, Ronan stormed in. 

I mentioned Ronan a lot last school year. He's still on campus, but he doesn't need English credits (he's current on them). 

Ronan was in PE. The campus is small, so PE was right outside the door. But Ronan had a project going, and Brandon needed to do his part. 

If you recall from week one, the students weren't allowed to get their phones back for the walking field trip. The principal had them write paragraphs with reasons as to why they should be allowed to have them for weeks two and three. 

As they explained it to me, Ronan and Brandon had plotted about getting their phones for lunchtime. They were going to write paragraphs about why they should be allowed to have them, and every student on campus had to contribute. But Brandon hadn't written his.

I gave Brandon paper. Ronan found a pencil. And we stopped working on Brandon's assignment so Brandon could complete his paragraph. 

I could have fought this, but I chose not to. Might as well let them have their fun. 

Are they going to get their phones at lunch? I highly doubt it. It would be too much trouble to distribute them just to get them back a half hour later. 

But that they were being proactive and trying to fight the system was something I could get behind. And writing is definitely good practice.

Brandon only took about five minutes to write his paragraph, and then we got back to the assignment at hand. 

Ronan went to talk to the principal, but she was busy in meetings all day, so he didn't really get a chance to plead his case. (The principal had mentioned her wall-to-wall meeting day to us adults first thing in the morning, so I wasn't surprised that Ronan only could drop off the paragraphs for her.)

As of Friday, they had no answer, only a "she'll look into it". That'll be a discussion for when the official school year begins, I imagine.

Caught His Attention

The last class of the day is "credit recovery". I only have one student, Brandon. He's making up English 9. 

Our schools do social promotion, so even if a student fails their classes in ninth grade, they go on to tenth. But they don't graduate unless they've passed all their required courses. Credit recovery classes are available for those students who failed a course and need to retake it.

Credit recovery generally means Odyssey. At least, that's the way they do it at the continuation high school. And that's what the kiddos do at the traditional high schools for the credit recovery classes that are offered before and after school. 

After a couple days in class, it was clear that Brandon wasn't doing any work in Odyssey. He slept a lot of the time. (And he's not easy to wake. I ended up having to smash my water bottle on his desk. This was after I had tried calling his name, knocking on his desk, and shaking him by the shoulder.) And even though I offered to do the assignments with him, he spent most of his awake time watching videos online. 

Last Thursday he walked in with a book. 

He flipped through this book. He was going to get to the class work "in a minute", but he just wanted to look at the book that Mr. T had loaned him.

Well, it is an English class. I told Brandon he could get credit for reading the book that period. He read. I gave him a reading log to fill out. And he filled it out. 

Alas, the book only took him two days to finish. (It was a graphic novel about Nat Turner. Considering his reading level, a graphic novel is the sort of thing to help Brandon get into a story. And this is the sort of history he's interested in.) 

Now if only I could find something he'd enjoy reading for the last week. (By the time you read this, the summer session will be over. But, if you know of any similar books Brandon might enjoy, I'll pass along the recommendations.) 

Summer School 13, Week 2

Things have been going fairly well at the alternative education center, which means it's time for another Thursday 13.

1. As I write this on Sunday, my focus is on my car. It decided not to start yesterday. Somehow I have to get it to the mechanic and get to work tomorrow. Hopefully it's an easy fix, and by the time you read this, all is settled. 

2. I took my car in for some major repairs in June, so having to go back to the mechanic is irritating. (It proved to be fortuitous that I did the repairs in June so I can get to and from work now. At least, it had been nice.) 

3. The above picture of the classroom is now out of date. The "do not use this desk" papers were removed first. Then the partitions on the back desks. There's a new kidney table in the corner of the room. And on Friday they took out all the desks in the middle. (They're going to move in new desks on Monday.) I'll take a new picture for next week's posts, I think, since things will look a bit different.

4. I mentioned the classes in last week's post. First period now has a second student. Yorik was enrolled in the class at the beginning, but he couldn't come to school due to Covid quarantine. 

5. Last Friday I talked about how all the students refused to go out on their walking field trip because they couldn't have their phones. The principal came up with a compromise. If they would write her a paragraph stating why they should have their phones, she would allow it. All but Anson wrote the paragraph.

6. So, the past Friday we went to breakfast at Chik-fil-A. (Breakfast, because we wanted to leave early so we wouldn't be walking in the hottest part of the day.) And the whole thing went very well. I have a feeling we'll be walking out again next Friday (tomorrow). 

7. Now that the continuation high school has started their school year, we have a P.E. teacher. Coach M. works at both schools as neither school has need of a full-time P.E. teacher. But both schools do need someone to teach P.E. He knows me from the continuation high school, so it's nice to see a familiar face.

8. I have not mentioned the water fountains. With Covid protocols, they had to take them out. But, instead of removing them, they've replaced them with water bottle filling stations. 

9. Alas, the kiddos don't bring water bottles. (They're not allowed to bring non factory sealed drinks onto campus.) So, the office has been providing them with plastic cups so they can get water.

10. Ronan's been at war with the school over the non-sealed drink rule. He had opened his water bottle on the way to school one day. Another day, his father had gotten him a soft drink from some fast food place (which was "sealed" when it was bought, but it wasn't actually sealed). Finally, Ronan brought an empty water bottle so he could use the filling station. 

11. The drink rule, like them turning in their phones and them getting wanded on entry, is a site-specific rule. The other schools don't check for those things.

12. This is so much different than last school year when I covered this class. Having the kiddos in person makes a big difference. Some actually do work whereas last year on distance, they pretty much didn't.

13. My birthday is Saturday. I've been on this Earth for half a century now.

Mis-Named

On Monday of last week, Vincent arrived sans hair. He used to have shoulder length, thick brown hair. The difference in his look was startling. 

When asked about the sudden change, Vincent replied, "I did it to prove a point." The point being that he could and would, I suppose. 

I had been warned that he's the sort that'll dig in his heels and refuse to cooperate when it doesn't suit him. So, when he wasn't following along with the book we're reading, I wasn't terribly surprised that he informed me that he didn't like it (after giving it a whole page to catch his attention), and he wouldn't be reading it with us. 

I asked him how he was going to complete the assignments associated with the book, and he said he'd Google the answers. Well, we'll see how that goes.

So, I was rather relieved that he wasn't in school on Wednesday. 

It was morning, and I was at the gate with the aide that checks them in. She was doing a head count and wondered who was missing. 

"Vincent's not here," I said. 

She gave me an odd look.

That's when I realized that I had actually said "Vincent" and not his actual name. I use aliases on the blog. And usually I have no trouble with this. But I'm not usually in a situation where I'm only dealing with five students and writing about them at the same time. 

I'm gong to have to be more careful. 

Now I'm worried I might just call one of them their blog name to their faces. 

Vincent was also absent on Thursday. Apparently, he had a bit of a reaction to the Covid vaccine. He was present for Friday's walking field trip.

Mutiny

As a reward for good behavior, on Fridays the kiddos get to go out to lunch. Or, at least they did before Covid shutdowns. But as things are moving towards normal, the school reinstituted the practice. 

The permission slips were passed out on Tuesday. The kiddos returned them Wednesday and Thursday. And Friday we were all set to walk the not-quite-a-mile to the In-N-Out. 

The kiddos lined up, waiting for their phones... 

(Upon entering the school, all students are required to leave their phones. The phones are locked up for the day. They can do this due to the nature of the school and the fact that there are so few students.) 

Then the students were told they weren't going to get to have their phones for the journey. 

Oh, they were not happy. They were all like, if we can't have our phones, we're not going. They stalked off and sat on the lunch benches in the middle of the school. 

Mr. G, the math teacher, and Mrs. E, the principal, both went to talk to the kiddos. Nope, they weren't going to budge. 

Fine, then. They could stay in school. Brandon still wanted to go, and he was fine with not having his two (!!) phones. (Anson wanted to go, but he was peer pressured into staying.) 

So, Mrs. E and Brandon and I walked to In-N-Out. We had a rather nice lunch. 

After school I heard about how the other students who remained started to regret their stance. We'll see if they're more willing to go next Friday. 

(And Mrs. E has to look into the phone thing. She wasn't principal the last time they could do this, and legalities and things have to be considered.)

Summer School 13

It's the first full week of summer school at the alternative education center, so I should have loads of good student stories, right? Nope. 

I mean, that's actually good news. This is the school where the misbehaving kiddos get sent, so a boring (blog-wise) week means I got to do my job with minimal disruptions. But this is the blog. 

Time for a Thursday 13, then...

1. At the moment, the school has nine students. This is the school they get sent to when they're expelled from their home school, so low enrollment is good. Besides, since the schools weren't on campus for most of the last school year, no one got expelled.

2. Of those nine, I have five students. One has been absent entirely thus far, and a second only showed up for the first two days, so I effectively have three students. (The first absent student is out for reasons the school is aware of. The second the school has been attempting to contact to find out where he is.) 

3. The schedule is four periods. First and second periods are two hours long. I have one student first, two students second, my prep is third, and I have one student fourth. He is also in my second period class. (One of the absent students is in first and one is in second, so that would up those totals if they ever show.)

4. Anson is in my first period class. He's a bright kid. 

5. I have Brandon and Vincent in my second period class. Vincent has missed a couple days. Brandon hasn't. So, there've been a couple days where I just had Brandon. 

6. I have Brandon only in my fourth period class. Brandon is pretty sick of the sight of me, I imagine. 

7. I had intended to keep the classes on the same schedule, but on Monday another teacher pulled both Brandon and Vincent from class for counseling, so that class is now a day behind. (Brandon does something else in fourth period.) 

8. As I mentioned last week, I chose The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy as their work. I found audio online, so we listen to the book, and then they get an assignment that goes along with what we read. 

9. I had attempted to keep the assignments light and fun, but Vincent and Brandon have stopped paying attention. So, now they get comprehension questions. At least for now.

10. Because of the nature of the school, when they arrive in the morning, they have to give up their phones and they get wanded down (metal detector). They are clearly used to this as no one makes a fuss. They wait until the last minute to come onto campus. They busily try to get all their messages attended to before giving up their phones.

11. At the end of the day when they get their phones back, they're all engrossed in them. We adults laugh at this. (Of course, we adults don't have to give up our phones during the day, but I know I'm barely on mine while I'm working.) 

12. The aide who wands them down and collects phones is also in charge of passing out the school breakfasts and lunches. The students complain about the food. Rightly so. The lunches are terrible and insufficient. But the food is provided from the district, so we at the school have no control over it. (The principal has been officially complaining.) 

13. Although, Vincent hasn't complained as loudly. See, he has a crush on that aide. (She's young and cute, so it's not surprising, really.) It was completely obvious to everyone but the aide. The principal gave her a heads-up, though.