Endings

Wednesday is the day I have a prep period, and I was busy doing something when I noticed I had an email from the sub caller. It was two sentences long. They had hired someone for the vacant position I was covering, and she was starting the next day. 

I immediately informed my co-teachers. It was news to them as well. 

I was given two "overlap" days. Day one the new teacher (Ms. D) was doing her orientation stuff. Day two she followed me around getting acclimated to her new position. 

We were all surprised as no one at district had kept us in the loop. But it was a pleasant surprise, as the position needed to be filled. And there were things a sub can't do that a special ed teacher can (like IEP meetings, differentiating assignments, reaching out to parents, etc.). 

She seems like she'll be a good fit. She's experienced, so even though she's jumping in a month after school began, she'll be able to get up to speed fairly quickly. 

And now I'm back to day-to-day subbing. This may or may not be a good thing in the current situation. But at least it keeps the blog interesting.

Inaccessible

All of last week in the English classes, I was dealing with the testing. (I already explained about the testing here and some of the issues we had here.) Because the classes are co-taught, it was easier to split off those who still needed to complete the test and continue class as normal for those who had finished. 

Our testing window (the time the district allotted us to complete all the testing) was closing the following week, so a few students who had been absent needed to come to complete the testing outside of class time. (There's an hour a day set aside for teachers to meet with students for any issues they might be having with the assignments.)

Alas, the students aren't showing up for that hour even though we've been telling them they have to. 

Friday. I'd set up a test session just for all the students in all the periods who needed to complete the test. The "office hour" arrived, and one student showed up. 

Well, one is better than none. And Bennet only had three questions left, so it wasn't going to take him all that long to finish. 

Ms. W went to log him into the test, but she came up with an error message. Apparently, he was still logged into the reading test given by another teacher (his health teacher). 

Ms. W asked Bennet to log out of that test, only he couldn't, because he was no longer actively taking the test. 

It took us a half hour of trying everything to figure out what happened. The health teacher never ended Bennet's test, so Bennet couldn't log into a different test. And we couldn't contact the health teacher as he wasn't working on campus and no one had his home phone number. (The teachers that usually work together have cell phone numbers and such, but this health teacher isn't among their friend group.)

This testing thing has been a big fat pain in the behind. And the ones paying for it are the diligent students who are doing what we ask of them.

Kahoot Denied

 

Last week I was still covering the vacant special ed position for co-taught classes. And last Monday the internet didn't go out. Yay! 

Mondays are our weird day. When we were in person, that was the day when we started late (so teachers can meet weekly). So, in the distance thing, this is the day where all classes meet for 25 minute periods. 

(The rest of the week, the classes meet for an hour, but only three classes a day. All six meet on Mondays. The rest of the "school day" is set aside for "asynchronous" work, a.k.a. homework, which is kinda awkward phrasing being as all their work is at home now.)

Because Mondays are short, Ms. S, the math teacher, has them play Kahoot to review. 

Kahoot? It's an educational website where teachers can create online quizzes that are played like a game show. It's fun. 

Fifth period. Ms. S brought up the Kahoot site, gave the kiddos the PIN, and had them sign in. 

When the kiddos sign in, they create a user name for that particular game. As they are eighth graders, they have a tendency to create some odd names. Ms. S was less concerned with that than being able to identify the students (she gives them points for participation), so she asked them all to use a name that she could recognize and use to link back to the student. 

One kid used KK, which were his initials. There were two possible Mickies (a Michael and a Michaela), but the other used his full name. One girl used letters and symbols to spell her name, but it was still recognizable as her name.

Ms. S can deny students entry by deleting names. The kiddo can resubmit so long as the game hadn't started yet. So, I wasn't surprised when Ms. S deleted a name and reminded the kiddos to use appropriate names. 

I wasn't watching the names, so I missed the name that made Ms. S explode. 

She's a fairly laid back teacher. It was game day. But one kiddo tried to use "Daddy" three times. 

They always try to sneak something by. She denied that kiddo once and warned them. Then they tried again. She deleted. At the third try, she stopped Kahoot and gave them all an assignment to do. 

Because seriously? No 13-year-old should go by "daddy". 

Ms. S has told them no Kahoot for the entire school year until the student in question fesses up. It's been a week. Still no confession. 

We have a suspicion of who it could be. There's a possibility of two students. Perhaps they'll come forward eventually. 

Luckily, sixth period went off without a hitch. 

Muted

I'm still in that co-teaching position, and last week was all about testing. I described it a bit last week, so I won't again go into the whys and wherefores.

Keep in mind that we are doing the distance learning thing. Plus, this was a completely new testing platform that none of us had ever used before. In addition, there were technical issues that cropped up either from the distance thing or from the new testing platform (sometimes both). 

We created a "break out room" for students who had issues to go to. This was separate from the regular Google Meet. (So, I could have them show me their screen and we could work through whatever was holding them up.) 

Third period. Alvin was having issues. I took him into the "break out room", and I tried to troubleshoot. 

Let me back up a bit. Ms. W was working the testing platform, so she asked me to greet the students and instruct them on getting into the test. She had to confirm them from her end before they could begin. 

Because I was the one speaking to the class, Ms. W had muted her computer. When we're in the same room (separated at a distance, of course), it's distracting for the person speaking to hear their voice coming out of another computer. There's a lag as well. If you've ever had an echo while you're talking on the phone to somebody, you know what I mean. 

So, when I went to work with Alvin, I quieted the other room. Mostly, the kiddos have their microphones off as well as their cameras, and when they have a question, they type it into the chat. Ms. W was monitoring the chat while Alvin and I dealt with his issues. 

Did you know Firefox and Google Meet don't play nice with one another? Alvin couldn't share his screen with me, and while I knew what he needed to do to get his computer to work, explaining it was a bit hard. But eventually, he got things going. Then I was free to go back to the main meet room. 

And as soon as I got there, I heard a voice: "I need to go eat. Can I go eat? I really need to go eat." 

It was clear that Jacob had been whining like that for some time. 

And. . . I mean, if you're not getting a response, wouldn't you realize that maybe no one (besides the other students in the class) can hear you? I suppose, though, that this is more thought than Jacob gave it.

Although, I'm surprised he asked at all. There was another student who wasn't logging into the test, and he wasn't responding on the chat, so Ms. W called his house. His mother informed Ms. W that the kiddo was downstairs watching TV. 

Somehow, we managed to get most of the kiddos tested. Ah, the joys of education.

Offline

School has gone virtual. So, what's the one thing you don't want to have happen during the school day? I mean, besides a power outage. 

Monday. First period went rather smoothly. We logged out. (There's a ten minute gap between classes. Each period has it's own meet code that's embedded in Google Classroom, so we don't stay in the same meet all day.) 

About five minutes before period two, we attempted to log into their meet. This should have happened with no issues. . .

We almost had it. I got my camera starting, but I never got fully into the meet. Ms. W didn't even get that far. 

But somehow, I still had Google Classroom (which I had opened before this). A student questioned where the link for the meet was. I managed to respond that we were having internet issues. At least, I hoped it posted. 

And then the internet was gone. From what we gathered later, it was probably a district-wide outage. And it didn't get restored until after the "school day". 

Ms. W ran home and taught her last two classes from there. As a sub, I was kind of stuck on campus, although I probably wouldn't have made it home in time for the end of the day classes, anyway. (I texted Ms. S to let her know what was happening. She was teaching from home, so she was able to continue, no problem.) 

The next day, the internet was restored. It was rather entertaining to go into Google Classroom and see all the questions on the stream. Ms. W had posted their assignment before school, so they had work to do. But I rather doubt they did it. They were questioning where we were and was class cancelled? 

Alas, unlike Google Meets in the business world, in the education side, there is no way to call into a meet. (I know. I checked.) Deep sigh.

Fingers crossed we don't lose internet again. But it was giving us issues all week. Sigh.

Testing Woes

Just as soon as I got back to day-to-day subbing, I got a week-long assignment that "could be extended". It's a vacant special ed. co-teaching position. 

On Tuesday I joined the classes already in progress. (Monday was Labor Day.) Technically, my job is to assist the special ed. kiddos in class, making sure they get the extra help they need. In practice, however, the co-teacher is an actual co-teacher, doing teacherly things as needed. 

With the distance learning, I was given access to a classroom where the teacher had retired, and I was given access to the classes' online information. Fifth and sixth periods I was co-teaching an eighth grade math class, and they were prepping for a standardized test. 

Since school was interrupted in the spring, the district is testing all the students to see where they're at academically. This test was meant to figure out what they know and what they don't know. 

Turns out, what none of us seem to know is how to do these things smoothly. 

I "arrived" to fifth period on Thursday to find the general ed. teacher losing her mind. Ms. S is very technically proficient, but she had spent the day just trying to get the kiddos logged into the test. And she wasn't alone. Apparently, someone had not anticipated the volume of traffic on the testing website, and kiddos couldn't get in. 

Because this was at a distance, we couldn't just look over their shoulders to troubleshoot easy fixes. But not all were easy fixes. Some just kept getting booted out of the test. Sigh. 

At least with two of us there, I could answer various questions while Ms. S dug in on the harder technical issues. 

Hopefully the bugs get fixed. The rest of my day (first, second, and third periods) are English classes, and they take the test next week (read: as you're reading this).