Zhuzhing Up the AI

Tuesday. Graphic arts. Fifth period. 

The day's assignment: using Canva's AI, create a poster picturing the student in a future career. And then include information about that career. 

(I'm not a fan of AI. And many students have expressed their dislike as well. The word on how the data centers steal resources has gotten out. But this is not my class, and my job is to execute the teacher's lesson plan. So, that's what I did.) 

Some of the students dove right in, finding the right site and application. Most did not like that they had to upload a picture of themselves (as the AI would insert them into the career image), but they did it. (Well, not everyone. A bunch of them did as little work as possible. I'm sure their grades already reflect their lack-of-work-ethic.) 

I walked around, making sure the students didn't have any questions. 

One boy was staring at his image. It had him as an electrician. He didn't like it, he said. 

I drilled down. What was the problem with the image? What could he tell the AI to do differently? 

Turned out, the background was pink, and that was his only problem with it. 

We found where one could "refine" the image by telling the AI what to change. He typed "get rid of the pink", and I pointed out he should be specific, so he added "make it white". 

The AI replaced the pink background with a white one, changing nothing else. And the student was satisfied. Okay, then. 

It was kind of eerie how the AI took their faces and put them into a real-looking work setting. This would be a great way to help students see a future that they might not be able to picture. But AI? Ugh. 

Have you made images using AI? Did you complete the A to Z Challenge? Do you plan to attempt it next year?

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

Yikes, Kiddos

Monday. Middle school intro to culinary. Fourth period. 

(Yeah, it's called "culinary" not cooking and not home ec. Weird, I know.)

The assignment for the day was a worksheet where they had to convert measurements with a pirate theme. That is, there would be a question about storing fish in a barrel (so the pirates had food provisions) and asking how many fish (or how many barrels) and converting from pints to quarts. Or tablespoons to cups. Or gallons to pints. 

The questions made sense. And I thought it was a very clever busywork assignment for the kiddos for the day. 

But middle schoolers...

Yeah, they didn't like this assignment one bit. 

Since I have the science/math background, I understood what they needed to do. And I offered my help to those who asked for it. Some did ask for it.

And then I caught Irene writing on a paper that was not hers. 

Damian spent the period whining. The work was hard. Why did he have to do this? He didn't understand. 

But, did he ask for help? Even when I stood there offering? Of course not. 

Irene? Was writing the answers on Damian's paper. 

No, Irene. Damian must do his own work. But she didn't see my point. Nor did Damian. 

A student asked to use the restroom. I had another girl, Nina, out. When she got back... "But she doesn't come back when there's a sub..." She doesn't? 

Okay, then, time to call security. Nina returned, 25 minutes after she left. In passing I mentioned that I had already added Nina's excursion to my note to the teacher. Suddenly, Nina was apologetic. Could I please leave her name out of the note? Yeah, now she's sorry, now that she knows she'll be held accountable. 

Students taking forever to "go to the restroom" has become ridiculous this school year, so I've been keeping track of how long everyone goes and leaving that information for the teacher. Every day. And especially when I have to call security. 

Then I look up, and Damian is chasing Irene. And I can't get over to stop them as there are a bunch of kiddos standing between me and them. Standing? They had work. There was no reason for them to be out of their seats. 

Yikes. It was quite the class. 

The period after this? Totally mellow and on task. Sigh.

Did you take cooking in school? Do you like to cook? 

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

Officially of the Assignment

The Friday before spring break. English 9. Eighth period. 

The assignment: come up with examples for various ideas expressed in Romeo & Juliet. Things like "Being an obedient, sheltered, and naive child," or "Love can be chaotic and dangerous". 

They were allowed to work together. Some interesting conversations occurred. (These kinds of days are so much fun. I roam the room and just listen. I only pop in to the conversation if they're saying something that is factually wrong or if they need a referee for their debate.) 

The last topic was "Unrequited love". 

Adrian told Bruce to write "yumeshipping" on his paper. Adrian spelled it out. Bruce didn't like this idea. "What is that?" He pushed back. He figured it wasn't appropriate. 

Me? I was curious. It sounded vaguely anime. I had a feeling it was probably on target. 

Adrian searched it up. Definition: the practice of shipping yourself (or an original character that represents you) with a canon* fictional character. (And "shipping" refers to the desire by followers of a fandom for two or more individuals, either real-life people or fictional characters, to be in a relationship, in case you haven't heard the term before.) 

So, uh, yeah, creating a "relationship" with a fictional character is probably the ultimate in unrequited love. Fictional characters definitely can't love you back.

I'd say Adrian understood the assignment. 

I assured Bruce that yeah, that was an excellent example. There was some concern that Ms. B wouldn't like the example. I've met Ms. B, and while fairly strict (she teaches freshmen, after all), she's a reasonable individual. Personally, I think she'd be tickled that her students came up with an example she'd never heard of. (I assume she's not into this sort of thing, but I could be wrong.) 

Adrian wrote it down. I didn't look that closely at Bruce's finished paper, so I don't know if he added it as well. 

They'll start reading the play after the break (which it now is). Ah, Shakespeare. 

Have you ever heard of yumeshipping before? (Or shipping? Or canon* characters?) Would you ever want to create art (drawings or fan fiction) of yourself with a fictional character? Who?

*Canon: Of the original or official story. A "canon character" is a character from some piece of other fiction, like Batman or Dracula or Colter Shaw from Tracker. 

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

Not a Newbie

The Thursday before spring break. Tenth grade English. Third period. 

The assignment: they were working on "independent projects". After some observation, my guess is those projects had to do with the book they were reading, Night by Elie Wiesel. 

I did my usual intro which I managed to finish just before the daily morning announcements. When the teacher leaves a vague lesson plan, that's because the kiddos have been working on this and should know what to do. So, I expected them to get to work. I opened the seating chart in the attendance software, and started to take roll... 

A boy walked in late. He sat in the corner. I went to mark him tardy, but he did not look anything like the picture of the boy in the seat. As I looked around and compared the live students to the seating chart photos, I noticed that the two bore no resemblance to each other. Um... 

"Why are you not in your assigned seats?" I asked the class at large. 

And suddenly, a third of the class remembered, "I don't sit here," and a minute of flurry ended with a live class that actually looked like the seating chart. 

What? Do they think I'm new? 

While some teachers' seating charts are out of date or they don't really enforce them, I knew Mr. C's chart was accurate (he said so) and that he did enforce it. 

I noted the attempt in the note, and I moved on. 

It was funny how the class was very laid-back and talkative right until I insisted on assigned seats. Then things got very, very quiet. Hopefully they got some work done, but sophomores. Some are still not quite focused on getting it done. 

Have you ever read Night? Did you sit next to your friends in school? Did you get your work done?

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

Behaved Well, Actually

While I was happy to work, I kind of was dreading the day. 

Friday. Eighth grade science. 

Science is my jam, but eighth graders... My tag for days with the eighth graders (8RE) is code for "eighth graders are evil". Because they can be. 

And then... 

They went and surprised me. 

The day's assignment was an animal adaptations project. They picked an animal. Then they were to find three adaptations that help the critter survive... 

Student: Can I pick a unicorn?

Me: No mythical creatures, please.

They were to draw a picture. Write about three of the critter's adaptations. Illustrate the critter's closest relative. And they had the whole period to do this. 

And you know what? They actually did the work. 

(Well, mostly. I had a couple kiddos who played more than they worked. But that happens everyday. It would have been weird if I didn't have a couple of those kiddos.) 

There was a good selection of animals picked. They went from axolotls to sharks to sloths to horses. Orson had a meltdown until I calmed him by mentioning different animals he could pick. And most of them finished or nearly finished the project in class. 

Now, can all my days with the eighth graders be like that? Please? 

If you could do a project on a mythical creature, which one would you pick? I think I'd go with a dragon. 

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

African-American Studies

Tuesday. AP African-American Studies. 

Welcome to April and the first day of the A to Z blogging challenge. When I say that the letter of the day sometimes just falls into my lap, this is what I mean. African-American Studies? Really? 

Last week was a light week. I only had Wednesday scheduled. Monday's assignment popped up at 5 in the morning. Tuesday's popped up at about 7 PM the night before. Which was strange. Usually assignments pop up during the school day or in the middle of the night. But hey, I went to bed knowing I'd have a job the next day, so I was fine with it. 

I got to the classroom. After turning on the lights, I headed for the teacher's podium. Nope. Headed back to his desk. Nope. 

There was a knock on the door. 

I made my way through the desks to the door to find a teacher waiting for me. She had a paper in her hand. 

"I was just looking for that," I told her. 

The day's lesson plans. 

Teachers will sometimes email their plans to one of their teacher friends. Who will then print them out and bring them to us subs. We do love having the lesson plans. 

It was going to be a pretty easy day. AP or advanced placement is a class students take to earn college credit. That is, they get the college credit if they pass the AP test at the beginning of May. The class of mostly seniors and some juniors had online work to complete. (It was phrased "independent projects".) 

Okay, then. 

For the second class of the day, I did my usual introduction, stating that maybe the teacher wasn't feeling well. 

A student: "Jury duty". 

Ah. 

Suddenly the timing of the call the night before made sense. 

In Los Angeles County, one must call in after 7 PM every night of the week one is assigned jury duty. One is told either, "call back tomorrow" or "report tomorrow". (I've done this a few times, so I'm familiar.) 

While I never wish a teacher ill (or stuck on jury duty), I do appreciate having work for the day. 

Have you ever served on a jury? Does African-American Studies sound like a class you would have liked to take in high school? 

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

Teacher Fail

Friday. First period. Learning center. 

I got a call from the other learning center. Would it be okay if they sent someone over for me to assist? Um, sure... 

The student had homework to complete. Integrated math three (read: algebra 2/junior math). The problems: logarithms. 

Uh oh... 

Okay, so I've had all the math. I took three semesters of calculus in college. I even took senior level math classes in applied analysis. You can throw most math topics at me, and I have at least a basic working knowledge of it.

But not logarithms. 

They didn't bother with logs in my high school. (I think that's pretty much what all the schools did at the time.) We did natural logs and the e function, but that's as far as it went. 

But, pretty decent working knowledge of math, so I can fake it pretty well. Where were the student's notes? Uh, yeah, no notes. 

Deep sigh. 

Third period, IM3. Ms. B went over their homework, the homework I couldn't help the kiddo with. And, after her brief explanation... 

Yeah, if only I had had third period before first period. Because after seeing the example, yeah, I totally could have done those problems. 

Because if the kiddo had had the notes so I could transform the problems, I knew how to solve once the logarithm was handled. 

The one topic I couldn't help with. Naturally. Sigh. 

Angry Birds IRL

Thursday. Ninth grade English, special ed. Eighth period.

It's district writing assessment time (as I've mentioned in previous posts). While the other classes I've been in have been in the midst of writing these or finishing them up, this class was just getting started. 

Their essay was to be an argumentative one. They had studied the structure of the thing. This day was for the introduction of the topic. It had to do with climbing Mt. Everest and whether or not they should block people from doing so. (The kiddos get to pick a side and argue it.) 

I showed them a quick video that the teacher had assigned. Then they read the first two of the three articles that were to be their sources. We read the articles together, looking at statements for allowing climbers in and statements against. 

In the second article, one of the arguments against described how people did this thing in Moab, Utah with ropes and slingshots and... The description sounded horrifying. 

"That sounds like Angry Birds in real life." 

Absolutely brilliant statement, and totally funny. The whole class erupted in laughter.

Oh, I should probably mention that there were a total of four students in the class. But yeah, all four of them busted up laughing. 

Me too, really. 

Because yeah, that sounded suspiciously like Angry Birds. 

I was now curious, so I went looking. Yeah, there's video... 

Nope. Nope, nope, nope. Not tempted in the slightest. Nor did the class seem tempted either. 

Once they were done laughing, we finished up the article. They'll spend more time reading a third article and figuring out what they're going to write, but I won't be there for it. 

These essays are interesting as the teachers really go into the nitty-gritty of how to write. And part of it is how to think for oneself. Important lessons, truly. 

Cough-Wink-Cough

Tuesday. Photography. 

Mr. S arrived shortly after I did. He explained that the art department was having their yearly planning session (which I was there for last year, covering a different teacher), and that he wanted to explain the assignment to the class. Okay, then... 

Their "open house" was the next day, only they call it something different now. They've shifted it to now as the students are getting ready to choose their classes for next school year, and the event is more about the various elective teachers and other programs promoting their offerings. 

Mr. S instructed his students to pick their best photograph and upload it to the slideshow that Mr. S was going to use for his open house presentation, to try to entice students to choose photography next year. They had to do it in a certain way so that Mr. S didn't have to go through and fix it later. 

I completely understood what the kiddos needed to do, but it kind of did need to come from him. 

While he was explaining the assignment, he had another announcement for the class. 

Mr. S: "Oh, and before I forget, and in case I forget to mention this on Thursday... So, you know how sometimes your teachers will tell you they feel like they're coming down with something, so they're going to miss school the next day? Yeah, well, I feel like I'm coming down with something, so I won't be here... Monday and Tuesday..."

The class? Crickets. 

I don't know if they got what Mr. S was hinting at, but whatever. I did. I really hope he had something fun planned. 

Then Mr. S went to his planning meeting, which was practically next door to the classroom, and he didn't return at all. (Unlike the teacher I covered last year.) 

Describing the Gifts

Winter break vacation over, and I caught a special ed job. You know, in one of those classes. For three days. 

Actually, things went pretty smoothly. Most of the class had one-to-one aides, and the teacher had clear routines in place. 

Third period, Tuesday. The class had a standing lesson with the speech therapist. As it was the first day back after the break (they had a professional development day on Monday, so no students), the speech therapist did an activity about the break. 

She asked them what they got for Christmas, but they couldn't just tell her. They had to give two hints, and the others were to guess what it was. As an example, the speech therapist said, "I got something that I wear on my feet and it has three white lines on it." 

They easily identified the gift as Adidas sneakers. 

She demonstrated with a couple other of her gifts. Then she left them to figure out how to hint about what they got for Christmas. 

The activity went fairly well. Most of the students got right to work and were able to hint about their gifts. Mostly, I was asked how to spell things. 

Calvin, who likes to smudge his work after he completes it, was having a time writing anything down. His one-to-one aide was trying to assist. He asked Calvin what he got for Christmas. Calvin said he got a violin. 

A violin???

That seemed odd. But then the next day I learned he was in a strings music class, and suddenly a violin made more sense. 

They finished up the lesson with the speech therapist having them read out what they wrote and having the class guess what they got. 

You'd think a speech therapy class would be more about having them work on how they talk. At least, that's what I assumed when I first heard of it. But no. It's more of them discussing things. Whatever works, right? 

And now I have an interesting activity I can apply if I ever have need of it. (I love watching others work. I steal liberally from them.) 

A Reading Lesson

Tuesday of the week before Thanksgiving, I had nothing. (I saved my subbing stories for when I was back at work.) I had the rest of the week booked, but not Tuesday. I just missed catching two assignments during the school day Monday, and as I was leaving school for the day, I was trying to accept that I might not work that Tuesday. 

Then, just as I was pulling out of my parking space, my phone alerted. I grabbed that assignment so fast... 

Tuesday. Senior English. Co-taught. 

Since it was a late(erish) call out, the general ed teacher taught the class as planned. (Even if it had been longer planned, I think Ms. U would have just kept on with the plan for the day anyway.) They were getting ready to start a new book, and they were doing the prelim work for it. 

Me? I sat at the back of the room, unneeded. 

The lesson went off very smoothly. The students were attentive when Ms. U was instructing, and they actually discussed what she asked them to discuss as the period wore on. (I know this as I walked the room then, listening in. I didn't have to prompt them.) 

This is not normally the sort of day that makes the blog. The only reason I'm mentioning it is because of what they were going to be reading...

A comic book. A graphic novel. This one: Hawkeye: My Life as a Weapon.

It was fascinating. Ms. U had the class do notes on the superhero genre. What were the expectations? What sorts of stories are usually told in this medium? How does one read a comic book, anyway? 

She used terminology (frame, gutter, etc.). She had them write about what they knew of this type of story. She explained how they were to look at the various panels and how to compare panel sequences. 

I learned a lot. 

I would have loved a lesson like this when I was their age. Graphic novels have come a long way. 

As I was looking up the graphic novel so I could link to it, I found it on YouTube. In case you're interested, this is for the first story in the graphic novel. (It contains five. The class was only going to read the first two or three, time permitting.) 

Ms. U got them started with the first couple pages. She hinted about how they'd also be learning about subverting expectations. 

Zonked

Tuesday. Eleventh grade English, eighth period. 

(I was kind of loath to reuse this title. But when I went looking for the last time I used it, I found that I had used "Zilch" twice and "Zizi Rho Designs" three times. And Z. So, I'm going to go with it.) 

We got back from spring break on Monday. Tuesday we started state testing. While most of the high school doesn't have to participate, the eleventh graders do. 

They set up a special schedule for testing. Testing started at the usual start of the school day. Those not testing (the ninth, tenth, and twelfth graders) didn't have to even come to school until after the testing block. The testing block was two hours. 

The lesson plan for the day? We finally got to start reading The Great Gatsby. (For the two weeks before spring break we did lots of anticipatory activities.)

Have you ever read The Great Gatsby? Do me a favor and read the first page. Real quick. I'll wait...

Um, yeah. It's a little dense, especially for eleventh graders. 

So, I took my time, stopping a lot and explaining what was going on. (We would have easily finished chapter one if I didn't stop as much as I did.) 

And the class? Eighth period? Yeah, they were zonked. 

I saw heads on desks. I wasn't getting much in the way of feedback when I invited comments. 

Not shocked. And okay with it, really. Considering everything. The book takes a couple chapters to really get going, and they'll be more into it then. 

I hope. 

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

Text for Help

When Ms. A left for her maternity leave in February, she shared her online lesson plan calendar with both me and Ms. S (the sub before me). I saved the link someplace handy, and I didn't glance at it again. Until I started the long-term assignment. 

On the first day I was in class, I noted the pacing of the teaching of The Great Gatsby for the eleventh grade classes. I noted that the ninth grade class would be reading Of Mice and Men starting that week. (I've taught both these books before, so I was prepared.) 

However, the tenth grade class had nothing listed to do. Well, the first days I was there they were finishing up an argumentative essay, but for my second week, there was nothing in the plans. A big, fat blank. 

Um...

I didn't even know what Ms. A had intended for them. With the other classes, if something wasn't filled in, I could easily figure out how to fill some time as I had a topic on which to base things on. But not so for the tenth graders. Were they going to read a book? Were we going to do grammar lessons? A writing assignment? I had no clue.

Ms. A sent me a text saying she'd fill in the tenth grade plans. But she was cutting it pretty close. I mean, she's at home with a newborn and a toddler. I don't expect her to work. But I do need some guidance as to what to assign the kiddos. 

Then, Tuesday morning, a lesson plan appeared. Whew. Since my first block is planning time, I clicked on the links to get things set up for the day. Only, the links said I did not have access. Sigh.

But she had texted me to let me know to text her questions I had. So, I texted that I needed access to the material. Her response: "Oops. Geez." 

It's always the obvious things that slip through the cracks. 

Now I know what our unit is on. Short stories. So, now I have a topic with which to work. Yay! 

(We were reading "The Interlopers". I had not read it before, so it was new to all of us.) 

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

Of Streaming and Screenshots

For second period, I sort of co-teach with another special ed teacher. (The "sort of" is doing a lot of heavy lifting. It's a complicated story that I don't want to spend the time explaining.) 

When I started the class, they were finishing up their World War I unit. For a final, Ms. L is having them write an essay about the movie they watched: All Quiet on the Western Front, the 1930 version. 

Because they're special ed eighth graders, this was not something they're used to doing. So, it has taken a lot of pushing to get things going. 

The plan was for them to write about certain portions of the movie. But, of course, they were having trouble recalling the scenes. Then somehow I ended up looking up where it could be streamed, and sure enough, it's currently streaming via Tubi. 

Which they could access via their in school Chromebooks. 

Suddenly, all the kiddos were rewatching the movie. 

"So, I can actually watch movies at school." 

Yeah, probably shouldn't have clued the eighth graders in on the fact that they can stream movies on their computers. (If you look, Tubi has a lot of content. Some of which the eighth graders would like.) 

With me and Ms. L and our two instructional assistants in class, the kiddos couldn't really sneak in other movies. But they do have other classes. 

One thing Ms. L wanted the kiddos to do was to find a photo from the scene of the movie they're writing about. There are a ton of images they can find. But one kiddo wasn't finding the precise image he wanted.

I reasoned that one could take a screenshot from the movie on their Chromebooks.

I explained this to the kiddo. He knew how to take a screenshot. And he managed to capture the image he wanted. 

Ms. L isn't very techno savvy, so when she saw what the kiddo did, she had him instruct another classmate so he could get the image he wanted. 

Yeah, I think I just created some problems. For later. And likely for other teachers. 

But they were actually writing essays on the movie. And about World War I. So, maybe it's a good thing? 

Three Books

I mentioned that I'm kind of scrambling at the start of this new long term that fell in my lap a couple weeks ago. Which, honestly, is normal for any long term. What I'm scrambling for varies, but the scramble is expected. 

While the math classes were set (with another teacher who's been giving me worksheets to give the classes), I didn't really have anything for the history classes. 

I managed to find some textbooks in a cabinet in the classroom. The current textbooks. The current general ed textbooks. But, Mr. B used general ed textbooks in his special ed class (a long term I did in November-December 2023). And I could do something similar to what he did. 

Problem: I had five textbooks. There were eight students in third period. 

So, I did what any reasonable adult would do. I went to the library and checked out three more textbooks. 

Boring assignment, but it was better than nothing (and it gives me some direction as to topics to cover). We read together. They wanted to play games on their computer "when we finished" as it wouldn't take the whole period. Me: "Challenge accepted". 

Well, it didn't take the whole period, but these block periods are long. 

The next day, I was poking around in the cabinet while looking for something when I spied something in the back corner. Three textbooks. Um...

So, I had eight textbooks the entire time. Deep sigh. 

Of course, returning the textbooks was a bit more of a challenge as the ones I had checked out were now mixed in with the originals. (They have barcodes with serial numbers.) Luckily, the librarian is kind and looked up the numbers of the ones I checked out. 

Now I'm set. Sort of. Now I have some structure to what I should be teaching. In case you're wondering, our current topic is The Cold War. 1950s, here we come...

Make Work

On Tuesday I got an email from the sub desk. Would I be interested in taking over a long term subbing assignment? Starting tomorrow? 

I mean, better busy than spending too much time in my own head wallowing. 

On Wednesday, I jumped right in. 

My first period was a co-taught class, so I circulated and helped where needed. Then it was time for third period (block schedule). 

And I had nothing. Deep sigh.

The classes are special ed. I had an instructional assistant (IA). She gave the me low down on what the class had covered with the previous sub. As the class started. 

Uh... 

It was a world history class. They had just studied World War II. With no other ideas, I quickly created a Google Classroom for them, threw up some blank slides, and told them to create a presentation about an aspect of WWII. 

Terrible lesson plan. But I'm terrible at winging things, and this was totally winging. But it was something to keep them busy until I could get something set up. 

Deep sigh. 

Why did I take this class again? Yikes.

(The whole thing is a mess. Their teacher, who was hired after the school year started, left the position at the end of the first semester. It's not likely that the school is going to hire a new teacher for them, so they'll have a succession of long term subs until June. 

Oh, and the schedule is a mess. Two co-taught periods. Two periods of sophomore math. Two periods of sophomore world history. It's a weird combination. I mean, I can do this, no problem, but someone didn't plan this well at all.)

Free Day

School started back up yesterday, so it's time to revisit my subbing stories from before winter break.

Sunday afternoon. I did not have an assignment for the following day, so when my phone alerted, I was quite happy. It was for Mr. L who I have subbed for in the past, but I don't sub for him often. (He's not out a lot.) 

In the subbing app, the teachers can upload messages and files. Most do not. But, last minute call out, so Mr. L had uploaded his lesson plans. I read through them. And then I picked my jaw up off the floor.

It was finals week. Their finals were to start on Tuesday. For Monday? His classes had a "free day". 

Giving the kiddos time to go over work for other classes or just chill for a period is a lesson plan I get from time to time. Just not from Mr. L. He is rather famous for his busy work on days he's out. He once had them each pick a book from an old set of encyclopedias and list ten facts from it. I mean, it was probably more than ten, but my memory on this is murky.

So, for each class, I did the same intro: "And now I'm going to say something that I never thought I'd say in Mr. L's class. You have a free day."

(I had two students who needed to take their final early. That was the extent of actual work accomplished that day.)

It made it an easy day for me. And it was easy on them. I think some of them actually got work for other classes done, but most found games to play on the computers. And they remained mellow. So, a nice, easy day. 

More Seventh Grade

Wednesday. I was covering seventh grade English. (This was a different school than where I did the science long-term, so no familiar faces this day.) 

The kiddos had read a piece in their books by Maya Angelou called "New Directions", and their assignment for the day was to answer two questions about it. 

Only two questions? Yes. First, that was not the plan for the whole period (this was to take them about twenty minutes). And second, they were to answer the questions in a specific way, using textual evidence.

They had done something similar in sixth grade (the sixth and seventh grade teachers meet once a year to coordinate things), but not to this extent. But this is the natural progression as each year the English teachers have them build their writing skills by taking them to the next level.

Ms. L left me slides to go over, and we did the first question (of three, they did two on their own) together.

Oh, the whining...

It's nice when the teachers leave me something to do where I get to teach as opposed to giving the kiddos independent work. Instead of dealing with bored students not wanting to work, I got to do something with them. 

But still, seventh grade. Keeping their focus is a challenge.

Somehow, this has become a year of seventh grade for me. So far, anyway. Funny how these themes find me, depending on the year. 

(Want to feel old? This year's seventh graders are the class of 2030.)

Worried Anticipation

Back when I was a newbie sub, I had days where I'd show up to a classroom only to discover that the teacher wasn't going to be out for the day. The teacher would be surprised there was a sub. It would turn out that there was an error somewhere, and I would be dispatched somewhere else (as the district made the error, not me). 

This has not happened for years now. But, I'm always a bit uncertain. That anxiety has never fully gone away.

Tuesday. I had picked up the assignment a couple weeks prior. But, when I arrived in the classroom, I found no lesson plans. And I got paranoid.

I have subbed for Ms. G in the past. She leaves detailed sub plans. But nothing. 

So, I didn't do my usual settling into the day. Normally I put my name on the board, figure out where my bag will live for the day, set up the computer with my note and the attendance and such. I waited to see what was going to happen.

And then the classroom phone rang...

The caller ID said it was the teacher. And I was relieved. (I knew she had to be calling to give me lesson plans.)

Turns out, Ms. G had planned to be on campus for her virtual training, but she had gotten sick over the weekend, so she was doing the virtual training at home. Because she had planned to be on campus, she hadn't left her lesson plans. (It had been a three-day weekend with Monday off.) 

I don't think I'll ever fully believe a teacher isn't going to show up and be, "Sub? What sub? I don't need a sub," until I see the lesson plans. Even though it's been over a decade since this has been an issue. 

(The photography classes were mostly fine. My major issue with the day was a migraine that I'd been dealing with for a couple days.) 

The Mad Scramble

It was Tuesday of the penultimate week of school, and I was back in Mr. J's class.

This was not a surprise. When I took the long term assignment, I was booked for the initial two months, and then these last four days of May. Before leaving the class, on the transition day, I asked Mr. J about it. He confirmed he was taking this week off. (Something about his wife going back to work. He didn't give much detail, and I didn't ask for specifics.)

In anticipation of this reprise, I didn't return the classroom key nor did I return the tablet I checked out for use in the class. I left it on campus, in a cabinet in Mr. J's classroom. (Technically I could have taken it home as it was checked out to me, but I felt more comfortable leaving school tech at school.) 

Before the weekend, Mr. J had emailed me the lesson plans. I went through and printed out the pages I'd need. I perused the lesson just so I was ready. 

On Tuesday, I made sure to leave a bit early so I could retrieve my borrowed tech and set up for the day. (While on the long-term, I tended to leave things ready for the next day as I tend not to be all that alert first thing in the morning.) 

Everything went according to plan. I got checked in, got into the classroom, set up my tablet, and got things ready to go. 

Only, there was a small problem.

The pages I had printed were not the pages containing the notes the students needed. 

Mr. J had sent me a copy of the students' notes. But the copy he gave them and the copy he gave me were not the same. 

(In my copy, pages 15 & 16 were notes on finding the area of regular shapes. In the students' copy, pages 15 & 16 were notes on finding the volume of prisms.) 

Oops. 

I knew there was going to be some hiccup. I'm fortunate that it wasn't a bigger deal.

As luck would have it, I had previewed their online assignment and found the pages that contained those notes. I printed those as well. And it turned out those were the notes I did need. 

Once I figured out where the glitch was, things went smoothly. I got through their notes, and they got a chance to work on their last new assignment for the school year. 

The next class period they would get the study guide for their final test. (The teacher isn't giving a final. The last chapter test is the last test for the class.) 

The school year is almost done. Well, actually, by the time you read this, it will be done. Today, June 5th, is the last day of school (although I'm always a week behind on the blog, so this week I'll continue to have subbing stories).