Restroom Break

Tuesday. Fifth period.

It was the independent work portion of the period. I had gone over some problems (we've started the probability unit, so they were doing practice problems on things like, "How many possible ice cream cones can you make with 3 cone types, 5 ice cream flavors, and 3 toppings?"), and it was their turn to try them on their own. 

The students weren't having too much trouble with the concepts, so Ms. L and I were at the front of the room, waiting for questions. A student approached. 

"Jeff got in a fight. Now he's in the discipline office."

Both Ms. L and I looked over at Jeff's desk. His computer was open. His notes were sitting there. His backpack was leaning against the bottom of the chair. 

Ms. L: "He just left to go to the restroom..."

He hadn't been gone all that long. Definitely not long enough for either of us to be concerned. But now we knew he wasn't going to return.

Deep sigh.

(How did the student know? I assume that Jeff texted him, and he conveyed the information to us.) 

We continued on. At the end of the period, all the students cleared out. Jeff's stuff remained at his desk. 

After fifth period was lunch. Security arrived a few minutes into lunch to retrieve Jeff's stuff. (The computer belonged to the classroom, so I logged Jeff out and returned it to charge.) 

Some students give off a certain vibe. You know they're trouble. Jeff? Not so much. He's a good kid who's doing fairly well in class. So, I was shocked. But really, at that age, I shouldn't be that shocked.

Texting the Teacher

I collect teachers' cell phone numbers. Nowadays, they'll leave the number in the lesson plan "just in case". I don't bother them during the day, though. They're out of class for a reason, so I try to resolve issues on my own so as to not bother them. 

But there are exceptions.

Wednesday. Chemistry, fourth period.

It was my first class of the day. (We're on block schedule, and the teacher had a second period conference period.) Their lessons were posted in Google Classroom. They were to watch a video and do an online practice on reading molecular formulas. 

They logged in. And my worst nightmare happened. They couldn't access the lesson.

This is clearly an exception to the don't-bother-the-teacher rule.

I texted Mr. U immediately. Then I got working on a backup plan, but Mr. U got back to me right away. 

He figured out a work around. Rather than having them log in via Google Classroom, he had them use a different portal (called Clever) where teachers can link student accounts to various educational apps. 

And... that worked! It took a bit for the students to figure out how to access the app as it wasn't posted to their accounts, but Mr. U has a page... It'll take too long to explain. It made sense, and once I knew how they could access the lesson, I was able to explain it to those who didn't catch on (and to the classes in the following periods because they were going to have the same issue). 

I texted Mr. U back to let him know it was working (so he didn't have to find another work around), and the class got to work. 

Gone are the days when teachers just leave a worksheet for the class to complete. It's more complicated on the computers, but it also engages the students more, so they're more likely to do the work. And at least everyone having a cell phone is good for making sure technical glitches can be fixed (most of the time). 

A Modern Horror Story

When I checked in for the day, the school's secretary didn't hand me the usual paperwork. Usually I get a temporary log in for the school's attendance system.

I was informed that the internet was out.

Nowadays, the majority of the students' work is online. Teachers give lecture notes using slides. Assignments are uploaded to Google Classroom where the kiddos can complete and turn in without needing to touch a pencil. 

No internet was very bad news. But it would be back on shortly, right? 

At least, that's what I figured first period when I explained the day's assignment to the eighth graders. It was U.S. history, and the teacher had copied a paper packet for them to complete. As it was Black History Month, it was a packet on some African-American firsts. 

Unfortunately, they were supposed to use the internet to look up the answers. 

But, they had phones. They could look things up using their phones. And they could work together, so those who were without phones could work with someone who had a phone.

Because, the day they actually need their cell phones is the day that some of them don't have them. Naturally. 

We did not get internet back that day. I still don't know what knocked it out. 

At least the eighth grade assignment wasn't wholly dependent on the computers. Alas, the seventh grade assignment was.

The seventh grade world history class had notes and questions in their Google Classrooms.

Helpfully, the seventh grade classes were "advanced", meaning they're the ones more likely to do the work. And they tried.

There was one kiddo who shared his phone's hotspot with a couple other students, so they worked online. Some of them had Google Classroom on their phones, so they could access the notes that way. But others didn't have any way to access the day's assignments.

I assured them that no internet meant they wouldn't be penalized for not completing the assignment.

The joys of technology. We get dependent on it only for it to fail us. Sigh.

Phoning it In

Last Friday I ended up covering the eighth grade English class of the department chair (the one who gave me lesson plans for the first couple weeks while I covered that vacant English class). They're reading Lord of the Flies.

It used to be when kiddos were reading in class, it meant that they'd read aloud, a paragraph at a time, or they'd read it to themselves. But with so many audiobook options nowadays, it's more likely that they'll follow along while a professional reads to them.

(There are pros and cons to this, and most teachers change things up depending on the day. When there are subs, using the audiobook helps with classroom control so so much.)

But, of course, the teacher didn't leave her laptop, and the hook up for the classroom speakers was on the opposite side of the room from the desktop computer. And the Chromebooks were locked up. (Sigh.)

It was suggested that I use my phone.

(I am reluctant to use my phone as it's old enough that the battery doesn't hold a charge as long as it once did. And I didn't bring a charger with me.)

So, I typed the address into my phone. I eventually got the thing to work, but it took a while. (And it was touchy besides.) During which time, well, eighth graders don't wait well.

At least I got it working well enough so that I didn't have that same issue the rest of the day. Although, there were other issues...

(But it was a good way to spend the day seated rather than on my sore ankle.)

The teacher had left helpful Post-It notes where I needed to stop and ask questions. They had written work to complete. It was a great lesson, once the technical issues were worked out.

If you're curious (or would like to have an audiobook version of Lord of the Flies), you can find that here.

Which State?

Earth Science. Mostly freshmen, but there were sophomores, juniors, and seniors mixed in. I had been warned going in that they could be a handful.

The assignment was an earthquake risk map. They were to color in each state based on how many earthquakes had ever been recorded there. They were given all the data they needed to complete the map. Well, almost.

The map of the U.S. didn't label the states.

(It turns out that I actually can locate all the states on a map. This shocked me. I assume I learned it via this quiz. Because, I can tell you for certain I could not have done this when I was their age.)

This was going to be a problem. These are the kinds of students who will make a whole lot of mischief and a mess if left to their own devices. And being unable to complete the assignment would have turned the class crazy fast.

I scrambled to find a labeled map in their book. I checked the table of contents, the appendices at the end, but to no avail. I mean, the earth science book had plenty of various maps, just none of the U.S. with the states labeled.

So... I let them pull out their phones to look up maps. This class had a strict no phones policy, and these were the kinds of kiddos most likely to abuse any lessening of the rules. But there was no way I was going to give them an excuse not to work.

And the day went surprisingly well. Only a couple students abused my trust.

Then, in fifth period, I glanced at one student's desk. His earth science book was open to a map with all the states labeled.

IT HAD BEEN IN THE BOOK THE WHOLE TIME!

I did not have to allow phones.

via GIPHY

To be fair to me, I don't look at their books often. And this map was a random natural resources thing buried in the middle of some random chapter. I probably could have found it if I had had time to flip through the book...

Still, it would have made things go so much smoother if I could have pointed that out earlier.

Sigh. At least I didn't have to let sixth period use their phones.

Losing Their Phones

"I didn't charge it last night, because I'd rather have it dead if I have to give it up."

Second period. It was Tuesday, Election Day, but that's not what had all the students in a dither. It was the day they were going to give up their cell phones.

And they weren't happy about it.

Psychology. It's an elective class. And for a week each semester (it's a semester-long course), the teacher has them turn in their cell phones. I'm not sure what the rationale is, but I'm sure you'll agree that it's a very good idea.

They had plenty of warning. A letter goes home to the parents. And that night their homework assignment was to write two paragraphs detailing how not having their phones made them feel.

I don't usually get to witness these things. But, Mr. T had a student teacher, and the student teacher was entrusted with collecting the phones. The students put their names on their phones via sticky notes, and the student teacher locked the phones away (out of the view of the students, so they have no idea where the phones were stored).

"My girlfriend is going to think I'm cheating on her."

I questioned why the boy hadn't alerted the girlfriend to his imminent loss of phone. She goes to a different school, so they'll have no way of talking for a week. I'd have thought someone would want to let people know they'd be without phone in that case.

Other students wondered how they'd wake up in time for school. They use their phones for an alarm clock. Again, that's something I would have thought they'd plan for. But what do I know?

They whined the whole period. They were going to miss their music. (One girl planned on finding her old iPod. She wondered what music she had loaded on it.) They constantly asked the time. (There was a clock on the wall.)

The student teacher pulled out his phone just to mess with them.

By the time you read this, they'll have gotten their phones back, the week complete. I hope they learned something from this. Too bad I won't be there to find out.

But before we get all "these kids today" on them, it was Election Day. And, it turned out that two of them had voted before school. Considering that only a handful of students are currently 18, I was impressed.

A Friendly Reminder

It's nearing the end of the year. The 7th grade history students had been given a year-long project at the beginning of the school year. It was time for them to present (in front of the class) what they'd done.

Most of the presentations had been done the prior week. A few stragglers still had presentations to make up.

(The class was being taught by a student teacher, so things could go on as normal even though the full time teacher was out of town.)

Class had barely started. The student teacher called on a student. "You're presenting today."

"I know!"

Normally, the tone the student used and the fact that he rolled his eyes would be a these-kids-today-are-terrible post. But not today.

The prior day, the student had been pulled out of class. He had a doctor's appointment or some such--something he had no control over.

At the end of the period, someone in class thought it might be a good idea to remind the student that he'd be presenting the next day. The student teacher asked if anyone had the student's cell phone number. It turned out that over half the class did. (A class of 37 students.)

So, every student who had the kid's number texted him to "let him know" he'd be presenting first. They figuratively blew up his phone. According to the student teacher, the later texters were getting responses of "I know!". I imagine with appropriate emojis.

Middle school teachers have a wicked sense of humor.

(His presentation went very well. He did an awesome job.)

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?

A Dictionary App

It was the third time in two weeks that I'd covered the 11th grade English class at the continuation high school. This day, they were doing a first read of excerpts from "Song of Myself" by Walt Whitman.

First up, I asked the class to define ten vocabulary words their teacher had left for them. They were allowed to use their phones to find the definitions.

(Having students look up definitions on their phones has become common practice in the last couple years. Before anyone gets "these kids today" about this, just think about how you'd rather find a definition or check spelling on a word. You're going to use your phone or a computer, right?)

The continuation high school has many students who have tuned out. They may attend class (although many rack up the absences), but they're there under protest, and they refuse to do anything. But nowadays, rather than spend a period antagonizing me, they spend the period glued to their phones--texting, Snapchatting, Instagramming, and watching videos.

(Depending on various factors, I may or may not choose to do battle over the phones.)

Jake is one of those. I think he has a phone addiction as much as that device is glued to his hand. So, I thought looking up words on it would be right up his alley...

"I don't want to go on Safari..." he whined.

He's glued to his phone, and he doesn't want to use his phone...? OMFG!

But, I had a solution. "You know, there are dictionary apps..."

A few minutes later, I noticed him texting. He explained he was waiting while the dictionary app downloaded. Sure enough, there was now a dictionary app on his phone. Hooray?

He even defined a couple of the words. (Although, not all ten...) Until he got bored of the whole endeavor and put his head down on his desk. Deep sigh.

Ximena's Help

Um, yeah, so I'm totally cheating today. The girl in the story--not named Ximena. Although, I do generally change students' names. (They are minors, after all.) And I have run across a girl named Ximena. She's three years younger and a pleasure to have in class. Not blog-worthy at all.

(In case you're wondering, her name is pronounced "humena", so my title is an alliteration. Kind of.)

I was back at the continuation high school. It's been a while. The computer class. They were working on computer literacy, career planning, or the yearbook. Every class had some of both (although there was only one period of yearbook).

And, of course, there were the ones not working on any of the above. Even though they should have been. This was the continuation high school, after all.

But the boy was on task. It was an assignment on workplace safety. Things like how should one lift something and how one responded to fire alarms. He called me over to ask the answer to the last question, which was something about what causes back pain.

He chose an answer and hit "submit" for the whole thing. He got 79%. He needed 80% to pass. Helpfully, the submission screen gave him a list of what he'd gotten correct and what he'd missed. But he couldn't go back and fix his answers.

I wandered away. The next time I returned, I discovered the boy and Ximena working on the assignment again. Redoing it. Only this time, they were utilizing Ximena's phone. She had pictures of various screens--the question screens and the submission screen.

Um... Cheating...?

No, they said. These were the boy's answers. Ximena had just taken a picture. Of his answers. And whether they were correct or not. So, they could retake the questions and get them all right this time.

Deep sigh. Well, at least it was on task.

That next time through, he got 83%. So, he passed. And as that was the last assignment for the class. He had finished.

It just kinda left me with an odd feeling.

Would you consider that cheating? Or, was he just redoing his own work? What did you post for X today? Did you cheat, like me?

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

Caught with Cell Phone

Friday. I had a very small, very well-behaved ELL class. (ELL stands for English language learners, meaning that they're fairly new to the country and not all that fluent in English yet.) The first thing on the agenda was SSR. (Silent sustained reading, meaning that they're supposed to pull out a book and read for 10-15 minutes.)

Most had books. A couple of the students explained that they usually read on their phones. This is not the first time I've heard this, so I allowed it. (Making sure they were reading books and not texting, of course.)

The room got silent. They were all reading. So, I got busy with something else. (I don't remember what. I was either writing something or reading something.)

Then the assistant principal and a counselor walked in. As is usual, a pair of them will walk into class to do a "dress code check". I recognize what they're there for right away, so I nod when they tell me. They gaze around the room and generally they walk right back out. Which is what they did this time.

It was only after they left that I remembered--two of the students had cell phones out. Um...

I had kind of hoped not to be caught allowing cell phones out. But then again, more and more teachers are using them in their lesson plans. And it wasn't like the students were goofing off.

But still, I felt like I had been caught doing something I shouldn't have been. Even though I didn't get into trouble for it.

His Soundtrack

In the chaos of passing period, I wasn't sure from where the blaring music came. Someone walking in playing music loudly via a speaker attached to his phone. Before I had a chance to investigate or protest, the music stopped and the bell rang. It was time to start class, and I had their attention.

It was Monday. 12th grade English. They had a day to read. And most of them got right to it.

(Most had physical books. A couple came in with ereaders. And a few read on their phones. Cell phones aren't totally evil. And yes, I did check to make sure they were reading and not goofing off.)

One boy asked to go to the library to check out a book. I didn't see why not...

I'm not sure why I followed him out the door. I might have been shutting it (to keep the air conditioning in the room. I prop open doors during passing so students know to come in). But I got there just in time to hear the music blaring from a speaker he held.

Um, classes were in session. And were probably disturbed by the noise.

The other students had no idea what to make of this, either. They said they'd never seen (or heard) him do this before.

Ah well. It spiced up the note a bit.

Anyone have any idea what he was doing? Any clue?

The Notes

When given the option of several teachers, I pick the teacher who has the calculus class. Because easy. These are the kiddos that don't generally give a sub any problems.

But, a school only needs a couple periods of calculus to cover all the students who want to take it. The calculus teacher usually teaches other math subjects as well. Statistics. Math analysis (a.k.a. pre-calculus). Business math...

The kiddos need to take a math class beyond geometry. Those who are more academically inclined take algebra 2. Those who aren't take business math.

So, the business math class had notes. That they could access on their phones. And suddenly, the kiddos weren't sure how to get their phones to work. Because, they all said that their phones didn't do that.

But I had an instructional aide. Miraculously, she was able to get the notes to come up on just about every phone in the room. Hmmm...

Did they all take down the notes and do the assignment? Of course not.

Full Disclosure

How much should a sub tell the class about a teacher's absence?

Most of the time this is a non-issue. I don't know where the teacher is and I admit as much to the class. (I could, of course, lie and make up a story, but that's just not me.) But there are times when I do hear something...

All Ms. P said in her email was that she had to see her dentist. That was the part addressed to the principal. The rest of the email contained the lesson plans for the day.

Do I say she has an appointment? Do I say she has an emergency? Do I say she's seeing the dentist? It's hard to know how much she tells them. It's hard to know how much she wants me to relate.

Algebra 2. 1st period. The class arrives...

"Did you see the picture?"

"I didn't click on the link..."

This conversation and the students expecting to see a sub led me to inquire further. Turns out the teacher sent them an alert that she wasn't going to be in class. She included a selfie. She broke a crown, and... Well, it looked painful.

What? I asked to see the picture. Several students were willing to show me.

Well, now I don't have to worry about how much info to share with them.

Trivia Crack

Business math. This is a class filled with juniors and seniors who need an extra year of math but don't want to take a class like algebra 2 or calculus.

The teacher has uploaded all the necessary notes to the school's website. And she's obtained permission for her classes to use their smartphones to access those notes in class.

Cool, right?

In theory. In practice...

"My phone can't access the site."

"I don't have a phone."

"The file's too big for me to download."

Of course, there are examples in the textbooks too. I could help them out. They could double up and get the notes along with a friend who has a phone that will work. Two boys asked for and were granted permission to go to the library to access the Internet there. But what did the majority of the class do?

Trivia Crack.

Apparently, their phones work just fine for the Trivia Crack app.

"It's educational..."

And it's the last day before a four-day weekend. And they have a sub. And they're not that into math anyway.

Sounds Like

7th grade world history. They were working on a project about China.

A student asked if he could look something up on his phone. He needed to find an image of something so he could draw it for his project. (They were creating "scrolls" of Chinese inventions.) So, once I said yes to one, I had to say yes to the rest of them.

Surprisingly, they all used their phones for their assignment. (Well, mostly. There was the incident of the boy who took an unauthorized picture of a girl...) They were looking up maps. They were looking up images...

One boy gave Siri a query: "Images of ships."

Siri gave him images of chips.

The boy was not happy. Others in the class chimed in on how hit and miss Siri can be. I figured the room had a bit too much noise for Siri to make out what the boy was asking. So, I suggested that the boy emphasize the "sh" sound...

The boy didn't get images of ships. But what he got images of did start with sh...

(I really should have seen this one coming.)

"Who takes pictures of their poop?"

Who indeed?

Succumbed

I warned the class about cell phones. They are supposed to be put away and silenced so that the students are not tempted to use them during class. But I think some students are so used to having them in their hands that they can't seem to relinquish them.

English class at the continuation high school. They were given a sheet with their assignment on it--the usual sort of read-a-story-out-of-the-book-and-answer-questions deal. I went through these instructions point by point.

Part of the assignment was to copy the vocabulary words for the story. This is common enough that the students copied the word and definition even though that's not what the instructions said. They were to copy the word, the part of speech, and write one synonym for each term.

"What's that?"

(Synonym was helpfully defined in parentheses on the instructions page.)

I indicated thesauruses. Some used those. Some figured out synonyms from the definition. Some didn't bother to do the assignment.

One girl was struggling. I mentioned thesaurus. But her phone was on her desk...

I shouldn't have...

"Or you could type 'define appreciate' into Google..."

Because synonyms pop up, too.

She did. Completed that portion of the assignment.

And I hang my head in shame.

Dictionary Dilemma

It was a senior English class. The assignment was a group thing. They were to write a rhetorical précis based on some reading they had done.

At the bottom of the page was a list of twelve vocabulary words. (At the moment I can't recall what they were, but they were good words.) They were supposed to do their "usual" vocabulary assignment (something about boxes with definitions and pictures and sentences and such).

About half way through the period, a boy approached. He wondered if I'd let them look up the words on their phones as opposed to getting out the dictionaries.

Sigh. On the one hand, this doesn't bother me. They're using their phones for academic purposes (not Instagramming their activities in class or texting their friends about the weekend party). This is the wave of the future. There are so many things the students can do with their phones that support their learning.

But when he asked, I immediately flashed to the last time this subject had come up.

So, do I stick with the old guard and insist on dictionaries? Or do I realize that these 12th graders know the dictionary skills and let them get to the important part of the assignment--learning some new words?

(I let them use their phones. That's how they'll do the work in college, anyway.)

What do you think? Should I have insisted on dictionaries?