One Last Thing

A sub credential only allows me to cover one class for up to thirty days. This was extended to sixty days the last couple of years, because *gestures to everything*. But it appears that we are sufficiently back to normal, and the number of days I can cover one class will remain at thirty.

Last Friday was day thirty of the school year. 

We all kept an eye on this, and the teacher next door (Ms. W) who's been supplying me with help and lesson plans kept an eye out for a sub to replace me. 

Ms. W realized that Mr. H might be a good next sub. (I wrote about him a few months ago.) And so, those that do these things got him all lined up. 

I asked for and got two days of transition. So, Mr. H started on Thursday. We had two days in the class together so I could pass off everything to him. 

The one thing I wanted to get finished before I left was grading the students' lab safety posters.

In about week three, the students got an assignment about lab safety. There were rules to read and activities to complete. The last activity was a poster they were to create about one of the lab safety rules. 

This particular assignment kept getting pushed back. The kiddos would get ten minutes to work on it, and then class would be over. I'd plan to give them more time for it, but the other lessons would take too much time. After three tries to find time in class to do it, I gave it up. I figured they just wouldn't get it done, and we could skip it.

But then it was test day, and there was about a half hour of class time to fill. Lab safety poster.

The whole thing was a mess, so leaving that mess of grading to Mr. H? Nope. Didn't want to do it. 

But, time just evaporated. I had a hair appointment Tuesday afternoon. Then Wednesday I got pulled into something else. And it was Thursday. The moments I might have stolen to do some grading were the moments I used to go over things Mr. H needed (and when Mr. H asked me questions about what he was unclear on). 

(On Thursday Mr. H taught about half of the lesson. On Friday he did all of it. He's good. The class is in good hands.) 

So, it was Friday. Class time was busy. (Sure, Mr. H taught the lesson, but I assisted. And they were doing a rotating stations thing, so having two adults was a good thing.) Finally, at the end of the day, I said I had to get those posters graded. 

Mr. H offered to do some of it. I observed that there were other assignments the kiddos had turned in. (Sure, I would have liked to have gotten those graded, too, but they were technically on his watch, so I felt less guilty leaving them to him.) 

In the end, I got five of the periods graded. Mr. H graded the last one. And I was able to leave the class having mostly gotten the grading from my time done.

And now I am once again free to join the subbing pool. Back to the day-to-day. And I don't feel even a little worried about the classes I left as I know they're in capable hands.

The Retest

The prior week the kiddos had their first test. And it went rather well.  

One of the things the seventh grade science teachers have been doing, though, is offering a retest. Any kiddo who wants to gets the opportunity to redo the test, keeping the higher of the two scores. 

There's a catch. They have to do a review paper before they can take the test. 

Wednesday, first period. I had five students (out of a class of thirty), turn in the review. 

When I mentioned the review, several students who probably should have attempted a retake decided not to. "Too much work." Okay, then.

One student who wanted a retake? She got nineteen on her first attempt. Out of twenty. 

She wanted that perfect score. 

And she got it. 

(I had a few perfect scores. Many nineteens. And eighteens. Like I said, the test went rather well.) 

Fifth period. I had two students who had been absent on the day of the test, and four students who wanted a retake. 

Then, at the end of the period, a boy approached. He wanted to know what he could do to raise his grade. He had a C. His mom had threatened him with consequences if he didn't get his grade up to an A.

(One of the consequences was giving away his dog to his aunt. Which seems a bit harsh.)

His grades weren't bad. He had a few assignments where he didn't get full points. He had gotten a C on the test. (The test was 40% of their grade. This will dilute a bit once they've had more tests.) 

I guess I'm a soft touch. I said he could retake the test even though he hadn't done the review. 

And? He scored two points lower than his initial attempt. 

Ah well. He tried. (And he kept the higher score, so he didn't lose anything.) 

Of the retesters, about half gained a point or two. The other half lost a point or two. 

Urgency

These middle schoolers...

There's this boy who asked to go by K3 in class (so since that's anonymous enough, I'll use it here). He has his moments of being a reasonable student and then he has other moments of play. So, typical seventh grader. 

I've had issues with getting the kiddos to turn in their work. I tell them when it's due. I call for it. But many don't have it done even though they had time in class to complete it (or I let them finish what they didn't finish in class for homework). 

But, the general rule is they can turn in late work, and I'm okay with this as I'd rather they turn it in and get credit rather than taking the F. (I want them to succeed.) 

So, last week K3 gave me a stack of four or five assignments that he was missing. Okay, fine. But then he follows it up with:

"You need to grade these quickly. My dad won't let me play sports until I get my grades up."

Um...

Wisely, I did not reply. He handed them to me at the end of class, as he was leaving. And I chose not to give him a piece of my mind.

Because, really? Him not turning his work in a timely manner makes it my responsibility to input those grades immediately? 

*taps sign*

I knew I'd need this image someday.

Over the weekend, I took home some grading. I got it input into the gradebook and everything. (It felt great to be caught up Monday morning.) First thing Monday morning I found an email from Nadia. 

Nadia stated that she was missing an assignment in the gradebook that she had turned in. 

I don't normally lose student work. (I don't even lose pens or socks. It's freakish, really.) But, I took a quick look just to make sure I hadn't overlooked it. Nope. But, I did have one paper missing a name.

I emailed this back to Nadia. The next time she was in class, she checked the paper. Yup, it was hers. She put her name on it and gave it back to me.

I'm lucky in that I have a last period conference period. When my last class leaves, I have a full period of time to close out the day and get prepped for the next one. I have made it my habit to go through the stack of late turned in work right after I've noted any things I need to note from the day (keeping track of who was tardy and who had a cell phone, that sort of thing). 

I had just gotten through the stack of late work, and I was checking email before moving on to the next thing that needed my attention. Nadia had sent me an email. I noted the time of the email. 3:01 PM. I looked at the clock. It was 3:04 PM. 

Nadia reminded me that she had resubmitted her assignment and it needed to be entered into the gradebook. 

Ahem.

I was sorely tempted to go into the gradebook and erase the score. But I am an adult. I resisted.

I went back to the email as I was going to add it to this post. Reading it now, it doesn't sound as bad as it sounded when I read it the first time. The first time, I was a bit put out. Because, I had just entered her grade into the gradebook. Right when she sent the email. 

I mean, I get where the kiddos are coming from. And I'm keeping up with the grading. Really. I am. 

But when they insist I take care of their stuff immediately? That they got to me late?

*shakes head* Middle schoolers...

The New Cell Phone Rules

Because cell phones are an ongoing problem, at the end of the last school year the teachers at the middle school got together to come up with a school-wide policy. 

When I started this long-term assignment, I was filled in on the policy, and I've been enforcing it since the beginning. 

Basically, the students must leave their cell phones in their backpacks. (In the science class, the rule has been that the students leave their backpacks in the back of the room during class.) If I see the phone, I can take it. Depending upon how many infractions the student has, they can get it back at the end of class, or they must retrieve it from the main office. 

(I hear the 8th graders have really hated this policy, but the 7th graders don't know it was ever different.) 

I have not had to confiscate many phones. I remind the kiddos to keep them in their backpacks, and most have complied.

Thursday. Sixth period.

It was test day. We did a review Kahoot! I decided to award the winners prizes. Second place winner came up to get her prize... with her cell phone in her hand. Deep sigh.

It was her first offense, so she got the phone back at the end of the period. On the one hand I felt bad. She got punished for getting a prize. But then again, her phone wasn't where it was supposed to be.

A bit later, another student was called to the main office. The rest of the class was taking the test. When the student returned, I went over to her to let her know what she needed to do with the test. That's when I spied her cell phone sitting on her chair...

So, I got to confiscate another cell phone from another girl who hadn't given me any issues. Another deep sigh.

I guess I have to remind them daily to put their cell phones away in their backpacks. (I do actually announce it as the students arrive in class daily.) At least they're not using them in class, but it's a matter of time.

Because, they're not "forgetting" to put them away. They're sneaking them. They want the phones on them "for emergencies". And I understand. But I also know they don't have the maturity to leave them alone, so they really need to keep them away during class.

While the class was taking their test, I walked the room. I heard music. It was a phone ringing. From a backpack. 

I left that one alone. The phone was where it needed to be. And the ringing stopped after just a bit.

Bad Timing

Monday. I arrived early to get some stuff done. That's when I saw the email about the "social media threats". It was non-specific, and I really didn't want to know any more. We were assured that administration was dealing with the issue.

But, "threats". 

I wasn't terribly surprised when first period arrived and a third of the kiddos were missing.

And now I had a dilemma. The next class session they were to have a test. And while I had hinted at this test the prior week, I hadn't officially announced it. 

Luckily, they do have a Google Classroom.

So, I posted the study guide assignment in Google Classroom for the missing students, and we went on with our day.

(From what I've been able to pick up, the threats were directed at another school, but then picked up on social media towards other schools. Law enforcement was notified. Nothing happened at school that day.) 

When test day rolled around, some of the students who had missed were a bit surprised by the test. But, when I started the class back in August, I read through the syllabus with them, and I explained that it was the responsibility of the student to find out what they missed if they were out of school. 

I reminded them of this, and then I told them, "A good place to start is to see if I've put anything into Google Classroom." 

(I keep a list of the daily agendas in Google Classroom. I have since week two. I showed them all this.)

When I went to collect their study guides, I got a surprise. A couple students who had been absent actually had papers to turn in. They were a bit worried about having done it on paper (rather than the worksheets I had passed out that they didn't get because they were absent), but I assured them that paper was perfect. 

Some of them are paying attention. And some of them are trying. (Actually, more than some.) 

When I went to check, some of the absent students had actually done the assignment digitally. (Which was fine.) 

I mean, there are a whole bunch of students who didn't do it. But I was pleased how many had figured out how to take care of what they needed to do. (And as I accept late work, those that missed out can still turn it in.) 

This is excellent for seventh graders. I'm rather pleased.

And as for the test, it went rather well. The grades were pretty good on average.

Found

When I started this long-term assignment, I had to put together the classroom. But, unlike with the vacant classes I usually end up starting the school year in, the teacher had left most of her stuff. So, I had materials to work with.

First up was procuring a pencil sharpener, which I found on my second day there. I found her printer a couple weeks into the gig. 

But there were other things I needed. And I meant to order them, but I hadn't gotten around to it. I was waiting to bring in a list.

As students turned in work, I had to find a way of keeping the papers organized. I found a hanging file box. I needed those tab things to label the hanging files. 

Then, the dry erase board doesn't erase very well. There's a spray that cleans it. I knew I could get some, eventually. 

But last week, while retrieving something, I stumbled across the tabs I needed. Because of course Ms. S already had some. And behind that? The dry erase board spray. 

I'm not sure how many weeks I was doing without stuff that Ms. S actually had in the classroom. 

I even found another paper organizer to keep copies of things that haven't been passed out yet. 

I suppose if I had more time to just dig through stuff... Sigh. I know she has classroom decor as well, but I haven't had a chance to set that up either. There's just so much time, and my focus is on keeping the class running.

Ah well. At least now I have found a few other things I've been needing.

Flying Objects

In the introductory unit for the seventh grade science class, we were studying the engineering design process. To really understand it, they got to do an activity using it. 

Building catapults. 

Ahem.

There are three seventh grade science teachers at the school (I am covering for one of them). We got together to discuss what project to do (they have four that they rotate through depending on the year), and the other two decided it was a catapult year. 

And I could just see the chaos. 

I mean, the actual assignment was for them to build something that would send a small object flying across the classroom. 

It was a very long, loud day. 

I mean, I'm sure it was fun for them. They were only allowed to use five items to build the thing (and five of each item), so they could use five popsicle sticks, five pencils, five rubber bands, a spoon, and something to launch. They were to make something that could launch the cotton ball a meter. 

Some managed to make catapults that launched their projectile across the room. 

They were allowed to use computers, so many found some great designs online. (To get an idea, many made this one.) 

But it was not fun for me. I'm glad it's over. 

I can see the end of my thirty day stint approaching. (My credential only allows me to teach a class for thirty days. Then I will pass this class off to another sub.) While I'll be sad to leave, after this lesson, I won't be that sad. 

No more catapult lessons in the offing, though. The following week they got their first test. *insert evil grin here*

Absolutely Not

Archie and Alvin. The boys I talked about last week. So, this was fifth period.

I had swapped Alvin and another boy, but that other boy was absent (and has gone on independent study, so he won't be back for a while), so at the beginning of class a day after I had made the switch...

"Can I move back to that seat? We'll be good..."

Alvin was practically sitting in Archie's lap. The two would not stop talking. Even after I asked them to. Repeatedly. 

"We promise. We won't talk."

Um, right.

I would have made the joke that the two of them act like they're in love, but I wasn't going to humiliate them in front of their peers. And it might be the truth.

Because, seriously, the way they were together... Yeah, I can see a spark. They work as a couple.

But, seventh graders. Things are more open nowadays, and there's less of a stigma, but seventh graders. 

Anyway, I did say no. Pretty emphatically. I wasn't even tempted. I didn't feel even a little badly about it. 

I'm doing them a favor, really. 

Because, seriously, they could not focus on the lesson and sit next to each other. I'm protecting their science grade.

That Middle School Attitude

It was the end of first period. Corbin approached. He couldn't figure out how to get into the student portal to look at his grades, so he asked me to pull them up for him. 

(One of the great things about long term assignments is full access to the gradebook software. I can click on any of "my" students and pull up all of their current grades. Honestly though, I rarely look.)

He had mostly A's with a D in PE...

Me: "Have you not been dressing out?"

Corbin: "Ms. B hates me. She says I have attitude." And he looked genuinely perplexed. 

So, let me back up a minute. Corbin... Well... When I gave him back an assignment as it wasn't completely done (and we still had half a period to go, so he had time), he complained that he always gets A's in science, and he did the assignment well enough.

And he's the one who actually did the whole, "When does my real teacher start?" to me. (He's only met me. As Ms. S doesn't return until February, I've been non-specific about how long she'd be out. That's a long time for seventh graders.) 

So, uh, yeah, I can confirm Ms. B's assessment. Attitude.

To Corbin's look, I gave a look back. 

Me: "Well, uh..."

He genuinely has no clue that he acts like he knows everything. Which... tracks, really. 

What's funny is once I separated him from the other boy in class who's a disruption, Corbin's been okay. (Other than his smugness.) I kind of like him. And he does do his work. 

As for the attitude, well, he'll likely grow out of it. Or decide to become a surgeon. One or the other, really. 

The Stack

A little over a week ago, I got an email from a parent. She was concerned that her student had an F in the class, and could her student make that up? 

At that point I had two grades posted. The student had been absent when the second assignment was due, and she hadn't gotten it to me. Since then, she had been one of the good ones, so I was sure I had all her work. It was just ungraded. 

I told her mother this in the email--that I was behind on grading and that her student's work was fine. And I set about catching up on what I had to grade. 

Slowly I got through the current stack. Well, most of it. 

I don't recall which class, maybe fourth period, when a student asked when I'd have their lab safety packets graded. 

Deep sigh. 

I pulled out the stack to demonstrate: 

Holding it up for the class to see, I said, "It might take me a while." 

I'm dreading it. 

I'm writing this post on Saturday. I'm scheduling it for the following Friday. So, almost a week. Will I have graded it by then? 

Likely not. 

I'm okay with that, though. 

And the student whose mother asked about her F. She no longer has an F. She got the assignment to me that she was missing, and now she has an A. (Before, with the other work she'd completed, she had a B.) 

I'm getting there. Slowly.

Broke Fifth Period?

Wednesday, fifth period. 

As the schedule changes seemed to be settling down, I figured it was a good time to make some seating changes. Mostly in period three, because period three has become that class. 

But in period five, I had one girl seated by herself in a corner in the back that is not turning in work. She gives me definite distracted vibes, like she has ADHD. I wanted her closer so I can keep better tabs on her. And while I was doing that, I might as well move some in the back closer, as the class was pretty small, and I didn't need kiddos way back away.

Once I moved several students, a couple others wanted to be closer, too. So I allowed that. Then I got on with the lesson of the day.

And I found that I had broken fifth period.

Fifth period was the good group. They were my reward for getting through third period.

The first day I had them, they came in quiet. And then wouldn't talk. After lunch. (Middle schoolers are notorious for being wound up after lunch. After lunch classes tend to be crazy.) 

Over the last couple weeks, I've discovered that they're the bright group. I ask a question, I get many volunteers to answer. And I can teach them. They're attentive. They're engaged. They're lovely. 

But after the seating changes... Suddenly, I had to stop to regain attention. Oh no.

But, mostly it was two boys. They hadn't been sitting next to one another before, and they just couldn't seem to get enough of one another. 

Would separating them work? 

On Friday, I tried just that. And, things calmed down considerably. 

Phew. I thought I had broken the class. 

(Both boys were good boys. Attentive. Volunteered.)

We'll see if that was the only issue. Seventh graders, so these things don't necessarily stay static. Hopefully they'll continue to be my good group. I need that.

Following Directions

Last week I mentioned the emails from students are starting. Not that there's anything wrong with that. I told the students to let me know if there are any mistakes in their grades. I don't generally make those kinds of mistakes, but it can happen, and I'd rather they let me know than going to their counselor and having them send me an email questioning their grade... 

So, when I got an email from a student immediately after inputting three assignments, I wasn't offended. The email: 

I am writing because of my grade book. I finished the Lab Safety Packet, and the Scientist Card Sort. 

I think you did both the Lab Safety Packet and the Scientist Card Sort wrong, but if i'm misunderstanding, please let me know. 

Thank you.

The student did not get full credit on one of those assignments, and the other had not been graded yet, so it was missing from the gradebook for everyone (and did not impact their grade). 

I wrote back explaining why they'd be missing points for the assignments. And when I passed back their graded work the next day, sure enough the student lost the points just as I explained in the email. (I didn't have the work in front of me when I responded to the email, but I deducted points for some very specific things.) 

And the student? Wouldn't look at me during class that day. I think they were a little mad at me. I'm not sure why, entirely, as I deducted points for things like not fully completing the assignment as instructed. (They were required to write 5-6 sentences on one. This student did not.) 

Ah well. Seventh grader. While I don't want them to not bring their grade concerns to me, I would rather they make sure their work is fully complete before assuming that I made a mistake in the grading. 

And... I totally would have let them resubmit the assignment with corrections for full points. But, I would only tell them that if they asked. They did not.

(If I have to regrade every assignment after they've turned it in and gotten it back, I don't even want to contemplate how much work that would be.)

The Dog Ate My Homework

Thursday. The bell had just rung to let the kiddos out of school. One of the students had hung back to talk to me.

He started off by referencing an assignment that had been due on Tuesday. Then he explained...

"I was with my cousin. It was his birthday. I had my work out. We were playing with his dog..."

At this point I interrupted. "Are you going to tell me that the dog ate your homework?"

"No. He peed on it."

Ahem.

I got another copy of the assignment and gave it to the boy, and he was on his way.

A couple students had turned in this assignment (our second of the school year) to me hesitantly, so I announced to the classes that I was accepting late work (better late than never). While I'd prefer that they get the work in on time, I'd rather they turn it in eventually and not have a bunch of missing assignments. 

They're seventh graders (12 years old). I want them to get in the habit of getting their work turned in. I'll snarl at them about late work another time.

13 Snippets of My Current Long Term

The third week of school went fairly well. I mean, seventh graders, but considering that, things could be going much, much worse. 

I've made many small observations. None would be a great blog post on their own, but together they make an ideal Thursday 13.

1. Baby naming trends of 2012: Matthew. I have, like five. Three in one period. Two with the same last initial. (Also popular: Samuel, Sebastian, and Daniel.)

2. Monday I got to school to find no internet. It was a district-wide outage. I've had this issue before. At least this time I could pivot so we didn't really miss it.

3. There are three seventh grade science teachers (including me). We're all doing the same thing, so I haven't had to scramble for lessons. I was given access to the online folder with the year's work. And I can ask the other two any questions I have. It makes lesson planning so much simpler.

4. We're still in the "honeymoon" phase, that is, when the kiddos are on their best behavior. But they're starting to get comfortable, so their true colors are showing. My job is to hold the behavior standards as they get comfortable so they get used to behaving a certain way in class. We'll see how well I manage this.

5. Third period is my trouble spot. I already have girls with attitude and chatty groups. I'll have to see if I can seating chart my way out of that.

6. Fifth period is bright. They're right after lunch, so I was expecting wild, but they're quiet until we get into a lesson, and then I have a bunch of volunteers. They might be my favorite. (Although the even classes have been pretty good, too.) 

7. I have twins in one class. Not identical. And one girl mentioned that she's a triplet. (Her two brothers are not my students.) 

8. I'm hoping the schedule changes are finally settling. One poor boy got switched into three different classes. First he was in period one. Then five. And then period two. Then he showed up to period five again, and I had to inform him that no, he did not have to take science twice. (I sent him to the office to find out where his new fifth actually was.) 

9. We had an assembly on Friday. I got to escort third period. Sigh. At least there was no tortilla slap. 

10. With all the schedule changes, my gradebook is a mess. I went through, and several students lingered there even though they were moved out of the class (or they never attended). I learned how to drop students from it, so yay, that's fixed. But yikes. (This is online, so parents can see their kiddos' grades at any time.) 

11. And suddenly I'm popular. I've heard of at least three other subbing assignments that I could have had if I wasn't already booked to this one. And two teachers have asked me to cover their classes later in the year when they have to be out. (One is going out of town for a week; another is having surgery.) 

12. The kiddos are actually paying attention. The emails have started, so I gave them a little primer on how to email a teacher. (Most important: include their period number.) And from the emails I've received, they're listening. Nice.

13. When I started, everyone asked where the classroom's printer was. We assumed the teacher took it home. Where was it? In a cabinet. I looked at it at least five times (over three weeks) before I actually saw it. If it was a snake, it would have bitten me.

The Ideal Consequence

It was Monday. We had no internet. But, luckily, the assignment for the day had the kiddos looking at "cards" of various images, some science related, some not. They were sorting and categorizing the images based on questions I wrote on the dry erase board (as my lovely little slide was inaccessible due to no internet). 

Third period. Every teacher has that one class. The difficult group. The period they dread. For me, that has become third period. 

The kiddos were working in the groups I had assigned. One group was having a personality conflict. A girl told me that Simon was bothering them, and they couldn't work with him. 

The group wasn't one of the better behaved groups. But Simon and I have already had our issues. (This was the fourth time I'd had the class, and I already was aware of Simon. Enough said?)

Luckily, there was a group that was only two students, so Simon could join them. (I was going for groups of four, but there were a few groups of three just due to class numbers.) 

Simon did not like that idea. He lashed out verbally. I let him say his piece, and then I insisted he move to the new group. 

Later, Simon approached. His new group... Well, if I wanted a fitting consequence, I think I found it. The two students Simon was with were silent. Completely. They wouldn't talk. 

This wasn't ideal, as the assignment was a group thing. 

But, Simon was unable to irritate these students as they weren't engaging with him. 

Perfect. 

Faked

It was Friday of the second week of school, and the kiddos were working on an assignment called Science About Me. It consisted of questions like "favorite source of energy (favorite food)" and "favorite use of electricity". 

One of the questions was "phase of the moon on the day you were born". I took some time to explain how to search that up online. (I made a joke about wondering how they didn't know this already.) 

As it was an assignment destined to be posted in the classroom (I took last year's versions down my first day in the room), I encouraged them to draw pictures and make it colorful. 

One of the students questioned what color to make his moon. 

Me: The moon is gray. And it smells like gunpowder.

A couple students questioned me on that statement. I explained about the astronauts who went to the moon stating this. 

The student: The moon landings were faked... (Quietly, under his breath.)

Deep sigh. 

I did, of course, push back. But apparently I have my work cut out for me.

Collapsing

It's the first full week of school, and the schedule changes have started...

I know better than to create seating charts in ink or to make a pretty class roster sheet as there will be students moving in and out for a bit. But this is ridiculous. 

On Wednesday, the teacher next door, Ms. W, told me that one of the seventh grade math teachers took a different position. Instead of hiring another teacher, the administration began dismantling those classes, distributing the students to other teachers. I didn't get specifics, only that one teacher took over one of the periods, which meant the students she had that period had to go elsewhere...

It's a logistical nightmare. And not my job.

What is my job, though, is to process the students whose schedules got impacted by all of this. 

First period. I noticed that one student wasn't on my attendance any longer. I figured he hadn't been notified of his schedule change yet. Then I got an email saying that any students that were no longer enrolled in our classes should be sent to the office. So, I gently told the boy he would have to go. 

Not five minutes later a student aide came in to give me the boy's new schedule. Deep sigh.

(The boy was switched into my fifth period class.)

And so, all day I had new students. And students pulled out of class as they were sent elsewhere. 

Fifth period. We were a bit into it when I got a call. Another teacher asked me to send her one of my now former students as she was to be in English then instead of science. How the teacher knew where the student was is a mystery to me, as I would have sent the boy in first period to his proper class if I had known how to figure it out. 

So, I gently explained to the girl that her schedule was also different. 

And remember, these seventh graders are brand new to this school. So, add this confusion on top of it all...

At least I got my seating charts done before all this started. (With post-it notes for each student, so it's easy to move them around.) If I can just keep on top of the changes daily, I should be able to keep things organized. But what a nightmare.

Cup Challenge

It's the first full week of school, so that means that we're doing introductory things. Luckily, in science, that means we're doing some fun team things. 

I am also scrambling, of course. I've been working on getting seating charts made and gradebooks set up and the classroom organized so I can focus on the teaching and not the keeping up with everything else. Luckily, there are two other seventh grade science teachers, and we're all doing the same stuff. And they've been making sure I have what I need to keep the lessons going. 

We started with a cup stacking challenge. I found a video that shows what they were doing rather than trying to explain...

The video shows challenge one. There were ten. Various configurations.

We're still in the "honeymoon" phase of the year, so I wasn't too worried about the kiddos going crazy. They dove in and for the most part tackled the challenges well. 

But, of course, some groups finished more quickly than others.

What do seventh graders do with six cups, a rubber band, and nothing to do? 

Again, it's early in the year, so it didn't go as badly as it could have. 

Throwing cups is better than them throwing the cups at each other. (That was the point when we moved on to the next item on the agenda: going over the syllabus. They were bored, but they didn't fight me on it.) 

So far, I'm accomplishing my assignment. In case you were wondering, I have one main goal: don't let the kiddos go feral. At the moment, they're behaving like a typical seventh grade class. I call it a win.

Victor/Victoria

Note: the title of this post references a movie. If you have not seen it, it's a good movie. I recommend it. 

Friday. The second day of school.

In teacher training, I learned that it is not a good idea to let students choose their seats. But, as someone whose last name starts with an A, I really dislike seating students alphabetically. I prefer a randomization method. 

Ms. S had the desks numbered. She also had index cards with the numbers on them. So, I shuffled the cards, and as the students entered the room, I drew a card and assigned them that seat. It was lovely.

A few students did move as they needed to be close to the front. This was to be expected. I'm sure there'll be other moves as the semester wears on. 

But, mostly they sat in the random seats I had randomly generated. 

One of the other starting class things I did was to have them make pull cards. (These are cards with their names on them that I can shuffle to call on them randomly.) 

As I went around to pick them up, I made sure to pronounce their names to make sure I was saying them right. This is when I noticed that two boys who have the same name sit next to each other. Deep sigh.

So, as I was picking up the cards one period, I looked down and noted the boy was named Victor. Nothing odd there. In the very next seat was Victoria. 

Um...

I think there are a few kinks in the randomization system. Sigh. 

(I kinda want to tell the kiddos about the movie, but I'm not sure it's terribly age appropriate. I mean, it's not bad, but there are a few adult themes that they're probably a bit young for. If you've seen the movie, you'll know what I mean.)

Tortilla Slap

The first day of school. And I began a long-term in a seventh grade science class. 

In our district, seventh grade is the beginning of middle school. (I know some districts begin middle school with sixth grade. That's why I'm being specific.) And as such, the seventh graders are brand new to the school.

So, the school decided to make the first day of school a kind of seventh grade orientation. Instead of going to all their classes, the seventh graders stayed with their first period teacher for the full day of icebreaking games, a tour of the school, an overview of how the schedule works, and an assembly to welcome the new students. 

(I was given the schedule ahead of time, so I knew what was coming.) 

For a first day, things went fairly well. The eighth grader who was leading the group did a fantastic job. (Although, her tour guide skills do need improvement.) I didn't have to jump in too much. 

But then we went to the assembly...

I have made my dislike of assemblies abundantly clear on this blog. The problem with this assembly, though, was more technical. The sound system was so awful that I could barely make out what the presenter was saying. 

I got the gist as when various administrators were introduced, I already knew who they were. However, the students, who are new, wouldn't have figured out what they were talking about. So, they were bored.

Things could have gone worse. The kiddos were on first day best behavior. If they had tried this later in the year...

But what was notable about the assembly (and why I'm writing a blog post about it), was the last game they played. The earlier games were the usual things such as musical chairs (with a race component) and dodge ball. They did a tug of war. There was even a finish the lyric.

They finished the assembly with a game called rock-paper-scissors... tortilla.

I had never heard of this before, but apparently it's a thing. Mr. S, the leadership teacher, and Mr. F, a history teacher (who's also been doing some leadership stuff), faced off in rock-paper-scissors. The winner slapped the loser with a tortilla.

I... Uh...

I'm sure the students would have enjoyed it way more if they were more familiar with Mr. S and Mr. F. But they enjoyed it just fine. I, however, was mystified by the whole thing.

Just when I thought I'd seen everything...