A Visitor

I was so glad to see the end of 4th period. They were loud. They talked over the video. And once they "finished" the rest of their assignment (by randomly guessing), they were all over the place.

5th period started off so much nicer. They listened while I gave instructions. (That's all I ask, really.) And then I took roll.

I usually do a head count after taking roll. I compare the number of students I have in class to the number I have marked present. If they match, all is well. 5th period's numbers didn't match. I should have had 28 in class, but I counted 29.

That's when I spotted him.

The boy wore a black t-shirt with red lettering on it (some nonsense acronym I suspect). Under the t-shirt he had a polo shirt collar sticking out. I remembered the outfit. From 4th period.

I checked 4th period's "Take Attendance by Photo". Yep, he was from 4th period. Why he was still in class for 5th...

I haven't had "visiting student" issues in a long time. That's when a student who is not enrolled in the class sneaks in and hangs out. Usually, these students make as much mischief as possible. Other than that, I'm not sure what they get out of it. They are ditching whatever class they should be in. And if caught the punishment is usually a suspension.

As I went to start the video, I approached the boy. I asked him what he was still doing there.

He got all flustered. He said something about needing to talk to or to give something to the student he was seated next to. Then more in actions than in words he claimed that he zoned out and forgot to leave and go to his next class. Until I talked to him, he was working on something in his notebook (and causing no problems).

He quickly packed up his stuff. The class got wind of our conversation (I tried to keep it just between him and me), and they thought this was great entertainment. The boy left, apparently to go to his next class.

So, he was either very absent minded, or he was making up some excuse because he got caught. He claimed the former. It seemed like it was the former.

But I left his name for his teacher, just in case.

Busted

There was a warning in the lesson plan: note the names of any unproductive students. I warned 4th period of this. It was the newspaper class at the continuation high school. They all started out working on their articles.

For about 20 minutes.

Then one student was looking up the Illuminati online. (Don't even get me started on that.*) Another slipped over to the Forever 21 website and started looking at dresses. Then a third wondered how much it would cost to get a tux for prom, and off he went to find out. Next thing I knew, none of them were working on their articles.

Then their teacher walked in.

Ms. M was at some training or other at the district office. The continuation high school is practically right next door. So, when they broke for lunch, it wasn't that far to go for Ms. M to pop in.

The students were all on the computers facing away from the door. Ms. M was not pleased to see them not on task.

She stopped by to pick up finished essays. She scolded her class about not being on task. She reminded them that the paper was to be finished in a day or two, and she needed their finished articles. Then she left.

Did they get back to work? Of course not. But to be fair, they had typed in most of their articles before they lost focus.

*I keep hearing about this Illuminati thing from the students. They think it's real. Various sites do not help dispel this myth. (An example.)

Punishment

Here's another post from the way-back files. I originally posted this on May 22, 2007. 

I've been spending a lot of time at the continuation high school. Last Thursday and Friday I was covering the government teacher. And so since I was there on Thursday, I got to participate in the fun that is the buy out.

On Thursdays, if the students have been attending all their classes all week (and no tardies) and if they have been productive, they get to "buy out" and not have to come to school on Friday. Which means that all the "good" kids are gone on Fridays, which makes for an interesting day. But that's a different story.

So, I was given a list on this Thursday of who could and who could not buy out. Each period had maybe 4 names of those who could, and they still had to do enough work for my taste on Thursday to get me to sign their little paper. Pretty straightforward.

At the beginning of 1st period I got a whole slew of buy outs, and I went to each student who was on my "no buy out" list and told them this. There were only a couple students. And they were not happy. "I'm not going to do my work to punish Mr. H," one student informed me.

Um, you're not punishing him. I tried to explain this but got nowhere. Oh well.

One thing I learned from this experience--whenever I have a list of those who can't buy out, I don't tell them until the end of the period.

Extra Credit Homework

On Friday I was back at the continuation high school. English class. They were working on essays.

It seems like every time I cover this teacher lately, the class is writing some essay. Not that I mind. I think I know enough grammar that I can be of help to them. And it's good that they're practicing their writing. I just find it curious.

The class had been working on the essay for the week. The teacher left them some extra credit if they were already finished. They should have all had something to work on, she said.

I was a bit surprised when most of them did, in fact, work. Many finished their essays and turned them in. Many of them asked for the extra credit as well.

Extra credit at the continuation high school isn't like extra credit elsewhere. This particular assignment was worth a half credit, as in one half of one of the 40 credits they need to complete in English to graduate. This may not seem like a lot, but by the time they get to this English class, they've got more than 20 of those credits already.

And if they're close to graduating, that half credit can make all the difference.

Several of them chose not to do the assignment. In 6th period, the conversation turned to Jersey Shore. I walked over and stood over the boys. Didn't they want to do the extra credit assignment?

One of the boys told me he'd do it at home. The continuation high school doesn't really give homework as most of the students wouldn't do it. (If they did homework, they wouldn't be at the continuation high school.) The boy explained that at home his sister would force him to watch more Jersey Shore, and he didn't want to do that.

I didn't believe him, but as the class was pretty mellow, I wasn't too concerned. At the end of the period as they were packing up, I noticed that the boy wasn't taking the assignment with him. I wasn't surprised, but I decided to say something anyway.

"Oops, I almost forgot."

He surprised me and actually took the assignment with him. Now, whether or not he'll do it...

Dark Consciousness

I've been watching Through the Wormhole again. (I have several waiting on my DVR. They help me fall asleep.) Finally, I have an idea what this dark matter stuff is all about. This got me thinking.

Mostly, I was thinking I needed a good question to post.

They don't know what dark matter is. But matter is just a form of energy. And if I let my imagination run wild, I can think up things that it might be that would make an interesting story.

What if dark matter is kind of like the observer in an experiment? A consciousness. An awareness. What if dark matter can perceive?

And I'll leave it at that. I hope you're having a good Thursday.

No Ice Cream Today

I'm not much of a cook. I'm not terrible, but I'm not gourmet either. This post (from May 8, 2007) is one of my more spectacular failures.  

Grrr.

I don't know why, but my ice cream maker was calling to me last week. I saw this great ice cream recipe about two years ago on Good Eats, and I've been itching to try it out ever since. I just never got around to it. So, I figured that now was the time.

I got the ice cream maker out of the garage, cleaned it off, and found that the motor still ran. Then it was just a matter of getting ingredients.

I bought the stuff I didn't have. I meant to get to it over the weekend, but I got sidetracked by a headache. Sure, I could have put it off again, but since two of the ingredients are half-and-half and heavy cream, I didn't really have all that large a window. So, on Monday I broke down and did it.

I left the mixture overnight in the fridge, and today I put it in the ice cream churner. I followed the directions. The last direction stated that the thing should stop churning after 40 minutes, but if it didn't to stop it after 50 minutes. So, at 50 minutes (and change) I pulled the plug. I opened the machine. And what did I find? The same liquid I started with.

Grrr.

I'm going over it in my mind. What did I do wrong? I followed the recipe. The liquid is correct. I'm pretty sure. So it has to be the ice cream maker. It must be defective. Though, this wasn't my first time using it. Okay, so it's been several years, but it worked just like before.

It has to be the machine. I'm not that inept a cook. So, into the trash the machine goes. With doubts. And I can only dream of what could have been.

It was the machine. That Christmas I asked for a new ice cream maker, and I broke in my new toy the following January. That ice cream recipe is really good. I've made it several times since, and this ice cream maker still works just fine.

Another Purse

Last week I mentioned that I started a second purse to fix the perceived mistakes of the first. This past week I was able to finish that second purse.

The first modification I made was to the shape of the thing.

Those big square bites in the center? That gives the purse depth. (I saw how to do this on a sewing show. I can't find a good explanation online, but this kind of gives the idea in pictures.)  

Once the form was knit, then I sewed up the seams.  

The whole thing is kind of a mess, but that was deliberate. I made it big and open so that it would felt. Once the form was finished, I put it in a hot machine wash with towels until it felted. Then I attached the strap and got my final product.  

I had to do a little tweaking. The strap was too long, so I trimmed it down. Then the magnetic closure wasn't attached really well, so I had to take that off and redo. But as of this moment, I'm happy with it.  

Although, it's a bit larger than I like. I may have to make another one.