Expecting the Call

Tuesday. Third period, prep period. 

I was covering a teacher who had one period of business math and two periods of credit recovery. It was a fairly quiet day where my biggest concern was the cell phone usage. (They're supposed to put their phones away during class time. They didn't.) 

After first period (they're on a block schedule) is snack. And when I have that next class free, I usually don't run out to the restroom as I'll have time during class. But I felt a little push. Something told me to go during snack. 

The bell rang to start third period. I settled in. And then the classroom phone rang. And I just knew. 

Yup. Could I cover another class? Art. A teacher I had subbed for before (and who I've talked to many times). 

I mean, I get paid for the extra period. And it's not like it was a difficult class.

And it wasn't a difficult class. It was a scramble initially. The period had begun, and security had let the kiddos into the room. I was kinda late. (Not my fault if they call me after the class started.) 

There were no lesson plans on the desk. Clearly, this teacher had called out late. (This happens. It's likely why they didn't get her a whole day sub.) But, I know this teacher. I had the kiddos grab computers assuming that the lesson plans were online. Yup, the lesson plans were online. 

I knew where she kept her sub book. The seating charts were out. Once the kiddos got working, I looked at my computer to take roll as Allie had emailed me the attendance code, and she had also emailed the lesson plans. Which stated that the students needed to look online as their lesson plans were in Google Classroom. 

Experience is helpful. The class was settled and on task pretty quickly. 

(They were drawing sea shells. And doing some other tasks that they were behind on.)

It's been a couple years since working on prep periods happened most days. This seems to be coming back, though. While I rather like having the time without students, I also really like the extra pay. So I may grumble a bit, but I'm not terribly upset. 

I'm especially not terribly upset when the class is fairly mellow. 

And then after that I went back to the other fairly mellow class. Some days are not so interesting for the blog.

The Gardener

Friday. High school art. Seventh period.

It had been a fairly mellow day. The students had projects to finish. Most weren't, but they were chilled out on their Chromebooks. (As the following week was finals week, and final grades would be due in a week, I figured they were either done with their work or they had given up. As long as they didn't disturb the handful of kiddos who were clearly on task, I wasn't terribly concerned.) 

And that is how seventh period started. 

But, about 45 minutes into class (we're on a block schedule with 90-minute periods, so this was halfway through class), Ashton, a boy seated right in front of me, decided he needed to talk to the boy in front of him. He called him "BJ" but then changed that to "blowjob", informing me that was really his name. 

(While the boy's name did start with a B, neither his middle initial nor his last name started with a J. Nor was his name something like Benjamin, which would have made sense being abbreviated to BJ.) 

The boy ignored him, so Ashton got louder. 

When I stepped in, Ashton suddenly had to do his art project. He "needed" a leaf from outside. Fine, then. Go and get a leaf. 

Five minutes later, Ashton attempted to bring in a branch that was taller than him and about as wide. When I reacted as one would expect, he couldn't understand why I wouldn't allow him to bring this into class. 

He left only to return with part of the branch that he had pulled off of it. Still rather large. Not the leaf that he claimed to need. 

(His seat partner was with him, but he brought back a leaf and a flower and things that were more appropriately sized.)

Ashton kept getting up to go outside to get something else, and kept returning with branches. Huge ones. He put them on the desk of the girl behind him (until I told him to put his mess on his own desk) and he could not fathom why I was not pleased with what he was doing. 

Did he attempt to sketch what he had brought in the classroom? Of course not.

Ashton eventually cleaned up his mess, leaving most of what he collected in the trashcan right outside the door. 

And it was a mess. 

Not all ended up in the trash, though.

You can't really tell from the photos, but he had left leaves and other debris all over the ground there. 

The plant destruction wasn't great, but after class the teacher next door said that the tree really, really needed a trim, so this was a great excuse for him to use to complain to site maintenance. 

(I took all those pictures while talking to Mr. A.) 

I think Ashton thought he was funny. But on the bright side, this was a high school class. If I had had middle schoolers, I would have had bedlam. But, high schoolers? They barely reacted to all of this. (Which is probably why Ashton kept going bigger and bigger, hoping for a reaction from them.) 

Completely Useless

Tuesday. Digital art.

I arrived to the classroom to find the teacher there. It was an art meeting day where Mr. L was going to be close by, just out of class. This is not the first time I've encountered this setup. Just this school year I've done this five or six times. (There was math day, science day, and history day. Across different campuses.) 

Mr. L informed me that he'd be there for the first ten minutes of class to get the kiddos going. And then he'd go back to his meeting.

No problem. Again, I've encountered this situation before. 

The first block was a conference, so I covered a different class. I returned for the second block. and Mr. L wasn't around. No problem. I knew the gist of the assignment. 

Oh, the kiddos were thrilled Mr. L was out. I did warn them he planned to drop in, though.

I started to explain things, and that's when Mr. L appeared. He went over what they had to do. He took roll. And then he went back to his meeting.

For ten minutes. 

Mr. L returned. He had gotten leave to do the purchase orders he needed to do in the classroom. 

Uh... 

I mean, I'm there. I can watch the kiddos work. 

Anyway, throughout the day, Mr. L was in the class more than he was at his meeting. While I was kind of needed for those moments he was out of class, those windows got shorter and shorter. 

By 8th period, he didn't leave at all. (He told me that the teachers went out to lunch. He didn't want to go. So he remained in his classroom.) 

I was not needed. 

(There were a couple teachers not covered, hence why I had a class to cover on the conference. Things would have been so much better if I had taken one of those classes leaving Mr. L's classes to be period subbed. Since he was mostly there. But hindsight is 20/20.) 

With about a half hour left in the day, Mr. L told me I could go home. So I did. 

I mean, it was an easy day. But I felt pretty useless. Sigh. Better than some of the difficult days I've had.

Wild Boys

Tuesday. Seventh period. Middle school art.

I had covered this class once before. I had had some of these boys in other classes (most notably, a math class). I knew I was in for it.

I had a couple roamers. (I don't know what it is about some students not being able to stay in their seats.) I had a kid with a basketball (that I had to confiscate). I even had to stop kiddos from chasing each other (in a classroom!). 

It's an art class. It's not fair to the art teachers, but many of the worst behavior problems get stuck in the art classes. Usually it's because these students don't choose an elective, so they get put in one. 

But this is a story about Aspen.

Aspen is a small African-American boy. And he thinks that he's all that.

He was late to class. He was constantly out of his seat, instigating trouble, and not doing the quiz he was supposed to be doing. (It was the final.)

A couple times I lost track of him, and then I found him outside the classroom. Ugh. 

Most students know to ask if they want to leave the room. Even if they're just stepping outside to blow their nose or something, they indicate this to me.

Aspen? When I questioned him on why he was disappearing, he said the room was too warm. I pointed out that he could just take off his jacket. This he refused to do.

(The room was not too warm. I run warm. I was comfortable. If anything, the room was cool.)

Towards the end of the period, Aspen had disappeared again. I went to retrieve him only to find him being escorted back to class by security. Security even said that Aspen was out of control. Yup. Agreed.

So, security escorted him from the room. (Alas, I had other issues, so I didn't get much relief from him being gone.)

As I was walking to my car after school, I passed a group of middle school teachers (who I've subbed for at various times), two security guys, and Aspen. (One of the security guys was the one who had escorted Aspen from class.) 

Aspen was loudly protesting. What I gleaned from the bit I overheard (I did not stop, so it was a brief snippet) was that Aspen had jumped some kid (with a couple friends--three on one was what the teachers were saying), but Aspen was denying involvement. Loudly. He was denying involvement in a way that made it clear he was definitely guilty.

Ah. No wonder he was so wound up.

Sniping at Each Other

Digital art. Sixth period. 

It had been a weird art day. The classes were mostly silent. (Art classes are generally very talkative.) So, sixth period gave me a bit of culture shock when they weren't. 

Of course, the class was filled with mostly freshmen...

Two boys were sniping at each other from across the room. One insulted the other boy's hair. The other questioned the first boy's sports prowess. And on it went. 

Then:

Boy 1: "Stay in your corner, big man." (By his tone of voice, he meant "big" as "fat".)

Boy 2: "Stay at McDonalds, big man." 

This exchange got everyone's attention. It was repeated twice by others as some had missed the nuances. (Picture me shaking my head.) Someone chimed in to say that boy 2 was being racist. 

Boy 2: "Not gonna lie, that was kinda racist."

Another boy entirely: "You both are the same race!"

Ah, the joys of freshmen...

Addendum

Friday. Art. 

It was one of those boring days (so boring I brought along a project to work on) where the students do what they're supposed to do. I take roll, verify they're on task, and then I try to stay awake. 

Sixth period. Class went much like the rest of the day. 

I've started a new note system this school year. I created a Google doc where I can rate each class, list names for out of class, and leave a brief remark about anything needed. I can then email this to the teacher at the end of the day. 

So, on this day, I had completed my note, attached it to the email, and sent it off about ten minutes before the end of the period. 

The class had had an assignment in Google Classroom. (It was on line which is an element of art.) They had returned the Chromebooks to the Chromecart, and I was making sure they were all plugged in for the weekend (read: plugging them all in). That's when I heard the door. 

I turned, and sure enough, a couple students had slipped out of the classroom minutes before the end of the period. Grrrr. 

Such an event belongs in the note, but the note had been sent. 

Well, I guess the note needed an addendum. 

Rather than get a computer out or try to send it on my phone (I don't know the teacher's emails, but they pop up when I compose the email on computer; on my phone, their emails don't pop up), I grabbed a sheet of paper and wrote that out. 

I hate it when students slip out like that. (If a student must leave early, all they have to do is ask. If it's a reasonable request, I generally allow it.) It's cheating. And the teacher is definitely going to hear about it.

Four Doodles

As it was the first full week of school, the ceramics class hadn't yet been instructed on how to handle clay. Which meant that once they had done some of the intro lessons, there wasn't much more they could do in class. 

So, on Friday, I gave them the Four Doodles assignment. 

This is an assignment he does start the classes with every year. The ceramics 2 class (the group who had this class last year) recognized it. 

It went about as I expected it to. Some of them took the assignment seriously. Some of them half-assed it.

But I mention it because I thought some of you might like to try it. It's a great Zen-out type of mindless drawing. 

You'll need a pencil and a piece of computer or copy paper. Fold it half and then in half again, so you have four boxes each taking up a fourth of the page. 

Each of the boxes should be filled when this is complete. 

In the first box, fill it with circles and circles only. Big ones. Little ones. Varied or not. 

In the second box, fill it with squares made up of horizontal and vertical lines. Like, the first square is made up of only horizontal lines. Then next to it, the square is made up of only vertical lines. The sizes of the squares can vary. 

The third box is full of wavy lines. Start by dividing the box with a wavy line. Then to the right of this line, try to make a line parallel to it. Fill up all the space to the right with wavy lines. Then do the same thing to the left.

And finally, the last box is filled with any random lines you like. The only limit is THE LINES CAN NOT CROSS. The next line can go all the way up to the previous line, but it must not go across it. 

I totally would have created a couple of these, but alas I was busy doing teacher things--taking roll, answering the phone, and the other random things that tend to pop up when all I want to do is stare into space (or play on the computer). 

I hope you all have a peaceful weekend.

A Mother's Day Project

Mother's Day was Sunday. Last week, with Mother's Day approaching, I realized the class had to do some project for their mothers. 

So, I went online and searched for art projects that kids could do. These students are chronologically adults, but mentally they are very much still kids. 

I found one that I thought was very cute and totally doable for them. It was a butterfly that they used their handprints on to form the wings. I printed out the poem. We had paint in class. And on Tuesday we took the time to get them to do the handprints. 

They picked the colors they wanted. And they put their handprints on the page. 

(Two of the students didn't participate. Doris told us no, and considering how things went the last time we asked her to paint something, we let it go at that. And Natalie wouldn't leave her computer. Natalie is in foster care anyway, so she wouldn't have had a mother to give it to.) 

We let these dry overnight. Then the students were able to color and personalize these a bit more.

It was a good thing we did them early in the week. Jayden didn't come to school on Friday. (And I had enough warning to let him take it home Thursday.) 

Then, on Friday, I had them pack these into their backpacks in the morning. And then Jonas was picked up from school early. So his went home with him, too. 

I hope their moms liked our little project. It's too bad we'll be out of school for Father's Day as I'm sure we could have found something fun to do for their fathers as well.

Art Lesson

Since our CBIs were eliminated due to Covid numbers, I had some time to fill in class. Aide 1 suggested an art lesson using a YouTube video. I did not know there were videos out there going step by step in drawing things. 

Apparently, they had done this sort of thing before. And I thought it was a grand idea. Aide 1 sent me a link to one of the YouTubers, and I went through and selected a project I thought would be fun. 

The other classes at this school do more art than this class does. I guess because we're more focused on work skills and independence skills. But it's not a bad idea to have them do projects like this. 

As they demonstrated each step in the video, I'd pause and give the students a chance to replicate it. In the end we got some interesting finished emojis. (I had planned to take pictures to share, but things happened where I was unable to do this.) Pizza's finished emoji was purple and black and had some wild hair. 

It's nice to break out of the routine sometimes. 

No Wrong Way

The class has a program that has monthly lessons on it. As I planned out December, I noticed that one of the lessons had an art project that went along with it. I showed it to the IAs. They thought it would work nicely. We set about getting the materials we would need for it.

Then came the day of the project. 

They were making tissue paper candle holders, much like the ones like this (see link). Instead of getting glass jars, I found little plastic ones at Dollar Tree. And our instructions were for them to use LED tea lights like these. 

I projected the instructions on our screen. We passed out materials. And we set them loose. 

And every student glued the tissue paper differently. 

Some alternated the colors and did it lightly. Some attached the tissue paper in thick layers. Some put all one color together. 

And I didn't say a word about it. 

The IAs made comments. I pointed out that it was an art project, and that there wasn't really a wrong way to do it. However their candle holders came out was going to be just fine.

They made a bit of a mess, but I think they had fun with it. 

I wish I had taken pictures. Everyone's came out great. And each looked so different from one another. I didn't even contemplate how many ways they could make the project their own.

Art Class Drama

I was asked to cover an extra period after lunch. Middle school art. Insert groan here.

I ate my lunch in the classroom I was covering for the day. Then at the bell, I called to get security to unlock the door for me. (I've found that if I call before I leave my "home base", I don't have to wait as long for security to show up.)

When I got to the art room, the door was open. Security had arrived before me, and she had let the kiddos in the room already. I walked in, looking for the day's lesson plans.

That's when I spied Victoria. She's been on security at that school for years. She was hovering over a student, asking the crying girl if she wanted to go to the health office. The girl said she was fine.

After class got started, Jaci explained that the reason she was limping was because a boy had hit her leg at lunch. She had had surgery on her ACL not too long ago, and she wasn't fully healed. (She said it'd take a year to get fully healed with the implication that she was taking a year off her sport for this.)

Jaci bent and moved and figured no major damage had occurred. I told her she should report this boy. She said she wasn't going to get him into trouble. Apparently, he's been in enough trouble. My point was that since he deliberately injured her, he should suffer the consequences. She didn't agree.

If she doesn't report him, he's never going to learn. Sigh.

Jaci and the rest of the class got to work. They were creating "graffiti" versions of their names. They did the usual sort of stuff that middle schoolers do. I kept an eye on them. I didn't have to intervene too much, which meant things were going pretty well.

But then Kristen walked up to me. She was shaking, and she said that she needed to step outside. I do stop to question students when they make those sorts of requests unless it's obvious what's wrong. I waved her on.

I went to the group she was sitting with. What did they do? I had been watching them...

Jaci said Kristen was having a panic attack. Kristen sent her a text. And the group said they hadn't done anything.

It's possible I missed something subtle. But I'll believe the group unless Kristen says otherwise.

A short time later, Victoria came in to retrieve Kristen's stuff. I assume she went home.

All sorts of drama always in the middle school classes. At least it keeps it interesting.

In Search of Black

High school art. They had a "busy work" assignment...

The last thing a sub ever wants is a class with nothing to do. But there are times when the class isn't in the midst of anything (like a Tuesday after a four-day weekend after a big project was due), and the teacher has a last-minute necessary absence (like either she or one of her kids got sick). So, the class needs something to keep them busy.

The teacher had a word search and color page for just this contingency.

The color page was an interesting geometric figure. They could color it in or draw designs all over it. Easy points.

Fifth period, one girl went searching through the colored pencils looking for a good black. There were plenty of browns and navy blues, but the black pencils were all about an inch long (or shorter).

Me: "Black seems to be popular."

Student: "Well, this is a high school."

So true.

Rushing Through

Middle school art class. They were assigned an activity based on the flower paintings of Georgia O'Keeffe. Well, sort of.

The students were to observe photos of the paintings. Then they were to observe real flowers. And then they were to sketch a flower, hopefully influenced by O'Keeffe.

It's a great concept, but these were middle schoolers. Middle schoolers don't observe.

I'd barely finished explaining the assignment, and several were already "finished". Had they even looked at any of the flowers--real or painted? Nope. Several didn't have cell phones.

As happens sometimes, the students were encouraged to use their cell phones to find the images online. But many did not have cell phones. Half the class "needed" to go to the library.

I may allow a student or two to go to the library on occasion. But more than that, and I'm kind of pawning off my class on the librarian. I won't do it. So, once it became clear that they wouldn't be able to find the images on their own (and didn't have someone who would share with them--I find that claim dubious), I found a way to find images and project them for the whole class to see.

They were "finished" before I got the first image on the screen.

Mostly, ignoring the instructions, they traced the flower on the handout outlining the activity. And then played for the rest of the period. Typical.

Oh, and protip: Searching Google Images for Georgia O'Keeffe flowers yields some not safe for middle school results. I eventually found a video that did a decent job of giving an overview without my having to worry about the kiddos reading captions.

Simultaneous Generation of Ideas

Middle school graphic arts class. Because there was a sub, they were stuck doing bookwork. (And they didn't like that one bit. Let's just say it was an "interesting" day.)

Their assignment was to read an article about the guy who invented Flamin' Hot Cheetos (a snack many of them consume daily), answer some questions, and then:

Click on pic to make it bigger.

One of the classes was actually on task. They discussed ideas. (One table discussed grilled cheese ice cream. Ick!) And then one boy accused a girl of stealing his idea.

That was my cue to intervene.

The boy showed me his idea. Ramen noodles with bacon. (The kiddos are obsessed with bacon.) He explained that he went to show the girl (who was seated at a different table), and her idea was the same.

Only, it wasn't. She was doing a noodle thing as well, but it was something about double the noodles. No bacon involved. Because they were both noodles, the boy said they were the same.

I explained that the ideas were different. The girl hadn't stolen his idea. Assuming that they hadn't been in communication before drawing their pictures, they had stumbled upon the simultaneous generation of ideas, or multiple discovery. I talked movies, but if you Google those terms, you get all sorts of interesting articles.

The boy, however, continued to claim the girl had stolen his idea. As he was just complaining, I walked away and let him be. At a certain point, I'm not going to change his mind. And if he's not disturbing anyone (other than them having to listen to his continuous complaint), it's a waste of my time to continue to argue.

At the end of the period, I collected their work. As I neatened up the pile, I found that the boy hadn't turned in his work. After all that, he doesn't turn it in?

Middle schoolers. *shakes head*

Defeating the Vandal

Friday. (The 13th, as it was...) They had a test.

I was having a good day. The classes were cooperating. Things were going smoothly enough that I was able to get caught up with some of the grading.

(Yes, I was actually grading student work. It doesn't happen often. But with longer teacher absences, it's better to keep the students' grades up to date. It lets them know that what they do while I'm there counts, and more of them stay on task that way.)

So, I was in a good mood.

It was towards the end of 4th period. Students were finishing up their tests, and some were even doing the after-test assignment (which was starting the semester final review sheet).

I happened to look over at one student's desk, and I noticed him drawing. On. The. Desk.

(Students draw all the time. There's a great art department at that school. Sketchbooks frequently come out. This I don't mind.)

Um, seriously? The afternoon classes frequently complained of defaced desks. Early on, I found the cleaners so they could clean off their desks. I just hadn't caught any of the morning classes in the act before.

I growled at the student. (Not literally. But I did make my displeasure known.) I told him to stop. He dutifully got out a book. (But didn't do any work.)

I went to the closet, pulled out the desk cleaner, went back over to him, stood over him, squirted the "artwork", and proceeded to make it disappear.

Ah. That felt good!

The boy? He quietly (tests were still out) complained to his neighbors. I had ruined all his work.

Yeah, um, okay. If he really wanted to preserve it, wouldn't he have done it on something he could take with him? And this made me the bad guy? (I could have made him clean it up, so he really got a gift from me.)

Avoiding the Art

Special ed geometry. It was a good sized group, and they had an assignment that I thought was pretty cool.

They had been learning shapes--the specific shapes that one learns in geometry. Not just your garden variety square and rectangle, but the parallelogram, the rhombus, the kite, and the trapezoid.

The assignment had them using at least one of each in a design that they were to come up with. They got to draw it, color it in, and make it as creative as possible. The idea was to make it like a tile.

I passed out the assignment. And every single one of them turned it over to the back, where there was a word search.

I explained the assignment. It was fun! They got to draw. They just had to use the correct shapes. (I'm not much of an artist, but I would have loved an assignment like this.)

Them? They kept working on the word search.

So, I explained that the word search wasn't their assignment. Nope. It was worth nothing. The art project, however, was what they needed to do.

Reluctantly, they turned over the papers. Grumbled. Sketched out something. Complained that they'd rather do the word search.

via GIPHY

Some days, I wonder about them.

Have you ever thought something was so cool, but when you shared it with someone else, they looked at you like you were crazy?

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

Suffering by Comparison

Middle school art.

There are certain behaviors I expect when I get this sort of assignment. I expect the class to remain seated. I expect the class to have a project that they're working on. I expect to see decent progress being made.

I expect a certain amount of noise. Students talking while working isn't unheard of. I worry about things getting out of hand, but I allow a bit more noise in an art class than I normally would tolerate.

After lunch. The class filed in. Got into their seats. Sat facing forward. Watching me. Silently. Before the bell rang.

It was eerie.

I passed out their assignment before the bell rang. (All those eyes on me. Waiting.) I explained what they were to do. I released them to their work.

And they got to work. Silently.

I don't know who these children are, but there is some freaky magic going on with them. (It must be their teacher.)

The next period filed in. Sniping at each other. One girl kept saying one boy's name over and over and over again. I couldn't get them to stop talking long enough to explain their assignment.

One girl was so happy to see me. She said her teacher hated the class.

Um, yeah. I can see why.

(For the record: two really freaky quiet classes. One relatively normal art class. One class that started off freaky silent but they got talkative as the period progressed--in an entertaining way. And they were totally on-task. And the last group of the day was typical middle school. So, not a bad day on balance.)