Yo-Yo

The school year hasn't officially begun (it starts today, but this week's posts are from last week), but the continuation high school has been in session for about two weeks. I haven't been seeking out jobs, but when one falls in my lap, I take it.

Social studies. Sixth period. (The classes are all combined, so each class has students who are doing geography, world history, U.S. history, and government.) They had various assignments, depending upon which subject they were in.

But afternoons at the continuation high school are... um... interesting. (Read: they're way more laid back and less likely to work.)

I was walking the room, taking attendance, when I noticed a girl winding a yo-yo. From the conversation, I gleaned something...

"You've never played with a yo-yo?"

I asked the student straight out. She admitted that she had not. (It wasn't her yo-yo, but the other student was letting her play with it.)

Now, normally I'm all about "put that away" when it comes to toys. But this was a senior--17-years-old--and she had never... Okay, time to fix that.

She threw it down, and it didn't bounce back up. She was seated, so when she threw the yo-yo, it hit the floor. That would not do. I had her stand up. (She was a bit embarrassed to stand up, but no one was really paying that much attention to her.) 

She threw it, and it bounced back up. Yay. Success. 

And then she gave the yo-yo back to its owner. 

As I walked away, she was explaining to her friend how her parents had just never gotten her one. I mean, I can see that. A yo-yo isn't something that everyone experiences. I guess...

But yeah. At least she got to use a yo-yo once.

Disputed Tech Deck

I may have mentioned once or twice that there's a bit of a sub shortage at the moment. So, when I didn't have an assignment for Friday (on Thursday), I called the sub caller to see what was up. She told me it was going to be another day of her scrambling to cover as many classes as she could, and that I'd have to cover an elementary class. 

Ugh. 

Because elementary schools don't have teachers with prep time who can cover classes, they have to get covered by subs first. The subbing situation has gotten so bad that they don't have enough bodies to just get those classes covered some days.

But, she wasn't pulling me at the last minute (when I was starting a long term assignment someplace), so I resigned myself to doing what needed to be done. And she gave me sixth grade, so not too much of a difference from seventh grade.

How short were they subs this day? A class across from mine was also out a teacher, and the only person they could get to sub that class was the school's principal. 

All in all, it was a pretty mellow day. The kiddos had tests all day. I was covering the English portion (but the math and science classes had tests, too). The sixth graders rotated through the classes. 

When the second group came in, one boy immediately caught my attention. He couldn't sit still, had to go back to his homeroom to retrieve the book (the test was open book), and then returned without the book. He pretended to stutter, and then he proceeded to speak without that stutter for the rest of the time. 

While he was out of the room, I asked another student his name. Cannon. 

Cannon returned from a restroom break. As he was walking to his desk, he threw his Tech Deck at another student. 

A Tech Deck is a miniature skateboard made to be scooted about using one's fingers. It's pictured above with a pencil for size comparison. They've been around since the time I worked at the evil toy store (now defunct). That's over 20 years ago now.

I asked the student to hand the Tech Deck to me. I placed it on the teacher's desk. 

Cannon came up to me to ask for something, only he spotted the Tech Deck. 

"That's mine."

Yup. I was aware. 

"Can I have it back?" 

He was not happy with my answer. When he asked why, I asked him why he had thrown it at his classmate. 

But he hadn't thrown it at anyone, he protested. It had just fallen out of his pocket. 

Yeah, it fell out so violently that it bounced off a desk and made a clatter. 

I didn't get into the argument over whether or not he had thrown it. I informed Cannon he could have the toy back... from his teacher upon her return on Monday. 

I like to employ this trick over disputed property. If the kiddos want to get into an argument with me over what was or was not done, they can take it up with an adult who is more familiar with them. And they can explain why there's a toy on the teacher's desk when the toy shouldn't have been at school (or at least out of the backpack) in the first place. 

Cannon tried to get the Tech Deck back from me a couple more times. He did not succeed.

The Fine Print

The other day as I was clearing out some old papers, I found some blog posts that I'd never posted. I wrote them down with the intent of putting them on the blog, but then... I suppose something more interesting happened that week. That's my only guess.

I heard the distinctive clatter, rhythmic and regular. I didn't have to see it to know what it was.

"Could you please put the Tech Deck away?"

Ten minutes later, I heard it again. I went to confiscate.

"You told me to put it away. I did. You didn't say how long to put it away for."

Semantics. Really?

"Besides, you said 'can' and 'please'. So it was more of a request..."

So, because I was polite and didn't bark it out, he was going to continue playing with his toy? Deep sigh.

I clarified my position on toys in the classroom, especially when there was actual work to complete. I "offered" to keep the toy so he wouldn't be tempted to pull it out again.

Freshmen. *shakes head*

(I do tend towards polite in the classroom. I find "please" and "thank you" as good ways to show students respect.)

A Ninja Turtle

Seventh grade special ed world history. They're studying the Renaissance.

We had a few paragraphs to read. Then they had some multiple choice questions to answer. As they were special ed, we were doing them together.

Question number 3: Who was Michelangelo?

Very faintly, from the back, I heard, "A Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtle."

I pounced.

(The Ninja Turtles were huge when I worked at the evil toy store. And, he wasn't wrong.)

I had the kiddos recall the names of the Ninja Turtles. Raphael. Leonardo. Michelangelo. Donatello.

Then I informed them that the Ninja Turtles were named after Renaissance artists. 

Ahem.

It's a stupid random piece of trivia. I love throwing out stupid random pieces of trivia. Silly, I know...

Bouncy Kids

Eighth grade math. It was a team taught class, so I spent the day in support mode. But it's also how I learned about the new toy they had in class.

It's to help with fidgety middle schoolers. Imagine bouncing your feet on these. (I kind of want one.)

The teachers received a grant to outfit the classroom with them.

I don't know if the kiddos like them or not. The other teacher kept them busy all period, so I had no chance to ask.

However, one student pulled it back and released it, creating a low note vibrating through the air.

Ms. V: "If you're going to deliberately make noise with that, I can move you to a desk that does not have one."

After that, all vibrating bands were clearly accidental. I guess they didn't want to be moved.

Watch Out for Your Toys

I used to have a MySpace account.  I started my blog there.  But after I had a few too many technical difficulties, I moved the blog here.  I have since closed the MySpace account.  I hate to lose all of my blogs from that time, so from time to time I repost them here.  

This was originally posted April 23, 2007.  

8th graders! Grrr!

The teacher warned me that her 5th period was a bit unruly, so she advised that I have the students line up before letting them into class. Since lunch was right before 5th period, I figured that the best way to accomplish this was to take my time getting to the classroom. I had a 6 minute passing period. I got to class with maybe 2 minutes before the bell.

They were all congregated on the sidewalk in front of the classroom. Well, most of them were.  Some were on the grass. And about five boys were tossing around this stuffed Fred doll (Fred of the cartoon Scooby Doo). "Tossing": picture them flinging the thing at each other like a weapon, using it as a baseball bat, and stomping on the thing.

As it turned out, the teacher was right. They came into the classroom much more calmly than they probably would have otherwise. But the poor Fred doll? By the time I started class, it was in pieces. One boy had the head. Another boy on the other side of the classroom had the torso. A third boy threw away one arm and one leg, and I lost track of the other arm and leg.

I was unable to find the owner of the doll. No one knew where the boys had gotten it from. And the whole incident was disturbing on many different levels. However, there is one good lesson from this: never give a 13-year-old boy a stuffed doll. He will likely destroy it just for "fun".

Tech Decks

I have alluded to these in the past, but I haven't really discussed the Tech Deck phenomena.

These toys, sometimes referred to as fingerboards, are all the rage. The middle schoolers can't seem to get enough of them. They were popular 'round about 2000, but then they all but disappeared. Now they are making a reappearance in the local schools.

They are little skateboards. The kids (usually boys) use their fingertips as feet and push the things along. They'll stack books so that the boards can sail off them. They try to do the sorts of tricks that professional skateboarders do, although on a smaller scale. They're interesting little toys.

They have no place in a classroom.

Tech Decks have a very distinctive cadence. I usually hear them before I see them.

So, today, there was this boy in the back row sort of hiding behind the girl in front of him. And I heard the tapping noise I associate with Tech Decks. Instead of going to him and confronting him, I decided to make sure that I didn't have to repeat the process later.

"I hear a Tech Deck. It's a good thing that I don't see it, for if I saw someone playing with a Tech Deck, I would have to confiscate it."

It was priceless. I could see the boy slowly slink down and carefully put his toy away. I had no more Tech Deck problems that period.