Zhuzhing Up the AI

Tuesday. Graphic arts. Fifth period. 

The day's assignment: using Canva's AI, create a poster picturing the student in a future career. And then include information about that career. 

(I'm not a fan of AI. And many students have expressed their dislike as well. The word on how the data centers steal resources has gotten out. But this is not my class, and my job is to execute the teacher's lesson plan. So, that's what I did.) 

Some of the students dove right in, finding the right site and application. Most did not like that they had to upload a picture of themselves (as the AI would insert them into the career image), but they did it. (Well, not everyone. A bunch of them did as little work as possible. I'm sure their grades already reflect their lack-of-work-ethic.) 

I walked around, making sure the students didn't have any questions. 

One boy was staring at his image. It had him as an electrician. He didn't like it, he said. 

I drilled down. What was the problem with the image? What could he tell the AI to do differently? 

Turned out, the background was pink, and that was his only problem with it. 

We found where one could "refine" the image by telling the AI what to change. He typed "get rid of the pink", and I pointed out he should be specific, so he added "make it white". 

The AI replaced the pink background with a white one, changing nothing else. And the student was satisfied. Okay, then. 

It was kind of eerie how the AI took their faces and put them into a real-looking work setting. This would be a great way to help students see a future that they might not be able to picture. But AI? Ugh. 

Have you made images using AI? Did you complete the A to Z Challenge? Do you plan to attempt it next year?

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

Yikes, Kiddos

Monday. Middle school intro to culinary. Fourth period. 

(Yeah, it's called "culinary" not cooking and not home ec. Weird, I know.)

The assignment for the day was a worksheet where they had to convert measurements with a pirate theme. That is, there would be a question about storing fish in a barrel (so the pirates had food provisions) and asking how many fish (or how many barrels) and converting from pints to quarts. Or tablespoons to cups. Or gallons to pints. 

The questions made sense. And I thought it was a very clever busywork assignment for the kiddos for the day. 

But middle schoolers...

Yeah, they didn't like this assignment one bit. 

Since I have the science/math background, I understood what they needed to do. And I offered my help to those who asked for it. Some did ask for it.

And then I caught Irene writing on a paper that was not hers. 

Damian spent the period whining. The work was hard. Why did he have to do this? He didn't understand. 

But, did he ask for help? Even when I stood there offering? Of course not. 

Irene? Was writing the answers on Damian's paper. 

No, Irene. Damian must do his own work. But she didn't see my point. Nor did Damian. 

A student asked to use the restroom. I had another girl, Nina, out. When she got back... "But she doesn't come back when there's a sub..." She doesn't? 

Okay, then, time to call security. Nina returned, 25 minutes after she left. In passing I mentioned that I had already added Nina's excursion to my note to the teacher. Suddenly, Nina was apologetic. Could I please leave her name out of the note? Yeah, now she's sorry, now that she knows she'll be held accountable. 

Students taking forever to "go to the restroom" has become ridiculous this school year, so I've been keeping track of how long everyone goes and leaving that information for the teacher. Every day. And especially when I have to call security. 

Then I look up, and Damian is chasing Irene. And I can't get over to stop them as there are a bunch of kiddos standing between me and them. Standing? They had work. There was no reason for them to be out of their seats. 

Yikes. It was quite the class. 

The period after this? Totally mellow and on task. Sigh.

Did you take cooking in school? Do you like to cook? 

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

X It Out

May 1st is Friday. And there's a May Day event:

You can find information about it here. And in anticipation of May Day, there's a cancel party (hence today's post title) for May Day Eve:

The idea behind this one is that by using the services that give the billionaires the profits that make them billionaires, we're supporting them in oppressing us. Of course, it's really easy to say, but a lot of these services are things that we use and like, so it's harder to do.

Information about the cancel party can be found here. 

It's a virtual event. In case you're interested. 

As I do every Tuesday, the comments are open for venting. (I may not respond, but I am reading all of your comments.) 

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

Weekend Knitting

Saturday, and I was back working on the beanie. I wrote about it last on K-day. And I haven't gotten much further on it than the last time you saw it: 

Very observant readers might notice that the colors have changed position. (No, not really. I doubt experienced knitters would notice without my pointing it out.) In the previous round, I did the cable crossing where the purple passes over the yellow, creating those little windows. 

(I think I did three whole rounds on this since you last saw it.) 

I did have Dad try it on. It's big enough to be a tight beanie skullcap type if I were to start the decreases now. But he said it wanted it longer (although, he doesn't really have any knitted caps, so he's not sure what he wants). 

He did not request this beanie. I offered to knit one for him (after he modeled middle nephew's), and he didn't sound interested. Basically, I'm forcing this onto him, and he'll probably never wear it. But that's cool as I did want to knit another, I had the yarn, and I was curious as to how this would look with the colors reversed. I'm knitting it for my fun, and I've just decided that he gets to store it after it's finished. 

Kinda selfish, no? 

I had planned a few projects that got set aside when I started my Christmas knitting last year. And I still have sister-in-law's sweater to do (which I whined about last week). It's time to get on the starting of things. Or, the getting back to things. 

We've made it to the last week of the challenge. What's something you've learned via the challenge (through your own writing or that of someone you've followed)? Are you planning on taking time off from blogging in May? 

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

Valotte

Normally my Saturday posts are just some picture that I can fit to the letter of the day. But V? 

I'm sure something obvious will occur to me after I hit post, but at the moment, I'm blank. And I have been pondering this for days. But with my pondering, I thought, why not video? Why don't I post a music video? There's bound to be a good song that starts with V. 

But, off the top of my head, nothing was coming. So, I consulted the Google, and found this website with a list of a bunch of songs that start with V. I didn't have to scroll long before I stumbled on "Valotte" by Julian Lennon. And I knew that was the one. 

I loved this song back in the day. And until running across it for today, I hadn't heard it in years. 

Oh, and by the way, apparently there's an MTV Rewind website with hours of music videos from various eras. In case you're interested. 

What do you think of the song? Had you heard it before? What's a song from your junior high years (ages 12-13) that you just adored? 

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

Ultimately Useless

When I arrived at school on Friday, I noticed that there weren't very many students waiting to be let in. And I knew. 

I had not been on this campus all week, but the other schools were doing state testing. So, what followed wasn't a surprise. 

I checked in at the office. Yup, state testing. Yup, the first two hours of the school day were the testing block. And I'd just replace the teacher I was covering. What was Mr. D covering? He was "supervising" a wing of the school, making sure kiddos didn't roam the halls. 

Basically what I did on Tuesday (see Wednesday's post), just in a different location. Okay, then... 

As you can see from the above photo, I didn't have a lot to do. I had time to take photos of what I was watching. 

The first photo was looking to my right. The above photo was looking to my left. 

I headed to the location to get the lay of the land. And, as I did on Tuesday, I kept my stuff with me, so I had a computer to keep me entertained. Because I knew. 

As I have subbed for most of the teachers in this wing, several of them asked if I needed anything while I was hovering. I explained what I was told, and some nodded in recognition. They had seen Mr. D around. (A couple flat out asked if I was Mr. D's sub.) 

Ms. B, whose door is the second door past the trash can, offered me a chair and table. Which I happily took. 

That was the view ahead of me. And the window to the classroom where Ms. B, math teacher, was. (The Ms. B who gave me the chair is an English teacher.) We talked for a bit. She was bored, as her class only had three students. This Friday was the makeup day for the students who missed the rest of the week. So, not only were we just down to the students that were testing (not all the grades), we were down to the students who hadn't been in at some point during the week. 

The above corridor leads to the bathrooms. A student here, a student there, would walk along occasionally. But they did not need a hall monitor. Not on this day. 

Notice that the shadow is kind of faint. The sun did come out, and I was right in it, so about halfway through the testing block, I moved. To that corner of the building. And then my view became... 

Now you can see the corner of the building where I was. 

People did stroll through. Teachers. Security came by on their golf carts several times. Students to and from the bathroom. Late students. The assistant principal even passed through at one point. But my presence really wasn't needed. 

If I commented on your blog last Friday (O-day) between 8:30 and 10:30 AM Pacific Daylight Time, this is where I was. 

Some days are like that. But hey, I got paid for it. 

Now, how am I going to make this fit U? You already know, but I don't. Yet. Hmm...

Does this sound like your dream job or your worst nightmare? Did I comment on your blog while I was out there?

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

Taking Down the Notes

Wednesday. Eighth grade English, co-taught. Seventh period.

I was in for Mr. S, the special ed teacher. Ms. R, the general ed teacher, was present, so the class proceeded as normal. And on this day, they were reading the play, The Diary of Anne Frank. 

(I have covered this class before, this year even.) 

Ms. R got them started. They were in the middle of Act 1, Scene 2. 

My job was to make sure the kiddos were following along. Which they were. So, I roamed around the back of the room, looking for issues. 

I knew Oscar was going to be an issue. 

Students had been assigned parts, so the reading went fairly smoothly. Mostly, the kiddos were following along and read when it was their turn. Occasionally a student would lose their place, but that's normal. 

Then, Ms. R would pause them to discuss what had just happened. There were nuances that the kiddos weren't picking up on as they don't tend to closely pay attention. So, Ms. R pointed out some of the conflict going on between Anne and her mother. She explained how Anne was more outgoing while her sister, Margot, was more reserved. And such.

While Ms. R was discussing, she reminded the kiddos that they were to be taking notes. 

They had sheets in front of them. There was a column entitled Plot. And a second column with Characterization, Conflict, and Setting. 

As Ms. R discussed how Anne was reacting to something, she pointed out that this was something that would work for Characterization. When she mentioned Anne getting upset at her mother, she pointed out that this was Conflict. And so on. 

Oscar? Yeah, not writing anything. 

I went over to point out that while Ms. R was talking, he should be taking notes. Problem: he had no pencil. 

I told him to ask Ms. R for one (as I don't normally carry supplies). I walked away. He got Ms. R's attention. They discussed something, but I could tell it was not about acquiring a pencil. Ms. R went back to instructing the class. 

At the next discussion point, I found Oscar had a pencil. But now his neighbor did not. She informed me that Oscar had taken her pencil. Oscar said he got the pencil from Ms. R. I watched them. Ms. R had not given Oscar a pencil. So, I made Oscar give the pencil back to his neighbor.

Oh, while Oscar had the pencil, did he write down any notes? Of course not. 

At the next break, Oscar did, in fact, ask Ms. R for a pencil, and she gave him one. So, I wandered over. Was Oscar writing notes? Of course not. 

Was the rest of the class taking down notes? Yes, mostly. There was one boy who wasn't. He claimed he was reading the play so he couldn't take down notes. And yet, when Ms. R would break to discuss, was he writing then? But he was in the minority. 

I stopped going over to check on Oscar. He wasn't trying. If he was just having trouble figuring out what to write, I could have helped him with that. But he was just playing.

Class over, and they left. I said something to Ms. R. Her response: just like every day. Yup. Oscar did this every day. 

Ms. R was a bit perplexed, though. She said that something happened in January. In January and February, Oscar was actually doing well. Attentive. Turning in work. She made him her student of the month for January. And then, sometime in March, he went back to this. 

Deep sigh. 

That Oscar did improve is good news. I wonder what made him revert. I wonder if he'll improve again. He's an eighth grader. He's bound to mature. Eventually. 

What would you guess Oscar's problem is? Do you prefer to write in pen or pencil?

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