Vanished

Seventh grade English, sixth period. As it was a Monday (with half hour periods), they had a silent reading day. (Don't even get me started on the Monday schedule. Having the kiddos read silently is probably the best use of the day that there is.)

The day had been going pretty well (for a Monday where it rained all day). I had had one difficult group (of eighth graders), but otherwise the day had been going pretty smoothly. 

And sixth period was going pretty well as well. 

Once they got settled they (mostly) silently read. (They were seventh graders. A few needed a bit more persuading to focus on their books.) With intro time and settling down time, they probably had fifteen-ish minutes of reading time.

Then they had a reading log to complete. I let them know when it was time to fill it in. (They were just noting what pages they read with a brief summary.) As the semester has just started, I had passed out their new logs during the intro time.

I had placed the stack of reading log copies on a front desk so I had easy access to it. On that desk I also had the class roster and a Chromebook. (I had a couple slides with the agenda for the day projected on the in-class TV.) 

As sixth period was leaving, something felt wrong about that front desk. That's when I realized. The stack of reading logs had vanished. (The computer and class roster were still there, though.) 

I had one more period. Where had the copies gone? 

I looked everywhere. In the trash cans. Under the desks. In the teacher's refrigerator. On any available surface in the classroom. They were nowhere.

(I looked outside for trash cans, but none were close enough to the classroom for me to check without leaving the classroom unattended.) 

There was nothing for it. I got seventh period settled and reading, but when it was time to do their logs, I let them know that they'd have to get those pages from their teacher later. Deep sigh.

I ran into the teacher later in the week. The copies had been left in the back of the classroom in a spot that I was sure I had looked. 

Next time I'll keep a better eye on the copies. 

Seventh graders. *shakes head*

A Bad Idea

Wednesday, ERW English 12, period two. As expected, my biggest issue was staying awake.

(ERW English is an option for juniors and seniors. It's a class that focuses on reading and writing skills needed for success in college. It's a bit more intensive, hence it's an option and not a requirement. During the year, many students complain of the work. But, the students who have graduated and returned to visit report that having taken the class had helped them so much in their college coursework that the trouble was worth it. So, the class is gaining in popularity.) 

They had been left a list of assignments to complete, and while I noted a few on their cell phones, that was mostly towards the end of the period, and I had seen pretty much everyone doing the work. While not silent, the room remained fairly quiet the whole time.

With second period over, they left. Fourth period began arriving during the passing period. While in transition Ms. L, one of the assistant principals, popped into the room.

Ms. L said she was "checking on the subs", which was odd as they never do that. (There were a lot of English teachers out for a school thing, so there were more subs than usual on campus.) Then she got down to the reason for popping in. 

Had any of the students been on the phone?

Well, of course they'd been texting...

Oh no. The school had gotten notification from the sheriff's department that some calls had been made to 9-1-1, and there was laughter in the background.

Considering how quiet the classroom had been, I was fairly certain the students hadn't made any voice calls, let alone been calling 9-1-1. 

Again, it was worse than that. The students had been making calls from the classroom landline.

To which I could confidently reply that it did not happen on my watch. Because no student had gone anywhere near the phone, let alone been using it. I didn't even use the phone during class.

Ms. L was not surprised. As soon as she saw me, she dismissed the idea that it had happened in my room. (I have a decent reputation.) But she was asking everyone.

Which begs the question. Well, several, actually. Who wasn't watching their class closely enough for that to happen? Why would any students think this was something to do? What should they have been doing? 

I mean, I've been in the room when kiddos make prank calls. (Well, one call. I shut that down real fast.) But 9-1-1? Seriously?

A-Tacked

It was the last week of school. Monday. Tuesday through Thursday (the last day) were their finals. So, the Monday was all about finals prep.

Tenth grade world history. Special ed. Their final was on World War II, so I was to quiz them on what they should know.

I had been warned about third period. "All boys. Five of the six can be a handful..."

They arrived, and they behaved as advertised. Two boys sang songs in Spanish loudly. At the bell half the class wouldn't sit and let me start class. And as I attempted to get them to the task for the day, Thomas approached me.

Thomas held up his hand in the universal gesture of "give me a high five".

I'm always hesitant to high five students. It's not a natural greeting for me. And I wonder at the students' motives.

It was during this hesitation that I noticed Thomas' hand. And the tack held between his middle and ring fingers with the pointy end pointing towards me.

Thomas swore that he wasn't intending to hurt me. I'm not sure how he figured that. He can claim what he wants. Because of my hesitation, he got written up for attempting sticking-me-with-a-tack rather than sticking me with a tack.

(So many excuses/explanations afterward. He tried to talk his way out of it. I felt no guilt over kicking his butt out.)

No Hablo Ingles

I was covering two days of a U.S. history class. As they were juniors and Ms. G's classes tend to be on the good side, I wasn't too concerned when a few students gathered together while they did their work.

Of course, I made a point of going over to them and looking over their shoulders. And they explained their grouping.

"Kevin needs our help. He doesn't speak any English."

Hmmm. Now I'm suspicious. There are some students at that school that don't speak any English, but usually the teachers give me a heads up (and they give the student an alternative assignment or the student has a "helper"). But why volunteer that information so readily? I hadn't asked.

Plus, the boys were having way too much fun in their little group.

Day two in the class. I was a little stricter with them, but the boys still found their little group. A couple of them went out to the restroom. When one of the boys returned, he stood over another boy, and it was clear something was going on. So, I approached.

The boy sat down. He pulled out his backpack, and then I saw that it had been flipped. So, now I understood why he was upset. I gave the other boy my best "really?" look. I growled at them to get back to work (and stop messing with each other).

It was only after I left the group that it hit me. The boy who had been upset? Was Kevin. Who supposedly doesn't speak any English.

Funny how we were able to communicate pretty readily in English when he asked to use the restroom and when he returned and we discussed his backpack.

This is why I am dubious when I am told a student doesn't speak any English. Because they lie.

But luckily they are really, really bad at this lying thing.

Heard it Before

"It's the pipes. They need to fix the plumbing."

I had no idea what the boy was talking about. I was busy getting class started. They had a warm up. I was taking roll. Then I was going over what we were going to be doing for the period. Pipes? I hadn't heard anything.

Then I heard it. And I immediately knew what it was...

Really? This old chestnut? And I'm supposed to not know what that sound is? I know exactly what that sound is. 

I can't tell you how often some kid tries this. 

I wish I could tell you I had some great line to shut this down. I don't. I looked at the kid who gave me the excuse and told him to stop it. 

"It isn't me." 

Sure it's not. I hadn't even heard the ringing until he brought it up. 

He protested his innocence, even showing me that his fingers were dry. 

But funnily enough, that was the last I heard the tell-tale ringing. 

This is the point where I'd shake my head and say something about immature freshmen. Except these were sophomores. In name only, I suspect.

Is Your Refrigerator Running?

Friday. 6th period golf. As happens when an athletic team has a sub, they just hung out in the teacher's classroom for the period.

I've covered many of these kinds of classes. They sprawl out on the desks. A couple will ask to go and do work in other classes. But mostly they sit around and talk. And play with their phones.

As long as they aren't tearing apart the classroom, I'm pretty lenient with these kinds of classes. I become the fly on the wall, listening to all the strange things teens talk about when they have nothing in particular to do.

So, when they tried to figure out the phone number for the school, I thought nothing much of it. Someone knew it off the top of his head.

And when they started asking who various students' favorite teachers were, I listened with half an ear.

I was curious when the boy dialed his cell phone. Normally I'd put a stop to them making phone calls in class, but they had a free period, and it doesn't bother me if during a free period they call someone.

But then he got the switchboard. And he shushed the rest of them. He asked for a classroom...

"Is this Ms. A?" He got an affirmative response. "Is your refrigerator running?"

via GIPHY

I'm not sure what shocked me more. That the boy actually made a prank call. Or that he used that old chestnut. I mean, seriously. There's got to be a better...

via GIPHY

I put a stop to that nonsense. No teacher needs that sort of distraction 6th period on a Friday. And it's just silly.

But the conversation continued on in the prank call vein. Apparently, this was not the first time he had done this. He had stories of previous pranks.

Just in case you thought kids these days get up to new tricks...

Karma

Algebra 2. It had been an easy day so far. They had work. They did it. I spent much of the period seated with occasional strolls around the room.

It was during one stroll that I caught a girl returning a flipped backpack to her neighbor's desk. (The neighbor was sitting in another seat on the other side of the room.) She saw me, and she begged me to keep quiet.

"I haven't seen this in like five years," I said.

At about this time, the boy returned to his seat and found the flipped backpack. He had heard what I said, and he had a response.

"I did this all the time last year."

Then he showed us a new (to me) trick. The girl only flipped the backpack inside out. But, the boy used to take everything out of the backpack and flip it inside out using the front pocket, leaving a "football".

(On a hunch, I Googled this. Turns out there's a YouTube video. Several, in fact.)



Apparently, the prank is still around. I guess I need to pay closer attention. But, then again, I suddenly felt less troubled about the boy getting pranked. I rather think he was due.

A Missing Pencil

Sean brought up his textbook to show me a picture where the man looked like Bruce Willis. I laughed. Sean went back to his seat. 

Then Sean retraced his steps. He patted down his pockets. He looked under a couple desks. He accused another boy of having stolen his pencil. 

Me (without emotion): Did you steal his pencil? 

Student (to me): No. (To Sean): Racist. 

(Note: both boys were white.) 

Sean was starting to get frantic. I knew the pencil had to be somewhere. I asked if it had fallen into his backpack. Sean went to check. He scoured his desk, looked through the textbook and a notebook, and looked under his desk. Nothing.

Someone suggested that it was on the wall. So, Sean turned towards the wall and felt to see if someone had hidden it behind a paper. 

That's when I saw it. When Sean's back was turned, two girls gave each other a knowing smile. One passed something to the other, and both feigned innocence when Sean turned back around. 

I watched and waited. 

When Sean was again distracted, the pencil was passed farther along the back of the class. Sean caught on that the girls had something to do with the pencil's disappearance, but now the girls no longer had the pencil. Sean turned my way. 

I pointed towards where the pencil had been headed. 

The girl who had it at that point threw it across the room. Sean retrieved it, and then he went back to work. 

I suppose I should have been more upset. I would have been, but the class was doing the assignment. They even finished it. It was one of those mellow days where the students weren't that much trouble--at least when they weren't pranking each other. 

Planning the Prank

Today was day 2 in the physics class.  They had bookwork.  Most were doing it, but some were not.  A couple of the boys had an interesting conversation going.

The boys are both on the soccer team.  They are going to some tournament this weekend.  It's far enough away that they'll be in a hotel for a night.  The thing that piqued my interest was that their coach is the teacher I'm subbing for tomorrow (yea, I know an assignment a day ahead!).

The boys had an idea.  Since they are both seniors, they thought it would be funny to plan a prank to play on the coaches while they are away.  One said that they should bring a set of white sheets from home.  Then they could plant fake blood on it.  If they hid a couple players on the team and said that they had no idea where they were...

I wasn't sure where I should come down on this.  On the one hand, funny, if done right.  On the other hand, this sort of thing could go wrong pretty quickly.  The boys realized this too.  They know that their coach has a cell phone, and once the coach calls 911, it's no longer a silly prank.

They discussed variations of the fake blood/missing student scenario.  They thought maybe getting a student fake bloodied might work.  But then the discussion turned to other ideas.  The next idea was to get the desk staff involved.

They thought that once it was lights out time, they should get the staff to call the coach every five minutes with a noise complaint, but from a different room each time.  But the idea was that they were to be silent, so the noise complaints were false.  I didn't see how this was funny, but they thought it was hilarious.

The end of the period ended their plotting with no definite plans.  They said that they had a long bus ride to think up other ideas.

I wonder if they'll go through with it.  If they do, I hope they don't do anything too over-the-top.