Fully Asleep

Friday. Special ed math. More of them had their cameras on than is usual for me. Some of the kiddos were bouncy. One boy had his father walking around in the background. And a couple of them had one-on-one aides with them. 

Cannon logged in. I noted that his camera was on its side, so while Cannon's head was oriented up and down, it was obvious he was lying down. 

And. . . His eyes were closed? Yeah, his eyes were closed.

After a bit of time passed, Cannon placed something over his camera. And I heard nothing from him all period. 

Ahem. If you were to tell me that some students slept through class, I would not be surprised. I'm sure some of them are. But they make sure their cameras are turned off. 

Because, seriously? If you're going to sleep in class, the least you can do is not make it obvious. 

Deep Sleeper

It was seventh period at the continuation high school. Science class. They were supposed to be working on Punnett squares, but most weren't doing much of anything. Basically, it was a typical day.

I had not had a break since about noon. This is not typical, as the teachers usually have their "lunch" period sometime in the afternoon. But I was picking up an extra period as the teacher had to leave early. Because of the scramble, I had not had a chance to hit the restroom, so by the end of seventh period, I really, really needed to go.

It was about 3:15. The kiddos tried to leave. The bell hadn't rung. But another teacher had let his kiddos go, so I dismissed the class, and then the bell rang.

I was ready to be out the door when I noticed that one of the kiddos was still at his desk. Asleep. Sigh.

I totally should have noticed that earlier, but oh well. I went over to wake him up.

"The bell rang. Time to go."

No movement.

So, I went to gently nudge his shoulder. No movement. Louder, "It's time to go." No movement.

Deep sigh. I can't leave the kid alone in the room. But I really have to go. How to wake him?

I tried turning off the lights. I stomped around. Nothing was waking him. Finally, I got into his face and told him it was time to wake up.

And finally, he did.

He rubbed his face. Shifted position. Got out his pencil. And made a pretense of working...

So, yeah, not awake.

"The bell rang. It's time to go."

Finally, he got the message. He kind of staggered out, not quite conscious.

I feel kind of bad for pushing him out the door like that. It was clear he wasn't quite with it yet. But, I really, really needed to get to the restroom. I'll save my gentler wakings for when that isn't so urgent.

The Bad News

It's district writing assessment time!

Four times a year, the district requires all the kiddos write an essay on a given topic. Each grade level is assigned a prompt and is given articles (and sometimes videos) to use as sources.

They've been doing this a couple years now, so the kiddos are used to the procedure. (And I've covered this a few times, so I'm used to the procedure as well.)

I was at the continuation high school. It was day two. (They get three days to write.)

Period one went much as I expected. I had to keep after kiddos who kept talking.

Period two went a bit better on the talking front. However, well, this is what I wrote in the note:

The good news: They stayed pretty quiet and I didn't have to keep after them whispering...
The bad news: ...because most of them were sleeping, so I had to keep waking them up. 

Although, to be fair, it was the week after the time change. I was dragging myself. However, I'm sure we would have had a similar issue even without Daylight Saving.

Finishing It Up

U.S. history, second semester. It was the last block (two hours) of the day. I had a class of fourteen. They had bookwork, and they spent the time in near silence.

Mostly they appeared to be working. Well, except for two boys who had their heads down on their desks.

It seemed to be one of those days that don't make the blog. Until...

End of the day. They packed up and left. I had taken the turned in work and stacked it neatly in one pile and left it on a desk at the front.

I was finishing packing up my stuff when I noticed I still had one straggler. He was one of the boys who had been asleep. For a moment, it looked like he was going to slide his paper into the stack, so I went about my business. (I don't consider the work late if they turn it in as they leave. If he had handed it to me right then, I would have put it in exactly the same spot.)

But, instead of sliding his paper in, he pulled another paper out. And then he was busily writing something...

Um, no.

I shooed him away. He had only managed to copy one answer, leaving two full answers on his paper. (He had done one on his own earlier.) He sought about for a good lie, but he couldn't come up with one.

Student logic. He had slept for much of the two hours, and he figured he could make up in the work in what? Five minutes after class? Seriously?

Of course, this didn't take into account the other three assignments for that day. (He was copying the worksheet, but they were also assigned four questions from the book and an outline of the chapter.)

Perhaps I should have let him copy. The page he had pulled? It belonged to the other student who had been sleeping.

WAKE UP

For the last week before winter break, I covered a math class. (Ms. C teaches four different classes--well six, but four, kinda. Long story.) Before lunch was the statistics class.

The assignments for the week were also "winter break homework". And also, for the most part they were online (so, technically they were due Sunday night). So, while I encouraged them to get something done ("No homework over the break!"), I wasn't terribly concerned with getting everyone on task.

(Some classes can't have this kind of leeway. The kiddos will tear the room up. But these students... These were the advanced math classes. They wouldn't get here unless they generally do their work. And many of those not on task were actually doing work for other classes. So, yeah, they get laissez faire me.)

It wasn't until the bell that I noticed the sleeping student. (I really should have noticed him earlier, though.)

"Bell rang. Lunch time. Time to go."

He didn't budge. So, I gently shook his shoulder. When that didn't wake him, I slammed a door (the door to the computer cart). I tried his shoulder again...

I mean, it's lunch time. He has to want to go to lunch...

(I want to go to lunch. And hit the restroom, which I can't do until after the room is empty of students.)

I kept at it, and eventually he woke. Groggy. It took him a bit to get to coherent. The empty room probably startled him, too.

All he wanted to do was go back to sleep. And now I felt bad. I thought he'd want to know class was over, but he didn't much care.

But I kinda needed the restroom. And I only had that half hour to myself. If I let him sleep...

Sometimes I gotta be selfish. At least, that's what I tried to tell myself.

Not Terribly Observant

Economics. Seniors. They had an assignment that (I found out later) took them about half the period.

For the second half of the period (because they all did the assignment), they found other things to do. Quiet settled things. (A freshman class would have gone nuts.)

Fifth period. 15 minutes until the end. Two students from elsewhere walked in. Could they talk to Michael?

Sure, I said.

But no Michael made his way up to the front. Was Michael present? I hadn't marked him absent...

Michael was asleep. It took a minute or so to wake him...

Um... Well... Saying he wasn't the only sleeper doesn't make me look any better. Nor does admitting that I didn't notice the sleepers.

Does it look any better to know they had all completed their assigned work?

Yeah, I'll slink away now in shame...