Clatter

It's not only this summer that I've had my idiot moments. For today's #ThrowbackThursday, I found another time I did something so brilliantly stupid I blogged about it. This post originally appeared October 6, 2010.

Today was day two of the CAHSEE, the math day.

It was session 1. The students were working, the room was silent, and I was feeling yesterday in my legs. I needed to sit down.

I took an unused chair and moved it to the back corner of the gym. I had a good view of all the students.

Then, a girl raised her hand. I jumped up...only to get my pencil caddy caught on the chair, tipping it over and dumping all the pencils on the gym's hardwood floor. Did I mention it was silent in the gym? I made a bit of noise.

I hadn't taken two steps when one of the other proctors got to the girl and answered her question (she needed to use the restroom). I bent down to pick up the dozen or so pencils that were all over the floor.

Surprisingly, only one pencil broke. Yesterday, I dropped two pencils (just clumsy) and both got their points broken off.

After that, I figured that I should probably remain standing. Although, I probably could have just put the pencil caddy away. I gave out very few pencils today.

Interesting Choice

CAHSEE day. Ms. B was in charge.

I was doing my normal walk of the room when I spotted her. She was a normal teenage girl in normal teenage attire. She was wearing a pair of sandals with socks underneath. Pink socks. With an interesting leaf design...

Um, really?

High school dress codes can be a bit over-the-top. Banning spaghetti straps, for instance. Or the ban on non-natural hair colors. And of course there's frayed or oversized clothing. (That one is because of its association with gangs.)

But there are certain things in the dress code that make sense. Like banning drug images. Marijuana leaves? That shouldn't even be a question.

Especially when one is going to be in a room with the strictest assistant principal at the school. I mean, come on! Did the girl really think Ms. B wasn't going to notice?

Ms. B let the girl finish her test, and then as soon as she was ready to leave, Ms. B pounced.

I'm sorry, but she had it coming. I guess she wanted to push the boundaries. And the boundaries pushed back.

Denied

CAHSEE testing. It's actually one of my favorite gigs.

It was the first time the sophomores got to take the thing. Which meant every sophomore on campus was testing. Around 240 of them were testing in the gym. So, there were six of us subs to help proctor (along with an assistant principal and the counselors).

Each of us subs were assigned a station. We checked in about 40 students. At the end of the testing, we checked those same 40 students out.

The test is untimed, so there are always a few who take up to five hours.

All but one of my students had finished and checked out. The sub next to me got her final student checked out. She turned in her answer sheets to the assistant principal. The assistant principal released the sub.

There were three students left in the gym. One was mine.

He raised his hand...

I went over. He said he was finished. I checked (as is my responsibility) to make sure he had filled out everything. Name. Version number. Serial number. Questionnaire...

At the end of the test there's a 15 question thing asking the students how they studied, et al, as kind of a statistical thing I assume.

The boy hadn't filled out the questionnaire. I turned on my polite face and explained that he needed to finish that up before he could leave.

I swear, I put on my polite face. I did not growl at him. Even though I kind of wanted to.

He apologized for missing it. I assured him it was no big deal. He just had to finish it. Before he could go.

Before we both could go.

(It doesn't take more than a couple minutes.)

I mean, it's not like it was the end of the day or anything. I was getting to leave early. I could wait a couple more minutes...

The Famous Pencil Pouch

It's that time of year again. CAHSEE time!

We had gotten all the kiddos checked in, and the assistant principal in charge of the testing was giving the usual instructions. I was doing one of my circuits around the gym, through the tables, making sure the students were all clear on what identifying information they needed to fill out (name at top, version number of test).

Along with six subs, all the counselors and a couple teachers were in the gym. While doing our individual circuits, our paths crossed.

At one point, my path crossed the principal's. (I guess he was checking on the proceedings.)

"Where's your pencil pouch?" he asked.

"In my bag. I'll get it out once they get started," was my reply.

Yeah, even the principal knows about my pencil pouch...

Scenes from the Testing Room

It's that time of year again. CAHSEE testing time!

*Crowd cheers.*

False Alarms

Cell phones are an issue, especially at the continuation high school. Before we started, I had one battle. ("If you insist on having that phone out, your test will be invalidated and you'll be kicked out.") I kept an eye peeled...  

Girl looking down at her lap. Fingers moving. I moved to a vantage point behind her...to find that she was picking at her nails.  

Boy had something in his lap. Just as I was ready to pounce, he brought the item up to his face. Lip balm.  

Bored

The students who finish session 1 quickly have to wait for the rest of the group before we start session 2. (After they finish session 2, they get to leave.) One boy asked for scratch paper--which I did not have.  

So, necessity and all, he rolled up his sleeve, exposing his arm. He got out a pen...  

Well, that's one solution.  

(About that time I realized that since the test booklet could be used as scratch paper for the test, there was no reason he couldn't draw all over it. Saved his arm, just in the nick of time.)  

Asleep

The CAHSEE is untimed. But that doesn't mean the students get to sleep when they should be working. (I don't get to go home until all tests are finished, so I watch out for sleepers.)  

His head wasn't down on the desk. He started off by staring into space. As sometimes the students do that (they then figure out whatever and get back to work), I moved on. I looked back at him later, and his eyes were closed.  

I walked over, and just before I reached him, he awoke. Apparently, he was just resting his eyes for a moment.  

A pretty sedate testing session. Not that I mind. It's certainly better than encountering a big freaking cockroach.