Can't Sit Still

For the last three days of the semester (the last three days before winter break) I caught a special ed assignment. Ms. D is a co-teacher, so I was expecting to be all over the place. What I got was a day in one classroom proctoring the final for two different seventh grade math classes. 

(Ms. D co-teaches seventh grade math with two different teachers. On test days she takes the special ed kiddos to another room. The special ed students test in a different room to help them focus.) 

Fifth period. 

I had seven students testing with me. They could have spread out in the room, but they sat in groups of two. The final was online, so once I verified that they had logged in, I sat back and watched. 

Calvin couldn't sit still. He changed position a couple times. He found a loose chair, pulled it up next to him, and then twisted so he was half in that chair and half in his desk. Then he started humming.

I warned Calvin that they were taking a final and he shouldn't be humming. He found he did not like the seat he was in and he wanted to move. I had a classroom of more than thirty desks, so I told him to pick another one. He did.

Then the humming started in earnest. "Last Christmas". I reminded him that not only was he testing, but the other students in the room were testing as well. 

Eventually, he finished his final. I was to keep the kiddos with me (rather than sending them back to their usual classroom which is usually what happens, but finals), so I allowed them to be on their phones. 

Calvin? Found "Last Christmas" and played it. Sigh.

I told Calvin that the room still needed to be quiet for the other students who weren't finished. He didn't get my point. And the shifting and squirming and such he was doing before became constant movement. 

It was a long, long period.

The next day when I talked to the general ed teacher, Ms. M, she asked how the final went. When I mentioned some difficulty, she had one reply. "Calvin?" Yup. She got it in one. 

I asked if he had ADHD. Because, seriously. Of course he did. 

I hope he matures out of some of these behaviors. Because special ed doesn't necessarily mean difficult kiddos. But seventh graders? Yeah, some of this is his age.

The Poll Numbers

Sometimes teachers will leave their cell phone numbers for us subs just in case. I try not to use it as I don't want to bother them, but sometimes...

The first class of the day had a quiz. I told them to put their notebooks away. And they vehemently objected, stating that they were allowed to use notes. So, I texted Ms. S to ask, and sure enough, notes were allowed. 

Friday. Integrated math 2 (read: sophomore math) honors (read: taken by freshmen), sixth period. 

They had a quiz. It went well. While they had the whole period for the quiz, most had finished it with forty-five minutes left in class. (Block schedules give us loooong periods.) 

For the remainder of class, they were to study for their final which was the next week. (It'll be over by the time you read this. Their final was this past Tuesday.) 

"How many questions do you think will be on our final?"

A girl asked this of a friend, then another, and then another. She realized she was taking data, so she got out a dry erase board and started listing guesses. She went around the room asking everybody. 

And I just couldn't resist...

I'm sure the final is already set. But it was fun to mess with them.

In case you can't see the image...

Me: Student is polling the class on how many questions they think will be on the final. 

Ms. S: "liked" the text with "ha ha"

Ms. S: What do they think?

Me: 50 to 60, but with guesses as high as 200 and as low as 35.

Ms. S: Wow, tell them that 50 to 60 just seems like a lot, but if that's what they want, we can do it.

Ms. S: Also tell them Monday at lunch they can do a retake of the simplifying radical expressions if they want.

Me: Now they're guessing 24/25.

Ms. S: ::laughing with tears emoji::

Remember Me?

The Tuesday of finals week (the week before winter break), I caught an art class. I had covered Ms. G's class back in September (one of the first I covered after finishing the long-term freshman English class), so I had a pretty fair idea of what I was in for.

Third period. Their final consisted of them completing a slide show on Google Slides on the seven elements of art. 

The class was largely freshmen. While most of them got right to work on what they needed to do, I had some of the usual issues.

I approached the back far table to remind the three boys they should be working on their final.

"You hated our fifth period, didn't you?"

Jensen had been in that fifth period freshman English class that I started the school year in. But in that moment, that's not where my mind was. Monday I had just finished up the long term special ed social studies class, and I hadn't even been back on this campus since the beginning of November. 

I vaguely recalled the English class. But it would have taken me a minute to cast my mind back to that time. I didn't want to take that minute. I replied.

"I have covered so many classes since then. I don't remember."

Because holding onto the emotions from classes isn't worth the effort. I keep things fresh in my memory for a week until I post the interesting bits here, but then many of the events get lost when I get busy doing something else the next day. It's fun to go searching through my past posts sometimes. I'll read something and barely recall the incident (until I read it, and then sometimes I recall it vividly). 

As I watched the class, I did cast my mind back to September. Jensen was consistently late, sometimes as much as a half hour. And as he played around rather than doing his final, I noted that he hadn't grown up any in the past three months.

Apparently it was a point of pride with Jensen that his class was awful? 

Ah, freshmen. They are such different creatures.

Ten Minute Coverage

The second semester starts today, so I'm back to posting about my subbing adventures. This week's posts all happened before winter break.

On Tuesday, I managed to catch a gig, which was great as it was finals week. The teacher I was subbing for had a first period prep, so I was just sitting in her classroom, trying to keep from being bored, when the phone rang. 

Could I cover a first period? It wasn't going to be for the full first period, just a half hour or so.

We get paid extra for covering extra periods, so of course I took it. I headed across campus.

It was French class. As the students arrived, I asked them about their final. They had no idea if they were having a final. (The time allotted for their final was that period.) 

I was going to tell them to look over the material so they'd be ready for their final. But, since they weren't sure, I told them they could spend their time going over material for any of their finals. (Luckily it was first period, so the finals had just started.)

It's hard to deal with a class when there are no lesson plans. But of course there were no lesson plans as the teacher was just running late, not missing the whole period. 

So, I started off by taking roll. By the time I was ready to settle in (as the kiddos had followed my instruction and many of them appeared to be looking over notes or quizzing each other with flash cards), Mme. F walked in. 

Whew.

All in, I was in class for maybe ten minutes. Well, okay, then.

(Mme. F got stuck in traffic. Something about a shooting and a detour.)

Avoiding the Final

For the last two days of the semester, I was covering a special ed co-teacher. She was going out of town for the holidays. Way out of town. Africa. So, not even on the same continent. 

For the first two finals of the day, I sat in the back of the room and watched them work. But for the third final, Mr. S had something for me to do. 

One accommodation that special ed students get for tests is to take the test in a different room. It helps some of them concentrate better. When there is a co-teacher, that teacher will take the students to that other room and remain. (And if there's a co-teacher, about 1/3rd of the class is designated special ed.)

Mr. S knew one of his students would want to test in the separate room. And, he decided that it would be better for all concerned if Lou was removed during the final as well. 

As I am well-acquainted with Lou, I saw the wisdom in that decision.

We went to the learning center. It's the room the special ed students can go to to get extra help on assignments. But, it was finals day, so anticipating a large number of students, the teachers in charge of the learning center that period sent us to the overflow room. (This was just a different classroom where the teacher didn't have class that period.) 

Once in the overflow room, I parked myself next to Lou. And... Well, he logged in. (The test was online.) He looked at the test. But he didn't touch it. Sigh.

I prodded. It was time to start. He didn't have that much time to work. He should get started.

(The other student with me worked well on her own on the other side of the room. I kept an eye on her, but she was fine.) 

Lou needed to "step out". (Technically it was a restroom break.) Hoping he'd come back ready to work, I allowed it.

But then he was gone for a long time. I kept waiting, and waiting, and waiting. 

Finally, he returned. He had a story about a member of the security staff "hassling" him. She told him to get back to class. I don't know why he didn't tell her that he was in the overflow learning center room. Instead, he tried to lose her, hid from her, and once he lost the tail, he returned.

At that point, there was maybe fifteen minutes left of class. I hoped rather than expected it would be enough time for Lou to finish. 

It turned out it was. But that's only because Lou quickly marked random answers on the test rather than actually doing it.

Five minutes later, Lou wanted to return to class. But that was a hard no. I asked Mr. S before we left, and he thought it would be better if Lou wasn't in class to disturb the other students.

Considering how Lou behaved during testing time, that was a wise choice.

(Lou was beyond caring. He said that he had an F in the class and that the final wasn't going to make a difference.)

Not Attempted

As is my custom, during the break I did my "summer schedule". I saved the subbing stories from before the break to post them when school resumed, as it did this week. The week before the break was finals week...

Tuesday of finals week I caught a math class. The teacher had caught Covid. But, she hadn't planned on giving finals, so the students could either work on any missing assignments, or if they were completely caught up they could work on some extra credit assignments. 

I was very familiar with this classroom. It's the room I used when I taught that summer school class in June.

However, a few students had missed the chapter 4 test the prior week, and Ms. C left those tests so they could make them up. 

First thing at the start of the period, I passed out the tests to the few who needed them. (Ms. C left me a list.) And as the room was fairly quiet, they had great testing conditions to complete their makeup.

For the first class of the day, only one student was still working at the end of the period. Everyone else had turned theirs in way before that.

In case you're wondering how a teacher can grade tests taken on paper when she won't be back in the classroom, I have that answer for you. The kiddos were to take a picture of their tests. Then, they attached those images to the test assignment posted in their Google Classrooms. 

I found it curious, during the second class of the day, that only two students turned in their tests. I mean, only four were taking it, but two of them were still working at the end of the period? I wondered if I was going to have to figure out a way to give them extra time.

I went to the first student who still had a test. He handed me back a blank page. He didn't do it, he shrugged. 

I... uh... 

I found the other student who was to take it. The test wasn't visible on her desk. When I asked for it, she pulled it out from where she hid it. She didn't bother to attempt the test either. 

I mean... The test was open note. They knew this. I told them when I handed them the test. They couldn't pull out their notes and make a go of it? 

So, I wasn't terribly surprised when three students in the third class did (or rather didn't do) the same thing.

This has become a thing, by the way. There are students who just don't do anything. They don't attempt assignments. It's always happened, but of late it seems to happen more often. If they deem the assignment (or test) too hard, they just don't even attempt it. They don't start. 

In the end, I just listed their names and informed Ms. C that they had had the opportunity to take the test, but they didn't. They "earned" those zeroes. 

Final Boost

Because the special ed math class had been through so many subs (the students tell me the total count is four), I figured that a final exam cobbled together in a couple days would not have been a worthwhile endeavor. So, I came up with a different solution. 

Instead of a test, I gave them a "project" where they were to find me completed problems from their various assignments, ones that they thought were "easy" or "hard". (I ran this by a couple other special ed teachers, and they found this approach acceptable.) 

So as not to catch them unprepared on the day of their final, I made up "review" assignments where they were to go back through their assignments from the semester and find problems they could use for this "final". Alas, many of them chose not to do this. 

On the day, I went through an example I had created to demonstrate what I was looking for. Then I had them get to work. 

Many of them did exactly as I asked, and they got full credit. 

Jonah "finished" his final quickly. As I was doing with all the students, I graded it immediately. (If I marked points off for something, they then had time to fix the issue and resubmit. Those who did resubmit generally then got the full points.) 

Jonah gave me three complete problems of the same type. (They did a chapter on statistics, so all three problems were where he found the mean.) But I had asked for a problem that he found easy, a problem he found difficult, and a problem he found interesting. I can see two of those being the same, but not the third. 

Deep sigh. 

I returned the final to him, telling him what I thought. (I know he heard me as he was in the classroom with me, one of two students who were in person for that period.) I told him he could fix it. He went back to watching the video on his computer that he had started as soon as he submitted his final. 

Ah well. If he's good with not the full points... 

As it was, he ended up with a B- in the class, which was very good considering where most of their grades were. So many of them didn't even bother to do the final. This was unsurprising as they hadn't done any of the work in about two months. 

Those who did the final did see a benefit. I noted that pretty much everyone who turned in the final boosted their grade for the semester by one letter. 

Late Late Work

I had finished covering Ms. R's class the week prior. (I'm only allowed to cover a class for up to 30 days.) But Ms. R wasn't back yet. Because of the current sub situation (there's a shortage), I volunteered to remain in the class digitally to input the grades for the eighth graders' finals. (It was a multiple choice final, so it graded itself. All I needed to do was transfer the grades into the gradebook.) 

Okay, so really I remained digitally in the class because I hadn't finished the grading from my time in the class. We had that crash. And the deadline for their late work got pushed back because of it. Plus, they had a project due at the end of the school day on my last day covering the class. So, I needed a couple extra days to get all that done and input into the gradebook. 

It only took me until Tuesday to get it all done. 

So, on Friday, all I had to do was transfer their final exam grades into the gradebook. Basically, it was two clicks. (The scores just import into the gradebook. It's very cool.) 

But before I got to transferring their final exam grades, I got an email from Bentley:

I apologize for turning this in late. I've had a very bad cold and it made it hard to do much work. I understand this may seem like an excuse but please consider grading this. Thank you for your time.

Considering how much that project counted for, and considering how Bentley did manage to complete six late assignments, I figured why not? (She did lose points for turning it in late.) What can I tell you? I'm a soft touch. 

I transferred the kiddos' final exam grades. I finalized their grades for the semester. And that's when I got one more email from a kiddo: 

Hello Mrs.a, for my message to the world project it says that it's missing on this account and I turned it in on the other account before my account got restored. I was wondering if you can fix it or possibly regrade it. Thank you

Considering the mess with the Google Classroom crash, this is likely true. In fact, when I pulled up his project, it looked very familiar. So, of course I graded it. 

When I went to adjust his final semester grade, it went from a D to a C. 

So, I don't feel too bad about allowing these assignments. But don't tell anybody. If word gets out, more of them might try for the exception.

Not Entirely Wrong

For the class I was covering before the break, economics was sixth period. Which meant that it was the last final I gave. 

Mr. B emailed me their final. I uploaded it to their Google Classroom. Mr. B also sent me the answer key, so I was able to grade it. 

"Identify the income group that will receive the most benefit under a flat tax." 

I remembered actually reading this in their textbook with them. (The final was only over the last two sections they had covered; it wasn't a comprehensive final.) And the test was open book/open note, so they didn't actually have to remember the answer. 

Mathias had a rough time with the question. Now, I'm not supposed to "help" with tests, but sometimes they just need a hint. 

The correct answer was: individuals with high incomes. 

Mathias, however, was thinking that the answer needed to be more complicated than it was. He, in fact, said he tended to overthink things.

So, I told Mathias (and, by extension, everyone else in the class, as virtual learning doesn't really have a whisper-to-one-kiddo mode) that the answer was an income group. I gave three examples of income groups (high, medium, low). Mathias was still kind of hesitant, but I really couldn't give him more.

After class I got to do the grading. The way that Google sets up the tests for grading makes things really simple. I can grade all the students' responses to one question at a time. So, when I got to this question, I got to see what everyone answered as a group. 

Most of them got it correct. The wording was different. Some said "the wealthy" or such. Close enough. Some chose the wrong income brackets. Of course those were wrong. 

But the best answer? "The IRS." 

I mean, they weren't wrong. But sadly, I had to mark it incorrect. 

I consoled myself with adding a comment to that answer. "LOL." I appreciate comedy when I find it in the wild.

Making Up a Final

The week before winter break, I gave finals to the class I covered for the majority of December. 

Finals week is one week students try not to miss. So, I was rather surprised that Miguel didn't show up to virtual class. 

There was one student, Lazarus, who I saw maybe once in the two-and-a-half weeks I covered the class. (Mr. B told me that his attendance had been an issue, and discussions had happened with his family.) 

So, while there were a couple absences, the only one that surprised me was Miguel. 

After logging off for the day, I got an email from Miguel. He apologized for missing the final. The email was about four minutes old, so I replied quickly, hoping to get a chance to talk to him. He logged into the class meet so we could discuss. 

Miguel said that he had had a personal emergency. When I inquired further, he told me that his dogs had run away, and while he had been able to locate one (who was barking in the background), the other was still MIA. 

Now, I'm of two minds about this. I can see how a student might not be able to concentrate on a final. But, it was a final. 

I asked Miguel if he could make it up right then, and he said yes. 

But then, a couple hours later, I got an email from the assistant principal at the school saying Miguel didn't make up the final then because he had an IEP meeting. 

Which. . . I mean, seriously? I asked him if he could do the final then. He said yes. If he had just told me no. . .  

(I wasn't remaining "in class" with him for the make up as I had other things I had to do. So, if then was a bad time, I would have understood.)

So, for two days I'm watching my email, waiting on Miguel to return his final. Then, the last day of class, I found it in Google Classroom, already graded. (He emailed it to Mr. B instead of me. Sigh.)

Ah well. It got done.

(As for Lazarus, he also got an excuse for missing class for his final from the assistant principal. He never did make up his final.) 

The Final

The last week before winter break was finals. The last week of the semester. 

I started covering the special ed social studies class two weeks prior. That first day I received a copy of the finals schedule. As soon as I saw it, I uploaded it to the classes' Google Classrooms. Over the next two days, I made sure to tell each class where they could find the schedule. 

For the whole following week, I made mention of the finals schedule at least once a period. One day I even presented it to each class to make sure they looked at it. On their last day of the week, I made special mention of what day their finals were on, as some of them would be meeting on the "wrong" day. 

(The schedule is staggered. Periods 1, 3, and 5 meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays. Periods 2, 4, and 6 meet on Wednesdays and Fridays. All classes meet on Mondays. So, while it wouldn't be weird for periods 1 and 2 to go to class on Monday, it is odd for period 4 to meet on a Tuesday.) 

So, they should have it, right? 

On Sunday as I was going through my email (mostly to clear out the clutter), I ran across a student comment: "I was at a funeral. i missed other classes today  2 wonder how can i complete my final"

This was in response to the teacher's posting of what would be covered in their final. 

Um. . . I. . . 

I just. . . 

What I actually did was to reply to the student's comment. Calmly. "Your final is on Wednesday. You haven't missed it." 

Privately, well, you can see what I'm doing privately. Shaking my head. Wondering. 

They don't listen. I mean, I knew this, but still. I can't say I didn't go over it with them and explain.

Finals Distraction

The week before winter break was finals week. Due to a teacher taking advantage of the break to recover from surgery, I got to work it.

Eighth grade science. They had finals.

I knew Vanessa from that English class that I started the school year off in. She was fine on her own, but she was also friends with the troublemakers, and she could get loud in concert with them.

My job during a test or final is to keep the class silent while tests are being taken. They know that's the behavior expectation, so once they settle in to the test, I don't usually have issues with them talking. When I have to watch out is when the majority of the class is finished while one or two are still working.

Fifth period. Their final was on Wednesday, first thing.

After they'd gotten started, there was a bit of commotion over near Vanessa. She was having trouble with her left eye. One of her neighbors said she had pink eye.

I pushed them to focus on their own finals. I allowed Vanessa to get a paper towel to wipe her eye. And I watched.

(Pink eye? I don't want a student to have pink eye. That's so contagious. I don't want to catch it!)

One by one, the kiddos finished up and submitted their finals. As they did this, I allowed them to keep their computers and play games or watch videos...

Oh, did I not mention their finals were online? It was a nifty little thing. The final was only open for the two hour window of when their class was. Once they logged in, the final locked them out of doing anything else online until they had completed and submitted it. Because it was computerized, the questions could be scrambled (as well as the answers), so no two students had the same test. And the tests could be individualized, like for the Spanish speaking student whose final was in Spanish.

We got down to four students still working. Then three. Then two. Then just Vanessa. Except, Vanessa wasn't working. She was watching the video of the girl doing her hair on the computer of her neighbor...

I don't usually get in a student's face when they're the last one working. They get all the time they need. But Vanessa wasn't working, so I asked her if she was distracted. I informed her that she was the only one still working, and that if she was distracted, perhaps she should sit somewhere else.

And you know what? She moved. She focused in on her test, and she finished it a few minutes later.

Then she asked to go to the health office because her eye was burning and had been burning the entire time she was working on her final.

Thursday we had all the classes. The teacher had alerted me the evening before that she had finished grading the finals. So, when I saw period five, I let them know that their finals were graded and recorded.

Because everything is computerized nowadays, their grades were posted on Parent Portal. The kiddos all know how to log in and review their grades.

Vanessa was in class. Her eye was fine. Which, luckily, means it wasn't pink eye. (I hope she told her parents and they did something about it, whatever it was.)

She logged in and checked her grade. She got 60%. And she was thrilled.

"I thought I got a 12."

60% isn't great. That's a D. One point above an F. But if she was happy with it...

At least she was trying. That bodes well for the future.

Unprepared

The week before winter break was also finals week. And due to a teacher taking advantage of the break to recover from surgery, I got to work it.

Eighth grade science. They had finals.

The finals were open book/open note. And most of the students had their papers all out and ready for use. Most of the students... 

"I need help."

Any other time, I'm all over that. But not for a test. Definitely not for a final.

She reached for her neighbor's notes...

"Where are your notes?" I asked.

"I forgot my backpack."

I shrugged. If she didn't come prepared...

"What does it matter? They're the same notes."

Perhaps. Or perhaps she didn't take notes and she was counting on using her neighbor's work to get through. It didn't matter. The teacher had been very specific. They could use any of their own materials, but they could not use someone else's.

She was not pleased. But I've seen when they want to "share" notes on a test. It might as well not be a test. It might as well be partner/group work.

It was a good lesson for her. In the future, perhaps she'll remember to bring her own materials (and notes!) for her finals.

Clueless

I've been subbing a long time... 

Today's post from the wayback files goes along with yesterday's video post. It was the last week of school, and I had gotten assigned a science class. It turned out that the science class wasn't absent a teacher. The principal asked for another body in the room to help the teacher control his classes during finals. 

I didn't put too much on the blog at the time, but it's been ten years, so I think it's safe. 

The new teacher had a difficult class. Very difficult. And from what I observed of him, he was doing a great job of trying to contain them. But it was a battle. 

His contract was not being extended/renewed. He knew this at the time. The thing that pushed him over the edge and got the principal thinking he needed backup during finals wasn't his fault. It was entirely the fault of a class out of control, and that class was out of control because it was filled entirely with kiddos who were not interested in doing any work. (It's seeing classes like this that convinced me I was not cut out to teach full time.)

What happened? He had pulled a kiddo out of class to discuss his bad behavior. While they were outside, the teacher could see the entire classroom through the windows. But still, someone in class managed to get a porn DVD into the player and going... 

The video wasn't on long, but the damage was done.

I was feeling out of place on day one. On day two, the following occurred. This post originally appeared June 16, 2009... 

Day two as an assistant. Today I understood why my help was needed.

Most students enter a room calmly. Andres announced his presence. He headed right for the teacher's desk, and he sat in the teacher's chair. As this was the chair I had been using (I was standing as the class entered), I told Andres to find another seat.

"But Mr. D always lets me sit here."

A glance at the teacher told me this wasn't true, and the teacher told Andres to get to his own seat. He did, but then he started talking loudly. Humming. Rocking in his chair. I told him to settle down or he would spend the period in a not so nice place.

Then another student rushed across the room. Andres stood. They started menacing each other. I got right in the middle of the two of them and told them to settle down. No fighting.

"We're not going to fight. We're going to have a jerking contest."

Also inappropriate, and I said so.

I got busy dealing with other students in the classroom. Then I saw Mr. D kick Andres out. I wasn't at all surprised. But Andres was.

"But I didn't dooooo anything..."

What brought this particular class to mind? After the kiddos finished their finals, Mr. D put on a video. The last week before winter break, I was covering a science class, and they had finals. I needed a little something to keep them busy after they had all finished. And I remembered his video. It's the show I linked to yesterday.

The Compliment

Eighth grade science. Sixth period. Finals were the following week, so they were working on a study guide for it.

I had been warned about sixth period...

I was seated at the teacher's desk, checking something on the computer (probably roll). I glanced up to see Teejay sneaking to the back of the room. He was tall, especially for an eighth grader, so he had ducked down so his head was at the level of the rest of the seated class. Still, I clocked the movement.

Teejay saw my attention.

"Man... I can't get away with anything. You keep catching me."

As he went back to his desk, I had to suppress a smile. That was such a sweet thing for him to say. It warms this sub's heart.

Later, I was standing near Teejay. (I was doing one of my circuits around the room.) A girl had asked about a question on her study guide.

I don't remember the question or my exact answer. I had been doing a lot of "check your notes". I repeated to several of them that everything on their study guide should look familiar. The study guide was review. Their teacher already taught everything on it throughout the semester.

"You sound just like my mom."

She explained that her mother said similar to her about her tests. Apparently, her grades needed improving, and her mother pointed out that she wasn't being tested on material she hadn't seen.

Another compliment? These kiddos are turning my head.

Weird Monday

Winter break is over, but as I didn't work last week, I'm posting stories from the week just before the break.

The call came late. An hour prior, I saw no call and I figured I wasn't working. It was Monday of finals week, so I was not terribly shocked to not have an assignment.

The call came at the time I should have been getting into my car, so while I accepted the assignment, I let them know I'd be late.

I got to the school about a half hour into the school day. The office was empty of all except the receptionist. Everyone else was out at the fire drill.

Score! I missed the fire drill!

The office staff returned, and I checked in. The teacher I was covering had first period off, which meant I had missed nothing being late. And I had about two hours until my first class. (They were on a block schedule for finals.)

I got into the classroom and got set up for the day. I was enjoying the first prep period I'd had all month when the office called. Could I go and cover another class? Naturally.

I arrived at the silent class (about an hour into the block). They were in the middle of their final. The teacher had no idea what I was doing there.

He called the office. It turned out there was an IEP meeting he didn't know about.

Some days just go sideways. I guess I was due for a weird one.

Self Referential

7th grade world history. It was the last Monday of the school year. The students had a study guide for their final (which was going to be Tuesday, Wednesday, or Thursday, depending on which period class it was).

The day went pretty well. I had the usual issues with fidget spinners or slime, but most of the students were actually finding answers and getting ready for their final.

As I always do, I let the class know that if they were having difficulty with any of the assignment, they could ask me. (That's my job, after all.) Some even took me up on my offer.

One boy 'round about 4th period pointed out the question he couldn't find the answer to:

What do we call the scientific laws that describe how objects move in space? 

It took me a moment longer than it should have, really. But once it hit me...

Because, yeah, I know the answer to that question. And I don't even have to look it up.

I chuckled as I scanned the boy's book to point out the answer. I would have loved to explain to him why I found this so funny, but he wouldn't have gotten it.

But you will.

Don't know the answer? It's right here on this page. Scroll up. Keep going. See those words right at the top of the page? In white on a purple background? Yes, I'm talking about the title of my blog...

Some days the jokes are just for me.

Accommodations for a Final

For the penultimate week of school I covered a special ed. health and biology class.

(Yes, the last day of school was yesterday. I write all my posts for the week at once, so you're always reading about what I did last week.)

As they had finals the following week, they spent the week I was with them working on a "study guide".

The teacher and instructional aide (IA) had honed this study guide over several finals that they'd given their classes. (The IA was with me for the entire week, so basically she did all the "work" and I sat around and looked "official".) The IA explained what they were doing to me.

Each student was given the actual final along with the "study guide". While in class (they weren't allowed to take it out of the room) they were to look up where to find each answer in the book (the final was open book) and note down what chapter, what page, what paragraph, and what sentence each answer could could be found in. (They were given what chapter.)

Easy, right? But remember, this was a special ed. class. It took some of them all week. Although, to be fair, it took all week for the students who spent most of their time staring at walls rather than looking for the answers for their final.

Deep sigh.

And the IA told me that even with this help, no student gets 100% on their finals.

Ah well, it turned out to be an easy week for me. (Even with Asia in one of the periods.)

The Whole Book

The week before finals week, every teacher seemed to leave study guides for their classes to do. Understandable.

8th grade English. They had the period to work on the study guide. They were allowed to use their textbooks and their notes.

So, this was a review assignment. Review of the entire semester. The study guide should have looked familiar. Yet, many students stared at it like it was completely foreign to them.

"What page is this on?" one girl asked.

"The whole book," I replied.

What part of semester review did they not get?

Things Not to Do in a Final

Just as soon as my internet issues get resolved, I get felled by a cold. Deep sigh. Just poking my head out to clear up a few things, and then back to resting and watching TV. If you've not seen me around your blog the last couple days, that's why. I'll be back soon. I hope. 

Also, this week I'm at Unicorn Bell. I'd love it if you'd stop by.

I actually got to proctor a final this year. (Some years I do. Mostly, I just show movies on the last days of school.) It was in a freshman English class. 100 questions on Romeo & Juliet.

Honestly, I expected more of a fight. Luckily, I was wrong. I warned them about not talking. They didn't talk. Everything was going pretty well, until I caught the kiddo with earbuds in.

Seriously? It's a FINAL! You don't listen to music while taking a final.

I motioned for him to remove the earbuds. A bit later, I caught him with one earbud back in his ear.

Well, at least it went smoothly for the rest of the class...