Attending the Wrong Period

Note: You may have heard my area has been hit with multiple wild fires. As of now (Thursday night), my immediate area is safe. The fires are north of me. We are, of course, holding our breath as the red flag warnings are still in effect as our area is dry and anything might spark a wild fire nearby. (I'm not tempting fate. I'm knocking on wood, crossing my fingers, and doing anything else in hopes that my area remains safe.)

Thursday, the last week before winter break. Seventh period. 

Elise hovered at the door, looking in. "I'm not going to be in eighth period today." 

Me: "I'm not your teacher. You need to tell your teacher this."

Ms. D had a class called "math support & enrichment". This is an extra math class for kiddos who have difficulty in math. Which means that for a sub it's an nightmare, usually. Imagine a room full of kiddos who hate math, who will avoid doing any math work, and it's their second math class. 

As Ms. D is a co-teacher, she only used the room seventh period. For eighth period, Ms. F took the room for another math support & enrichment class. As I'm sure Elise was well aware. 

Elise: "I have cheerleading practice today, so I won't be here."

Me: "I have no access to Ms. F's attendance. You have to tell your teacher." 

It was a weird day, with us having every period for 29 minutes. (Usually they're on block schedule with only odd periods or even periods.) So, when Elise asked to stay, I allowed it. (Some of them might not have a seventh period but will have an eighth. It's weird.) 

Of course, this was a mistake. Elise was with her friend, and there were two boys. And, the four of them were in play mode. (They had no work to do. Normally I'd tell them to get caught up on missing work, but we were near the end of the day, and the grades were due. There was no work for them to get caught up on.) 

If the class had been any longer, I would have kicked her out. As it was, I had to separate the group for doing inappropriate things in a classroom. ("But we're friends. We always do this at lunch.") 

(Read: swiping each other's cell phones, taking video and pictures of each other, kicking each other, pulling elastic and smacking each other with it, etc.) 

So, since Elise hung around seventh period, she remained behind for eighth period to tell Ms. F she wasn't going to be in class, right? 

Nope. I ran into Ms. F the next day and asked. Elise was not there. Nor had she checked in with Ms. F. 

Friday. 

Elise: "I won't be here eighth period."

Me: eye roll.

Then I shooed her out. She asked to stay. After Thursday? Nope.

Tag Team

Friday. Eighth grade math. Cotaught. 

I walked in expecting to play support to the regular general ed teacher, but it turned out she was out too. So, it was a two sub day.

Well, we could handle that.

Ms. S and I both read the lesson plans. We divvied up the work. (I'd check their homework. She'd take roll.) I have a math background, so I would take lead in going over the warm up and the homework. She'd keep classroom control while I did that. 

Second period went well. I was elsewhere for fourth period. (Learning center.) She had math support and enrichment. 

When I returned for sixth period, I was not surprised to hear that fourth period had not gone well. (It was only a week prior that I had my own hell in a math support and enrichment.) And several of those students also had math sixth period.

But things go a bit easier with two teachers in the room. I can deal with an issue on one side of the room while the other teacher deals with a problem on the other side. 

We had a couple students playing around. I caught a student copying the practice test they were doing. (Which was only going to hurt the student as no one was checking the practice test for completeness. This was their opportunity to figure out what they needed to learn for the test.) 

Ms. S had taken over keeping track of restroom passes, and I focused on answering math questions. 

"What are you doing over here?" I asked one boy.

"She said I could sit here." 

Considering that Ms. S hadn't been allowing students to move, I was dubious. I got Ms. S's attention and asked if she had let the boy sit in that seat. 

She had not.

Busted.

I mean, if you're going to tell a lie, do you tell one that can so easily be found out? 

Eighth graders... *shakes head* They really don't think sometimes.

Under Bidding

Math support and enrichment. It's an extra period of math for students who are struggling with math. They were studying transformations.

They had a couple worksheets to complete. It was just a little simple graphing...

Well, maybe it was not so simple for them (considering what class it was). But they had plenty of time, and I could help.

If you've followed my blog for any length of time, you know that kiddos try to take the easy way out more often than not.

"I'll give you three dollars to do the assignment for me."

My first though was that I'd gotten a raise. It used to be that they offered a dollar for that sort of thing.

But I replied with my second thought: "Considering my expertise, my services are worth at least twenty dollars."

Naturally, he balked. Which was exactly the reaction I was going for. Sort of.

Then someone mentioned gas money (as in $20 is gas money), and the conversation shifted to what kind of car I drive. (They asked. My answer was non-specific.) And the price of gasoline.

Topic shifted, I went back to doing my job and they went back to avoiding the work.

Because, seriously? I was probably undercharging.

If they want to hire the work out, they really should consider the skill set of the person they're hiring. I got an A in freshman math. And sophomore math. And I even managed to get through calculus. If they want to cheap out, they need to hire someone with far fewer math skills than me.

Punishment, Unusual and a Little Cruel

In the first year of high school math, certain students who are struggling are given an extra period of what is called "math support". All the struggling students. Together. In one period.

This is how difficult classes are constructed.

But, I had two things going for me on this day. One: I had fair warning from the teacher himself and his co-teacher (who had taught all the previous classes that day). Warning and support. And two: another teacher "helped out" (read: did all the work) with the class.

One of the warnings I got was a little trick the teachers used to keep the class in line. Turning on the air conditioning was contingent upon the class' behavior.

I know many parts of the U.S. are getting into fall temperatures. However, I'm in southern California. On this day, our high was projected to be in the upper seventies. (Roughly 25 C.) With it being a sunny and warm day, and us being in a classroom with no open windows, the room got fairly warm. I had been running the a/c all day.

But, with the warning, I turned off the a/c before this class came in. (This class was immediately after lunch.)

Class got started. The other teacher who "helped out" showed up. (There was some question as to whether or not she'd be there on this day. As it sounds like she's doing this extra on her own time, I wouldn't have blamed her for not coming in.) I passed out their assignment, and they got to work.

Slowly, the temperature in the room crept up. And someone asked me to turn on the a/c.

The other teacher then used the a/c to her advantage. She informed the class that everyone had to complete two problems before she'd turn on the a/c. Several students had completed way more than two problems, but several others hadn't even written their names on their paper.

It took at least five minutes (maybe ten) before the stragglers finally finished their two problems.

I was urging them on. I run warm generally, and I was already dripping sweat. (This is normal for me.)

The class was still loud. Several only got those two problems done. But, that class could have gone a whole lot worse. I'm going to have to consider using the a/c to my advantage in the future.