Make Work

Last week we started our annual state testing. (This week we'll finish it up.) I explained the schedule on Wednesday. As I mentioned yesterday, what this meant for me was that I had two hours of "free" time to get some things accomplished. Which meant some things got done that I might not have gotten to otherwise...

Before spring break, the eleventh grade classes did a whole lot of anticipatory stuff for reading The Great Gatsby. We talked about the 1920s. They read about the author, F. Scott Fitzgerald. And they had a couple videos to watch. 

I had them take notes. And then I gave them points for taking the notes (mostly because I expected that they'd ignore the material and spend the time on their phones if I didn't). Or, rather, I gave them points for the first day of notes, but for the rest of them I wasn't going to bother. Because it was practically spring break. 

Thursday. Jocelyn had to go home early. She came to class briefly to find out what the assignment was going to be. She got the title of the video so she could watch it and turn in the notes so she wouldn't miss any assignments. 

I would have told her not to bother, but she did this so fast. Mostly, what I was concerned about was that the video, a biography on F. Scott Fitzgerald, briefly discussed The Great Gatsby including how it ended. This part I skipped over while showing it in class (as we didn't want spoilers before reading the book), but how did I explain this to Jocelyn? 

When I wrote last week's blog post mentioning the video, I looked it up, searching for it rather than clicking on the link Ms. A left. And, surprisingly, the first video to pop up on YouTube is without spoiler. Someone edited it out! Meaning, Jocelyn most likely saw the version without the spoiler. Big Whew!

Then, on Friday, during eighth period, I informed them they'd need to take notes...

Evan: "I'm not going to take notes. You're not going to grade them." 

Yeah, so now I have to grade them. 

So, when all this time opened up this week, the first thing I did was to grade all the notes from before spring break. 

Because, seriously? I'm pretty easy going most of the time, but when someone challenges me like that? Don't tell me I'm not going to do something. I will so do that thing. 

Jazz Age Notes

Friday. Junior English. Third period.

It was my first day flying solo (so to speak--there's a co-teacher) in Ms. A's class. The lesson plans said to present a slideshow to the class while they took notes. Easy enough. 

I previewed the slides. And I panicked a little. The classes are 92 minutes long. There was no way the slides could possibly take up a full hour and a half of class time.

The classes will read The Great Gatsby once we return from spring break. The slideshow was about The American Dream, F. Scott Fitzgerald (the author), and general historical background on the 1920s Jazz Age (when the book is set). 

But, I had made the assignment from the previous class due Friday, so they'd get a bit of time to finish that up if they needed it. Or so the plan went. 

After the morning announcements, we got to work. As I do, I discussed the slides. They had bullet points about The American Dream. I expanded upon what was there. I pointed out how while taking notes, they didn't need to write down what was on the slides verbatim. 

And as I talked (and waited for the students to finish writing), I watched the clock. Time kept ticking away. And soon I realized this was all taking some time. A lot of time. 

We had twenty minutes of class time left. I did a mental inventory. We had a lot of slides left. And I realized, I wasn't going to finish the slideshow by the end of the period. 

Oops.

Although, this was a good problem to have. I was worried I'd have half the class to fill after finishing up. 

I had no idea I could talk that long. And it wasn't even an issue of me having to stop every two minutes to get their attention again. They were following along, a few piping up when I asked questions of the class. I mean, it went well. 

When I noticed that we were within five minutes of the end of the period, I called it. Not quite finished, but looking ahead to the next week, I realized I could finish off the slides then. I definitely have a bit of a cushion, although that means that we'll do a video on the author's life on the last day before spring break. They were supposed to have a free day as Ms. A was kind of expecting many of them not to show.

No big deal. The video is just on F. Scott Fitzgerald's life. I mean, it's interesting and all, but it won't hurt them if they miss that day. 

The slideshow was 55 slides long. I got through about 30 of them. 

So, now I know I can fill an entire 90-ish minute period with 30 slides. I might need this information later. 

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

The Sketch Notes

Eighth grade English. 

Some days, the classes actually do work. This was one of those days. 

(I mean, seriously, I had silent classes. Silent. I don't know what magic Ms. N works on those kiddos, but it's got to be something, as I've met many of them in other classes, and they don't behave like this there.) 

We were doing a "first read" on a poem. "Mother to Son" by Langston Hughes.

As part of the first read, they were to make sketch notes. 

I just follow lesson plans. I had never heard of this sketch notes thing. Some of the students questioned it too, but there were examples on the board, and they realized that they had done this thing before.

Apparently, sketch notes are a thing where they draw pictures and write out quotes and things as "notes". 

We never did anything fun like this when I was in school. Of course, many of them didn't find it fun. Many of them couldn't get their heads around a "crystal stair". 

As it was a first read, I know that Ms. N will spend more time on the poem with them so they'll understand it more. But that will be something that happens on a day I'm not there.

Passing a Note in Class

I had been warned about sixth period...

Sixth period is the last class of the day, and they're a different breed. There's something about that group. They're either the worst class of the day, or they're a bit odd.

Seventh grade world history. They were studying Japan. They had a quick PowerPoint followed by taking notes out of their textbooks.

The other classes had worked quietly. Not them. But, they were working, so it could have been so much worse.

Before all this, as they were arriving, I noticed that someone from the previous class had left behind a pencil pouch. Before I could retrieve it, another student picked it up. (Later I found out they'd put it in the class' lost & found. Middle school students are constantly leaving things behind.)

Then a girl started "sharing" sticky notes. Did these sticky notes come out of that pencil pouch? (No, they didn't.) Why do the kiddos need sticky notes? This is the sort of thing that can go sideways, so I kept an eye on that while I got class started.

And then I heard rumblings about someone passing a note...

Students passing notes in class hasn't been an issue for years. Nowadays, they just text.

I informed the class of my passing notes response. A passed note gets photographed and posted to Instagram. (Well, it wasn't Instagram before--I just posted them here on the blog, like here and here--but with Instagram, it's a better threat.)

So, I went through the PowerPoint, and I got them started on their notes. I had taken roll, and I was settling in, when I noticed the kiddos distracted by something.

"Just pass it."

"What is it?"

"I want to see it."

And now it's a distraction. And now it's mine.

They readily gave up the note. Here it is...

Sigh. I can't really object to the note. (Usually they're juicier.) But it did cause a classroom distraction...

It makes sense that sixth period would pass something like this.

Lovestruck

There are some things that I don't see when I'm in a class one day and out the next. Little dramas that play out over days. So, six days in one class gave me a different perspective than I normally get.

On the first day, Kenya declared that she wanted to be famous. But Kenya is more interested in something else. Boys.

The IAs clued me in to Kenya's obsession, but I figured out the object of her affection on my own. And he's completely oblivious.

She would say "hi" to him in that fawning way we girls sometimes have, and he kept on walking by. She tried to engage him in conversation, but he was more interested in watching videos on a tablet with his friend. It seemed like she talked to his back quite a bit, and if he heard her, he's doing a great job of pretending that he didn't.

On Friday, we finished their reading assignment early, so Kenya and her toady Brittany had some time to "draw". Only, they didn't draw...

They each wrote one to a different boy, but they wrote the exact same thing. And as they did it, they covered it up, but not well enough for me not to know what they were up to.

I figured it was harmless enough, but the IAs were concerned. The notes were confiscated.

Later, they told me that Kenya's affections only lately transferred to this boy. Her previous crush... Well, something turned her off him.

This was Friday, and they had an end-of-year party in the afternoon. The club was going to hold elections for next year's officers during the party. At least, that's what one of the IAs told me when one boy spent a lot of time chatting up a bunch of the kids.

He was general ed (the club was a way for the special ed kids and general ed kids to interact in a social setting), and he was confident. He made a point of saying something nice to Kenya and Brittany. And I could tell Kenya's head was turned.

Well, at least this boy was better than the last one. I think. Maybe.

I'll see how this plays out next week. If it plays out next week. It should be interesting.

Naming Names

It's been a while, but I finally got back to the continuation high school. It's June, so the senior classes are pretty barren. That's a good thing. It means most of those students managed to get all their credits and graduate.

But the English class still had an assignment.

They were writing essays on Greek gods or goddesses. (The teacher assigned topics by drawing names.) The students were all on the computers either doing some research or typing up their papers. For the most part they were on task, with the occasional foray into shoe or soccer sites.

Fifth period. One boy was clearly not researching Prometheus. A video with a guy in a taxi? Yeah, I don't think so.

He pulled up his essay. He pulled up a research website. So, I walked away.

But I kept my eye on him.

Soon enough, the website looked more like entertainment than research. Although, it was in a smaller window. That he had moved so that his body blocked most of it.

Yeah, that doesn't look suspicious.

I went over to investigate. Suddenly, that smaller box was Wikipedia.

Yeah, right. (Enough of the mini window was visible to me that I knew it wasn't Wikipedia when I got up and began to walk over.)

Later, the boy approached me. Could he use the restroom?

Sure, I'll write that pass. Name...?

And that is how I knew what to call him in my note to his teacher.

(Oh sure, I could have found his name through other means. But this just made it that much easier.)

Get Out Your Notes

Remember that special ed. algebra 1 class? Last week, I covered it again for three days. (The teacher had a training thing he had to go to.)

The classes were given review worksheets which turned out to be a good thing as the students clearly needed the practice. At least, it seemed so because of all the questions I got. 

Of course, it was a difficult chapter. Solving multi-step equations. Don't know what that means? It means that they were solving for x things that looked like

2x + 3(x+1) + 7 = 25

This is a challenge in the beginning. So, I made sure to go over things with them and help them as much as I could.

One girl got stuck on the 3(x+1) part. So, I explained the distributive property as well as I could. This involves a bit of hand waving along with pointing to the 3 and trying to indicate how it has to combine with the x and the 1.

All I got in return was a blank stare. So, I asked the girl to get out her notes.

I knew the teacher had gone over this with the class. I had seen the notes. He had shown the distributive property on them. I figured that perhaps seeing those notes might jog her memory.

But, she refused to move.

I asked her to get out her notes again. Told her that her notes would help. Explained that her teacher had done this with her and her notes might remind her of the procedure. Still, she stared at me, making no move to get into her backpack.

So, I walked away. My only two other options were to write her up for refusing my direction (kind of harsh) or going into her stuff and getting the notes out myself (which I'm not allowed to do, but even if I was, I wouldn't as that was her stuff).

A couple minutes later, I looked back, and she had gotten out her notes. She looked them over...

Next thing I saw, she was busily working on the assignment. Making progress. Because sure enough, those notes did contain the thing that I was not able to convey to her.

At the end of the period, she had not finished the assignment. The back and forth between us had taken a while.

Why do they fight me on these things? I don't really want an answer. I'm just shaking my head.

Making Plans

I was back at the continuation high school today. I know, I live there.

I was back in the English class. They were reading along with a tape of Animal Farm by George Orwell. Then they had to write a paragraph summarizing the chapter. All in all, the day went pretty smoothly.

I walked the classroom to make sure that they were doing their paragraphs and to answer any questions. I noticed that one boy had not done any writing. We got into a discussion about the chapter. Then I got distracted by another question and I walked away. I don't think the boy ever did write his paragraph.

The only reason I mention him is that I noticed something on his desk. He and a neighboring girl had been exchanging notes. I assume that they were doing this while the story was playing (at least they weren't talking).

I managed to acquire the note. I thought I'd share (the grammar, punctuation, and spelling are theirs):

Girl: hey we should go to disneyland this week

Boy: |0| okay maybe Wednesday? (^-^) But we have to talk to [name redacted] (-.-) I don't have my cell phone so I cant text her! (-.-)

Girl: okay ill text her today when i get home and ill ask her.

Boy: alright then...But what day? ey? Buay? |0|

What day are we going to drink?

Girl: Well we should go wednesday b/c we don't come to school and we should drink on friday didn't your mom invited us over for her b-day this Saturday

Boy: AAAA (-.-) NOOO!

you really want to be w/my Moja?

I think what I find the strangest is the writing out of the emoticons. I think I translated them correctly.

Now I know why the boy didn't write anything. He wasn't listening. He was planning his week.