Three Days at the Continuation High School 13

After finishing up the long term in the English class, I was able to snag three days at the continuation high school. The last time I was there was December. And, things went about how I'd expect. As none of those things were terribly blog-worthy, I figured this was a good opportunity to do a Thursday 13. Because while nothing that happened merited a full blog post, it was an interesting three days. 

ONE

My long term ended on the day the internet went out for the entire district. So, I could not do the grading I had intended to do before leaving. But Tuesday the internet was fine, and the classes were small in the computer class, so I was able to finish that stuff off. I still had access to the class (that hadn't been turned off yet), and I was on district time... 

TWO

On Tuesday I covered Mr. M's class. One of his periods is orientation. That is the class the newbies take first, right when they are first transferred in to the school. 

At the beginning of May, I lost a student in one of the English 11 classes. She dropped suddenly. So, when I saw her name on the orientation's roll, I was not surprised. 

She asked about Ms. A's class. I told her that my last day had been yesterday. 

THREE

I had a prep period. On Mr. M's bookshelf happened to be a copy of The Great Gatsby. I had missed out on reading the last two chapters in the English 11 long term. (Timing.) So, I took the time and read them. Of course, I only read them once, whereas I read the other chapters four times (this go around), but at least I got to actually finish it. 

FOUR

Seventh period, credit recovery. The kiddos worked on various assignments in various subjects that they needed to earn credits for. (Classes that they had failed the first time through.) A boy sitting near the teacher's desk was working on math. 

I watched him get out his phone, take a picture, and then input something into the software. Deep sigh...

I pointed out that what he was doing was cheating. I told him to put away the phone. He could do it on his own. He explained that he knew the material, but he wanted to get it done quickly. 

I sat with him and helped him. And no, he didn't know the material. But, he caught on as we worked through a few of the problems. 

He was not the only student I had to urge to do their own work and not rely on "help" from their phones. 

FIVE

As I left school on Tuesday, a couple students caught my attention. After school, there's an occupational program that students can sign up for. (These students were taking the childcare class.) 

The two students had been in Ms. A's class. They complained that I had left them. I reminded them that I had hit my max number of days, that I had warned them of my leaving, and that Ms. A was to return the next week. They said I should return to the class. I told them they'd see me around as this wasn't a goodbye, but more of a "see you around". (Ms. E was there, and she agreed that I was around a lot so I wasn't going away.) 

SIX

Wednesday and Thursday I covered Mr. A. He was chaperoning two field trips. On Wednesday, they went to Disneyland. On Thursday, the L.A. County Fair. Which shrunk the classes a bit as many of the students had gone. 

SEVEN

Mr. A teaches two periods of woodshop, two periods of graphic arts, one period of leadership, and a video editing class. The woodshop has its own room. The other classes are in a different classroom. 

When there's a sub, due to safety issues, the woodshop class meets in the room where all of Mr. A's other classes meet. They do know this, but I still did put a note on the door to alert the students to go to the other room for class. 

EIGHT

On Wednesday, I was surprised to have no students in first period. Sure enough, though, a student did arrive late. By a couple minutes. 

Upon a couple minutes of conversation, I discovered that the kiddo had been on time, but had been waiting beside the woodshop to go in. Sitting on a bench. Then he remembered Mr. A had gone on the field trip and that he had to go to the other classroom. 

At no point did the student notice the sign I left on the door...

NINE

Fifth period leadership. I perused the names on the roll, and I was surprised by one. Well, not all that surprised... But I had just seen him at one of the traditional high schools. Okay, so that was in January. Of course, he was not in class that day. Probably for the best.

TEN

Wednesday was advisory day. I read over their announcements, which were all about graduation stuff. Student had a serious question for me. What was he supposed to do after graduation? Was he required to go to college? 

We ended up having an interesting conversation about him. He's been doing computer coding, and he's already making decent money at it. As for what he should do with the rest of his life, I had no answers for him. I replied with a question: what do you want to do? 

ELEVEN

On Thursday we were supposed to have even fewer students. When no one showed up to first period, I went looking to make sure no one was waiting at the other classroom. That's when I ran into the teacher next door, and we got to talking. For the whole period. 

I was in his room, but the two rooms had a connecting door. It was open. At some point, a student did arrive. Late. I only learned this at the end of the period when he left as he gave me his late pass. 

I mean, technically I was supervising him, as the door was open. And he knew what the assignment was as it was the same as the day before. And, as the day before, he didn't do it. (He was late on Wednesday as well.) 

TWELVE

As I headed to the restroom on our break, I learned that the school now has a pickleball court. Four of the teachers were playing. I asked another teacher if the pickleball court was for the students or the teachers. I was told both, but it appeared that the teachers were enjoying it more. 

THIRTEEN

Sixth period was video editing. Apparently the kiddos have a screening of the film they've been making next week. On Wednesday they did little to nothing (even though I pointed out they were supposed to be working on their poster). Then Thursday, when the experts were there (able to actually direct what needed to get done), they got quite a lot of work done. I'd've been more upset at the lack of work on Wednesday, but the editor had been on the field trip. I can't really blame him for enjoying Disneyland. 

Anticipation

Friday. The continuation high school. Technically, the class was woodshop, but due to safety concerns, we were in the teacher's other classroom where he teaches graphic arts. 

I don't know why the topic of prom came up other than they do start talking about it as early as October. 

Cole: "Are they going to have a DJ?"

Wanda: "Yes. Me. I'm going to DJ prom."

Cole: "Oh, well, then I'm not going..."

And the rest of the class erupted in laughter. 

Deep sigh. 

Cole: "There'll be like eleven, twelve people there..."

Yeah, I don't think so. 

Prom is popular. If it wasn't, they would have stopped having it by now. There'll be a crowd. And the way Wanda talked, it sounds like she's a professional DJ. I'm sure she knows what she's doing.

Kids are cruel. And I imagine Cole will be eating his words.

Don't Date High School Boys

Winter break is over, but because I'm always posting last week's stories, I've pulled this week's posts from before the break. 

It was the last day before the winter break. Sort of. The continuation high school had to attend the Friday while the rest of the schools in the district were off. (They did a weird thing with the calendar this year.) But it was my last day, as no teachers from the continuation high school were going to be out.

And, as with all of December, I was again covering an extra period.

Which was unusual. This teacher had an emergency and had to leave early. (I heard it was a chipped tooth or something similar.)

For those keeping score, this gave me my second bonus day for the month.

Anyway, the class (there were like seven present) were busy watching their phones, mostly. They had a project, but most had already checked out mentally for the break. However, the room was dead silent.

So, I could hear Warren's entire conversation. It was all about his 22-year-old girlfriend and all the *ahem* things they did together. Yes, he was talking about sex. He was in the middle of relating one escapade when he looked up.

"Yes, we are listening. You can hear a pin drop in here. We can hear you."

Nope, that wasn't me. That was Jason. Jason M. No, not music Jason. (Music Jason is Jason C.) Jason M. is more of a gamer. (Certain names are popular. As I frequently have both Jasons in class at the same time, I am quite good at remembering which Jason is which.)

Jason M. was seated right in front of me. And I was grateful he spoke up. I gave Warren a glare.

"You might want to pick another topic," was all I said.

Warren didn't. He tried talking more softly, but the room was silent. I caught the gist of it.

All I could think was, why would a 22-year-old date a high school boy? (Warren says he's 18. I'm inclined to believe him. It's likely true.) Doesn't she realize that everything they do will be discussed with his friends? In class.

Probably not. If I knew who she was, I'd give her a heads-up.

My email to their teacher was short:

Yeah, so they didn't do a whole lot. No issues other than that. Although, we heard way more about [Warren's] sex life than I care to know. (He's dating a 22 year old.)

His reply was about the same: 

Wow...ok thanks for the heads up...I will talk to them

And revenge is sweet. I did warn Warren to find a different topic. If he's okay putting his business on front street, I'm okay letting Mr. A know that's what was discussed in his absence. (If Mr. A embarrassed him, all the better.) 

X-tra

I was back at the continuation high school. I swear, some of these things only happen there...

Yasmine walked in late. I explained the assignment to her. She explained that she didn't do the work, that she only was in the class to make T-shirts, which she wasn't doing that day.

(It's the graphic production class--read: computer assisted art class--and some of the students are on other projects.)

Yasmine told me she'd be watching a video, which is what she does most days. Alas, many in this class just waste their time in this way, so it's a battle I don't fight anymore.

We were twenty minutes into class. The room was silent.

Yasmine pulled out her phone and spoke to someone. Now, she wasn't loud, per se, but in a silent room, I could hear everything. I'd love to report what she was talking about, but alas, her conversation was in Spanish. Something about mesa. That's all I caught.

It sounded like whoever she was talking to wasn't getting what she was saying as she repeated it a couple times. Then she hung up in a huff and put her phone in her back pocket.

I had been giving her a death glare the whole time, but she was oblivious. So, I gently explained that next time she should take her phone calls outside of class.

"Why? It's cold out there. They're not doing anything. I wasn't bothering anybody."

Um, the silent class? Yeah, I think we all heard your conversation. But, the other students would never say.

Me: "You were bothering me."

"What? You aren't doing anything either."

Um, well, I guess monitoring the class is nothing...

"You're so extra..."

Uh huh. Extra. If you hadn't realized, "extra" is an insult. (Although, it could be a compliment in a different context.)

*Before I get the usual "cell phones should be banned" comments, let me explain something. I could have totally sent her out and had her phone confiscated for this. I did not because I didn't feel it was worth the trouble. True, this is why many of the students at this school have the phone issue. But then again, many of them ended up at this school due to things like their attitude, and as the phone wasn't out again, I didn't think making it more of an issue would help matters in the slightest. 

**And yes, I totally cheated for X. Don't we usually? Show of hands: How many of you (who are doing the A to Z Challenge) cheated on their X post? I so couldn't resist when being called "extra" by a student. It kind of fell into my lap.

Have you ever been called "extra"? Do you know what "extra" means, slang-wise? What was your favorite insult when you were a teen?

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

High

Period three. I was back at the continuation high school. A student bounded into class. High energy. And he told everyone why...

"I did so much Ecstasy, I haven't slept in three days...

"I am so high...

"I'm, like, addicted, but it's so expensive that I can't get addicted..."

To which another student replied, "I was there last week..."

My reaction:

via GIPHY

Lesson Plan Suggestion

Graphic arts at the continuation high school. The students have various projects to work on on computers. So, when there were no lesson plans, I figured no big deal. They had a project to continue, I was sure.

When first period walked in, I asked them what they were working on. And they told me that Mr. A gave them new things to work on daily...

(They have all the equipment to do things like engrave plaques and embroider insignias on shirts. Frequently they're doing projects for various district employees and official district-type stuff.)

One of the joys of modern communication--I emailed Mr. A and asked him what he wanted his kiddos to do. Some time later, he showed up, and he gave the class an assignment. (He had meant to write the plans on the board before he left the prior day, but he had forgotten. The prior day had been back to school night, so he was understandably busy.)

So, for that period and all subsequent periods, I knew what they were to work on. And it was a brand new assignment, so no one was "done".

The next class came in. "Oh, that's not for us." The following class? They didn't pretend the assignment wasn't theirs. They just made no pretense at all of doing it.

Um, yeah. If I had known they were just going to ignore the assignment, I wouldn't have worried. Or contacted their teacher to get an assignment. Sigh.

Almost Alone

Passing period before 3rd period at the continuation high school. The teacher was out chaperoning a field trip to Crystal Cove for their citizen scientist program. (There's a video about it here.) And I was awaiting all six kiddos on the roster.

And waiting.

The bell rang... and I was still alone.

via GIPHY

I marked everyone absent. I couldn't quite believe I had a "free" period.

And then a student walked in. One student.

Well, one is better than none. At least I no longer felt like I was cheating.