Missing Student

And so, I ended the school year not far from where it began. Literally. I started the school year in room 906 and ended it in room 915. (Both classrooms are within sight of one another.) 

Thursday. Seventh grade math. Fourth period. 

It was the last day of school. Each period was about 28 minutes long. The lesson plan was basically "do what you want". As I have been in this situation before, I knew I didn't have to have them do anything. 

What I did have to do was take roll and make sure I knew where the kiddos were. 

At the beginning of the period several students descended upon me to request permission to go elsewhere. I growled at them that they'd have to wait until I had taken attendance. 

(A science teacher three doors down must have been having a bacchanal as that's where everyone wanted to go. But there were a couple other teachers' classes they wanted as well as the art teacher--the one they hired for that vacant class--needed help cleaning her room.) 

I went around the room, checked in with each kiddo asking their name, and I marked each student present. Then I got the names of those who left, and I wrote them down so I knew where they were. 

Roll taken, I had a group of girls request to go outside so they could film a TikTok dance. Others had grouped up and were playing video games. I didn't much care so long as they didn't trash the room. 

Then the phone rang. Was Jamir there? 

I checked my roll. He was marked absent. No, he was not. 

"His mom is going to be pissed..." 

Just to be sure, I called out, "Jamir..." Nope. Not there. 

Groups of students were coming in and out of the room. (Teachers called to ask if they could send kiddos. I had given permission.) There was one boy in a Lakers jersey who I thought belonged in class, but he did not check in with me, and then he left again. 

Towards the end of the period (so, about fifteen minutes later), I went to check on the TikTok girls. Who should have been back in the room already. Security drove up and stopped the boy in the Lakers jersey. "Jamir, your mother is looking for you," and she gave him a paper. 

Security gave me a hard stare. "You're marked absent," she told him. I protested that he was not around when I took roll and he had not checked in with me when he arrived. 

I mean, seriously? I'm a sub. Most kiddos know to check in with me if they arrive after the bell. But last day crazy... 

I did fix the attendance. Growled at Jamir. He asked to go to his PE class. Well, now that I knew where he'd be... 

And just like that, the school year is over. 

Next week I'll share my year stats, and then the summer schedule shall begin. 

Last One Out

When I left school on the penultimate day, I assumed I was done for the year. I went to bed that night thinking about how I was going to begin my summer break. But then, at about 10:30 PM, I got an alert.

The assignment was for the alternative education center. The one school that did not have a minimum day. And all the behavior problems from the students. Did I really want to work the last day of school?

I really did want to work the last day of school.

For a while that morning, we wondered if we'd have any students. School started at 8:30 AM. The first student showed up closer to 8:35. And then others trickled in. In all, five students showed up. (Total enrollment is something like seven or eight, so that was pretty good turnout for them.) 

Both of my students for first period were absent, so when second period started, I went in search of my class. Mr. O, the math and science teacher, had all five, and he was showing a movie. So, I joined Mr. T and Mr. O and we watched the end of the movie. (The students were more interested in their phones, which they're normally not allowed to have, but last day and all.)

I should mention that Mr. B hadn't left me any lesson plans, and Mr. T said the teachers had all turned in their grades the previous day. So, the kiddos truly had no work. (One of Mr. B's children was promoting, so of course he wanted to attend the ceremony.) 

I had two students for third period. Jensen and Jensen. Yup, two boys have the same name. Jensen C. I've mentioned many times before. Jensen T. hasn't made the blog before as he's not an issue. Jensen C. objected to me and tried everything he could to not be in my class (because, apparently, I'm "boring"). So, Jensen C. called his mom to come pick him up early. She refused. He called his dad. Apparently he agreed, as Jensen left shortly thereafter.

I had two students in fourth period. I was informed that Ronny would continue to sleep in Mr. O's class. (Ronny is not a nice kid. He uses words as a weapon, and I find it easier to not antagonize him. Just asking him nicely to do something can be met with a cutting remark.) 

The second student needed to ask another teacher a "quick question". After five minutes I went to retrieve him only to find him playing a game (Mysterium) with Mr. T, security, and the other three students. 

Mr. T: "You told me you asked her."

I don't know why he didn't ask me. I would have said yes. 

After lunch, I was supposed to have the majority of the students in class. I went to retrieve them. I learned that Ronny had gone home, so we were down to three students. Two of them were "playing with" the chickens.

(They did a thing where they got fertilized eggs and left them in a warmer. Since their hatching, the students have been "caring for" these chickens.)

As Mr. C (security) was cleaning up the game, Mr. T said that they were going to play Sequence. Did I want to join?

Of course I wanted to join.

Mr. C and Jensen T. were one team. Mr. T and I were the other. Jensen was good. They beat us the first two games. Mr. T and I pulled out the second two. They won the fifth. We won the sixth. 

And that was the end of the day.

At some point during the game, the principal had the other boys help her gather the chickens (there were five) and take them to her car. She was taking them to their new home. Before this, all the instructional aides had left for the day. The school's secretary left for the day. (They left about lunch time.) 

So, at the end of the day, there were three students and three adults left on campus. Mr. C noted that there were three cars in the parking lot.

And we were the only school still in session.

Yup, I was definitely the last sub standing. 

It's officially summer vacation. Next week I'll do my annual stats post. And then it's summer schedule on the blog. Happy summer.

End of Semester

The last day before winter break was chaos. But, I was expecting chaos, so I wasn't surprised.

The school is on a block schedule, so all eight periods don't meet on the same day. Except for this day. On this day, they all met.

We were supposed to have a fire drill, but it got cancelled. 

The students were all already hopped up on sugar. Cookies. Candy. 

And the teachers planned nothing for the day. I mean, why would they? The classes weren't really long enough to do anything, and grades were due in the afternoon, so nothing they did was going to count anyway.

Mrs. G gave her class Oreos. Mr. S boiled water so his classes could make hot chocolate. (As a co-teacher, I had one period with Mrs. G and three with Mr. S.) 

And then there was the parade. The school has started doing a holiday parade around the school. We all got out of class to watch other students walk by. (Sadly, the band was in the parade, but they didn't play anything.) 

Some of the parade participants threw candy at the crowd. (More sugar.) At least the cheerleaders danced. 

I had two periods in the learning center. But unlike on finals days, it was dead in the room. We had two students. One was busily trying to make things up and get them in to pass his classes. And one played on his phone.

It was about what I expected. Weird day. But I got paid to be there.

Last Day

Right when we got back from winter break, Eddy let me know that he would be leaving our program at the end of January. He had gotten into an art program which is in line with what he wants to do. 

As the month wore away, we contemplated how we were going to send Eddy off. By consensus, we staff members decided that we had to throw Eddy a party. We debated whether to make it a surprise or not. Then something told me that a surprise might not be a good idea. 

Eddy had been missing several days for meetings and such. And we were unclear on when his actual last day would be. I could just see us planning a party for a day and Eddy not being in school. 

So, I told Eddy that we would have a party. And he told us what he wanted. A movie and pizza. (Oh, Pizza was in heaven over this idea.) And so, that's what we made happen. 

(And it was so good that I looped everyone in, as when I went to clear things with the principal, she informed me that I had Eddy's last day wrong. So, we were able to adjust.) 

Aide 1 had time to make Eddy a photo album of his time in class. (She takes pictures and prints them to put on the wall. She took the week and made him quite the keepsake.) 

The class next door wanted to join in. Upon discussing if we wanted to do cupcakes as well, I realized that I could just ask Eddy. Turns out, he wanted chocolate chip cookies. Those went over very well. 

It was a lovely little send off. It was so nice to be able to do that for him.

And, it turned out to be my last day as well. They never did hire someone to replace the retired teacher. Instead, the school is going to condense down the classes, distributing the students into two other classes on campus. Which means my services are no longer needed. (I only found out on Wednesday.) 

So, this concludes my adventures at the adult transition center. Back to day-to-day subbing.

The Last Day of Summer School

It was the last day of summer school...

(Before anyone wonders about "time off", the continuation high school started up that same week. Guess what I'll be writing about next week.)

It was one of the "severe" special ed. classes. Their summer school program was more of a summer day camp situation. With air conditioning.

The last day was about cleaning up the room. During the summer, the custodial staff takes every stick of furniture out, cleans the floors, and brings it all back in again. (They've already started on the rooms that weren't used for summer school. It's fascinating to peek in to see these rooms that I've been in all empty.) So, anything the kiddos left behind would likely get lost if not tossed outright.

It really doesn't take that long to clean the room.

So, somehow I managed to work the first and the last day of summer school. And many days in between. Weird.