How Not to Review an Album

When I took over the journalism class (because the teacher was retiring), I was told that hopefully the counselor wouldn't add any students for those last two weeks.

Alas, she did.

Jason needed something to do, but all the articles had been assigned. So, I flailed about for something to give him. I hit upon the idea of a review, as the movie reviewer had been absent for days. But he wasn't into movies. However, he was into music.

(I've read the school newspaper. Several issues, in fact. So, I know they occasionally have an album review. It wouldn't be out of place.)

Jason wanted to review his own music. He couldn't comprehend why I would object to that.

But eventually, I got him to understand that he could review any other album by any other artist he liked.

So, for three days he worked on his review. Once he finished it, he submitted it to me.

It had the usual grammatical errors. Those I was expecting. I was also expecting that I might not have heard of the artist or the album. (I hadn't. He reviewed Huncho Jack, Jack Huncho.)

What I didn't expect is that he didn't actually review the album. He put together three paragraphs that are obviously cobbled together from that Wikipedia page I linked to. Nothing about what the album sounds like. Nothing about what he thought of it. Nothing that sounds like an album review.

He had no idea what I was talking about when I gave him back my notes.

I attempted to explain what I meant by an album review, but it was like I was speaking to him in Greek. He didn't get it. So, I searched out some examples of album reviews. I gave him a link to Rolling Stone's page of album reviews. He balked until I explained I just wanted him to take a look and use those as examples.

A couple days later he resubmitted his article to me. He had added a paragraph on the end about the music.

While I would really like to just copy and paste what he wrote, copyright and all attaches, so I won't. Suffice it to say, he wrote a sentence saying what kind of music it was, and not saying a whole lot more.

Hopefully the new journalism teacher can get a better album review out of him. I tried. I really did.

Dropping a Mixtape

Apparently I've never written about Earvin before. Funny. He's been a thorn in my side for a while. I guess he's not done anything blog-worthy until now.

It was week two in the English 12 classes at the continuation high school. Third period was journalism. (Read: the kids that write the school paper.) Ms. M had dropped Earvin from the class before she retired to make things easier for me, but the counselor put him back in.

Ugh.

Earvin is one of those students who has no concept of proper behavior. Oh, he pays lip service to it, but when I actually want him to sit down and let me start class, he'll "do it in a minute". He just needs to finish whatever he's talking about right then. And that something is rarely, if ever, classroom appropriate.

On this day, Earvin was all about the rap song he had just released into the world.

He had to play it for everybody. Repeatedly.

And no matter how much I protested that it was inappropriate for school and that we had classwork to do, Earvin needed "just a minute" to "finish up".

Oh, the class was so enthusiastic about the song. They're sure he's going to be famous. And they told him how brilliant it was.

Personally, I thought the song was profanity-laced, misogynistic, violent, and rude. Of course, I'm not into rap music, and when every other word is either an f-bomb or that n-one, I'm left totally cold.

But Earvin was so proud. And he had to promote it. He needed a credit card. He asked me if he could use mine.

And then he was shocked that I wouldn't let him use it. (He only needed $5, and he was going to give me the cash.)

Some students are just so clueless...

Earvin seems to think I like him. I have no idea what gave him that impression.

Going Over My Head

I got called into the assistant principal's office. Twice. In one day.

It was week two of the two week assignment at the continuation high school. I was covering the English 12 class. The teacher had retired.

The first time, I had sort of requested the interview. Student issue. The second time, however, took me by surprise. I was sure I was in trouble.

And I was in trouble. Sort of.

The students had complained to the assistant principal (AP) that I had been giving them too much work.

So, I told the AP exactly what I had assigned. I even emailed her copies of the all the assignments. She looped in one of the other English teachers, and I met with this other English teacher the next day to go over stuff. (I've subbed for Ms. S many, many times.)

Neither the AP nor Ms. S thought I was being unreasonable in my assignments. And it wasn't like I wasn't giving the students ample extra time to make things up.

In the course of our conversation, I mentioned to Ms. S that the AP had received complaints, and I wanted to make sure I wasn't overburdening the students. Ms. S then told me who the student was that complained...

via GIPHY

I recognized the student's name. Because the school is so small, I know her face. But only because the school is so small. Not because I had seen her in class...

Ms. S and I had this conversation on day seven of my nine days covering this class. The student who complained? Had been absent all of those seven days. (She actually had the journalism class, too. She showed up for that class once. On a Friday. Twenty minutes late.)

Apparently the girl had asked what she missed of her fellow classmates and balked at the amount of work...

Nah.

I'm not sure what she was thinking, but she hadn't spent any time discussing classwork with her classmates. That would have required effort.

Grading Surprise

I'm covering an English class at the continuation high school for two weeks. Their teacher retired. So, that means I have to make sure the assignments get graded and recorded. Which hasn't been too difficult since the majority of the classes aren't bothering to attempt the assignments.

On Friday I was caught up with the grading. I had returned the papers to the students. I explained that any papers that hadn't gotten over 70% weren't getting credit. (This is the policy of the school. They can redo and resubmit for credit.) Alas, the two girls who had completed the assignment had only gotten 30% correct.

One of the girls, after I had explained said, "Wait. You're grading this?"

Um, yeah. What did she expect? Why would I give an assignment and not check it for completeness and accuracy?

Deep sigh. I guess she just wanted me to give her credit for writing words on paper. But that's not how I roll.

Not the Heat

The weather in southern California last week was pretty nice. We had chilly nights (down into the high 40s/lower 50s) and warm days (upper 70s/mid 80s).

So, about mid day I needed a bit of the air conditioner. And while the room was a bit cool in the morning, I didn't think it was that cold. I'd walk into the room being at 64 degrees. (This is Fahrenheit, in case you're reading this from outside the U.S. That's about 18 degrees Celsius.)

With student bodies, that temperature creeps up all on its own. (That and the warming day outside.) So, I didn't feel the need to turn on the heat.

But the students... Oh, they were freezing. I had to put on the heat.

(Which just seemed like a waste of time and energy to me. It wasn't that cold. And it was warming up all on its own.)

When I refused to do this, a student decided he'd turn the heat on himself. Only...

Notice how it says "cool setting"? And 83 degrees? That's overkill.

(When I took the picture, it was 69 degrees in the class. When he was messing with the thermostat, it was 66-67 degrees. And that time? Yeah, it's not set correctly. It was closer to 11 AM when I took the picture.)

He has since figured out how to put it on the heat setting. But he's still not getting it to work. Because of other issues, the HVAC is turned off at the breaker box. However, I'm not about to tell him that. No. I just told him the heater is broken. 

Cheating? Perhaps. But at least I'm not being blasted with unnecessary heat.

Refusing to Leave

I'm covering two weeks of 12th grade English at the continuation high school. The teacher retired.

Third period is the journalism class. And they're a challenge. They're not working on their articles for the newspaper, and not even the threat of getting zero credits for these two weeks are managing to push them to work.

So, when Arlo took a seat in class, I wasn't having it.

Arlo is in the second period, but he's not in the journalism class. Why was he there? Because he didn't like his third period teacher. Who was out that day and had a sub of his own.

In second period, Arlo was a pain. He was "done" with the class, so he was more of a disruption than anything. But he was enrolled in my second period class. I had to put up with him then. I didn't have to put up with him for another period.

I told Arlo to go. He had another class. But he wouldn't leave.

He wanted a reason why he had to go. That he wasn't enrolled in the class and had another class he should have been in wasn't good enough. Nor was my telling him that I was asking him to leave. Oh no.

"I won't leave until you give me a good reason why."

So, we went back and forth a couple times. Then I called for security.

Security arrived. I told Arlo his escort was there. And still, he refused to budge.

At this point, there's not a lot to do. No one could grab the student and drag him out. I wasn't going to attempt it, and I didn't expect security to do so either. Security left. And I busied myself with other things.

Shortly thereafter, the principal arrived. (I had thought he was off campus at the time, so I didn't expect to see him.) Apparently, that was enough for Arlo. He willingly left then.

Well, sort of willingly. He told the principal that I was wacko. Apparently, I was being unreasonable asking him to leave. And I was called other names...

Alas, Arlo's departure didn't make third period any easier to deal with. But at least my issues were now with those enrolled in the class.

Turning it Around?

English. Continuation high school. They were still working on The Crucible. Or, at least they were supposed to.

There were only three students who had finished the assignment already. I had their names. Two of the names didn't surprise me. The third? My jaw just about hit the floor.

Marcus and I are well-acquainted. I met him for the first time in opportunity. He's... Well. How do I say this? I wonder why he still attends school as he doesn't appear to do anything. And, well, he's probably pretty well up in a gang...

Don't get me wrong. I don't worry about my safety or anything. But he has spent an entire period talking about how his gang and a rival gang got into it over... Oh, I don't now remember the catalyst.

So, I was shocked that he was one of three who was up to date on his work.

When he got to class, he talked. And talked and talked. Turns out, he's now regretting not having gotten more work done before this. He's decided he wants to graduate. But, the teachers are being less than helpful (his words).

(Did he work on the extra credit that Ms. M. had left for them? Of course not...)

This was promising talk. He can still graduate. He's just now a senior. He has a year. If he applies himself and works, he can totally get it done.

The next day I had him in class again. Did he do any work? Of course not...

(At least he's started. Sort of. Change takes time. I hope he keeps at it.)

Looking It Up

It was Friday in the 12th grade English class at the continuation high school. Since most of the kiddos who end up at this school aren't terribly academically inclined, any excuse not to work is taken. And Friday is enough of an excuse. So, most teachers use it as a make up work day.

The class is reading The Crucible. They are given time each day to answer questions that go along with the play, but of course many of them are behind. So, their task for the day was to get caught up.

Second period whined, of course. Not only was the play hard to understand, it was boring as well.

After suffering through them giving me that look while I tried to talk up the play, I left them to their own devices...

And the phones came out.

I wasn't surprised. I walked around the room, peeking at papers while looking over shoulders. And I noticed something surprising on the students' phones.

Usually I see Instagram or texting or music apps or such. Videos have become popular of late. And games are always around. But that's not what I saw.

They were looking for the answers to the questions.

Yup, their phones were on CliffNotes or SparkNotes and the like. They Googled the questions on the assignment.

(I frequently see students Google the questions on their assignments rather than looking for them in the book. On the one hand, I'd rather they use the books to find the answers as the teacher intended. But on the other hand, being able to glean information from the internet is the future of figuring things out.)

At least they were on task, and on a Friday. Win?

The Missing Class

Continuation high school journalism class. (Yes, they have a school newspaper.) It's the end of the year, so the class only had four students. (One was absent.)

The continuation high school works on credits. Once they've earned the required 220, they are done. By this time of year, most of the seniors have completed high school.

It was newspaper delivery day. Two students were to go pass them out to all the classes. One of the assigned students was absent, so I let the other student pick her partner. But all three girls wanted to go. And the boy wanted to join them...

What's the harm, right?

Five minutes later I got a call from another teacher. They were being disruptive. (Naturally...)

Well, they should have come back soon, so I could scold them. I waited.

And waited.

And waited.

Um...

I went to the door looking for them. They were not visible on campus. (The campus is small enough that I could see all of it from my door.) But the principal spotted me.

The girls did eventually return. The boy returned some time after them. (This is the way subs get into trouble.) What happened? They explained that several of the papers had been stapled badly, so they had to fix.

The boy...? He was taking advantage of the situation. Naturally.

False Alarm

It was Monday morning. I had gotten this particular assignment more than a week ago. She's a teacher I've subbed for many, many times, so I wasn't anticipating too much when I walked into the office.

I got the usual question. When I said I was in for Ms. M, I got perplexed looks. "But the field trip is Thursday."

It used to be a regular occurrence. I'd show up to a school only to be told that the teacher wasn't out. Or worse, I'd go to the classroom and the teacher would be there, no absence planned. But that hasn't happened for a while now. It hasn't happened in a good, long while. (We're talking a few years.)

They checked the teacher's mailbox. Sure enough, she had left lesson plans.

And that's when one of the administrators joined the conversation. She had talked to the teacher on Friday, and this teacher's absence on Monday had come up.

So, I was in the right place. Whew.

Geez, guys! Don't scare me like that.

(The teacher was out on that field trip on Thursday, too. Which I also covered. And considering this is the most interesting thing I have to write about those two days tells you how much trouble I had with them.)

Ghost Town

It was Tuesday at the continuation high school, and the place was nearly empty. Lines for food during snack and lunch were nearly nonexistent. And I had three students in class per period.

Much of the school had gone on a field trip.

I heard the numbers, so I did a quick calculation. Roughly 31% of the school went. (It's a small school, so that's not a very large number.)

In fact, that's why I was there. The teacher I covered was one of the chaperones.

So, it was a pretty easy day. Most of those that didn't go didn't want to get up that early. The buses left at 6 AM. Although, a couple just weren't interested.

Where did they go? To the taping of a TV show. (One of the joys of living in L.A. County.)

Hey, it was a nice way for them to get out of the usual. And it made it a really easy day for me.

Too Cold

"Could you turn on the heat?"

Yes, it's August. This is not some sort of repost from the winter. And those were the first words out of a student's mouth when he entered the room.

(The continuation high school has started their school year. They start a month before the rest of the district.)

The weather had cooled a bit from the prior week. Only to be replaced with humidity. But still, summer temps. Sweat dripped down my back as I got ready to go for the day.

Somehow, the air conditioner got left on in the classroom. (I think the timer function is misprogrammed.) So, when I got there, it was 63 degrees Fahrenheit (according to the display). Ah, bliss.

I turned off the a/c and opened the door. I was quite comfortable. The students, not so much.

But I'm not turning on the heat in August. No. Not doing it. Especially not when it was much more comfortable inside than it was outside.

Still, the whines...

A couple hours later, the temperature had climbed to 68 degrees. A decent room temperature. I was in heaven. Them...

"We're going to freeze to death."

Um, no. Not even close to a possibility.

Missed the Roll Call

12 grade English. 1st period. The bell rang. Students milled around retrieving their materials. While the room was in transition, I called roll.

Once they were settled, I went into my opening remarks. I told them what was due. I gave them the list of all the assignments that needed to be completed by the end of the week.

As I went through what I had to tell them, a student walked in. Then another. A bit of time after that, another. Tardy, but at least they made it. I noticed their arrival, but I didn't stop my instructions to the class as a whole.

Once I no longer needed their attention and released them to their independent work, I asked for who had walked in late. So I could make sure to mark them "present" on the roll. (Well, they'd be marked "tardy", but that's better than being marked "absent".) Two piped up right away and gave me their names. But where was the third?

I identified him pretty quickly. (He had been absent the previous day, so he did not have the assignment I'd passed out.) I asked him if he'd been late. He told me that he had been on time.

Funny. I had him marked absent on my roll sheet. (And if I hadn't questioned him, he would have been entered into the online roll as absent.)

I don't know if he actually thought he'd convince me he was on time and I'd mark him as such. Perhaps he just needs to believe that walking into a room where class has already started is "on time". Whatever.

We Interrupt This Intro...

12th grade English. 2nd period. They had a vocabulary assignment based on The Crucible. The main point of my instructions had to do with the kinds of sentences they were to write--ones that demonstrated an understanding of the meaning of the words.

"Good morning, my name is..."

And that's when I was interrupted by the sound of a large jackhammer. So, I waited. When the noise stopped, I continued.

"...Original means it's your sentence. You know Ms. M will read..."

And another racket with the jackhammer. Again, I waited it out.

Amazingly, I only got interrupted twice. I guess that's because my intros tend to be short. (I figured trying to talk over the racket was pointless.) Because the noise happened sporadically all period.

At the time I thought it was just the guy on the roof. But no. Turns out they also started tearing up the street that day. (And the back of the classroom is mere feet from the street.)

It's a miracle I didn't get a headache.

The other miracle: the class worked silently the whole time. Not that they could actually hear each other over the construction noise. Or, it could have been because they all had their earbuds in and were listening to music. (Please don't judge me on this. I find that they work better independently if they can listen to music while they work.)