Rolling Their Own

It had been three weeks since I was last at the continuation high school. Then when I do get there, a teacher who never leaves a video for his students left a video for his students.

Wow!

It was a U.S. History class, and they were studying World War II. The video was an overview of the 1940s. (Of course they were supposed to take notes. It was a standard video assignment.)

In one segment, the narrator discussed shortages and rationing during the war. He talked about how cigarettes were in such short supply that many people rolled their own (accompanied by film of a woman at dinner rolling a cigarette).

The students all reacted to this scene. Loudly. (Although, I was pleased that they were paying attention enough to notice.)

And every period I reminded the students that what they were rolling in those cigarettes was tobacco.

I knew my audience. They needed that disclaimer.

Not Great Quizzing Conditions

Every day, the health students get three new vocabulary words. Then every Friday, they have a quiz over those words.

This was day three of a four day assignment. (Their teacher was at a conference.) Period 5 was my least favorite group of the day. That is not to say that they were awful. Rather, they were rather typical for freshmen. Problem (for them) was that the rest of the classes were wonderful, so period 5 suffered by comparison.

I put their five question quiz up on the overhead. First thing I heard: "Number one is appetite."

Great. And it was the correct answer.

I managed to get them settled somehow, and I stood at the front of the room, watching. Waiting. They only got five minutes for the quiz, and then we were going to move on to something else.

"What does hunger mean?"

I glared at the boy. Since question number two was to define hunger, I replied with: "If I had a dollar for every time someone asked me, 'how do you spell ___?' during a spelling test..."

They should have been silent. At least the questions they had they directed at me.

"Are we your favorite class?"

Um, no. Not even close.

But I never tell a class that. I hedge. I find nice things to say about them.

However, they were taking a quiz. They were supposed to be silent. I reminded them of this. Then I collected their quizzes.

Saving a Life?

This week I've got more of a "would you?" rather than a "what if?"

What if you were approached to donate your bone marrow? You're a perfect match. Problem is, who you'd be helping is a truly evil person. Would you save that person's life if you could?  

A couple caveats:

1. What you're donating doesn't have to be bone marrow, just something of a similar nature. I'm not talking about donating a kidney, though. 
2. Defining "truly evil person": In the planning stages of this question, I imagined being asked by a prisoner incarcerated for life. But, I thought that might limit the question way too much. So, imagine someone who should be in prison (for something awful, like serial killing) but who may or may not be. However, you know about this awfulness when you are approached.  

eReader Prop Pattern

A few weeks back, I posted pictures of this thing...

And as I do with my finished projects, I also posted it on Ravelry. 

A funny thing has happened in the last couple days. This thing has gotten a lot of interest (well, a lot of interest compared to how much interest my stuff usually gets).

I intend to play with this a bit and make a better one. But so long as there is interest, I thought I might as well share the pattern...

eReader Prop

Materials:

Yarn: Loops & Threads Impeccable Solids in Aran (although, any worsted weight yarn should work)

Needles: Size 8, straight and double pointed
Fiberfill stuffing to fill the pillow

Gauge:
20 sts and 27 rows = 4 inches in garter stitch
20 sts and 24 rows = 4 inches in stockinette stitch

Bottom:
Cast on 30 sts
Work in garter stitch for rows 1 & 2
Row 3: k1, k2 tog, work to last three stitches of row, k2tog, k1
Repeat these three rows (decreasing every third row) until four stitches remaining.
Next decrease row: k2tog, k2tog
Next row: k2tog
Then cut yarn and secure last stitch.

Pyramid:
Using the double pointed needles, pick up and knit 30 stitches along each side of the base triangle--total of 90 stitches on the needles. (If you prefer to use circulars, make sure to place a marker at the end of each side.) Then join to work in the round.
Rounds 1 & 2: knit
Round 3: *k1, k2tog, work to the last three stitches on the needle (or to the marker), ssk, k1* repeat between *s twice more (for the next two needles)
Repeat rounds 1-3, decreasing row every third row
When there are about 8 stitches remaining on each needle (24 sts remaining) stuff the bottom of the pillow. then, when four stitches remain on each needle (12 stitches total) top off the stuffing before doing the next decrease round
Next decrease round: *k2tog, k2tog* repeat between *s for each needle
Next round: k2tog three times
Then cut yarn and thread the yarn through the remaining three stitches. Make sure the pillow is as full as you'd like it to be. Tighten and secure.

Lip:
Along base, pick up and knit 27 stitches. (Use the row where you cast on for the garter stitch base.)
Work 8 rows in garter stitch (knit every row). Then on next wrong side row (you should be looking at the bottom of the pillow. If not, knit one more row) purl across. On next right side row, work a row of bobbles...
Bobble row: *knit 3 stitches, make bobble* repeat between *s to end of row, end knit 3
Next row: purl across
Then knit two more rows. Bind off on third row.

Bobble:
At the "make bobble" point:
(Yo, k1) 3 times into that next stitch. Then turn
Slide 1 stitch, p5, turn
Slide 1 stitch, k5, turn
P2tog three times, turn
Slide 1 stitch, k2tog, pass the slipped stitch over the k2tog

Wind in ends, and it's done!

The Incident

"What happened here? Puke?"

It was towards the end of the passing period into period 4 when the janitor arrived. There was enough commotion with students arriving and getting settled that I didn't have to worry about attracting the students' attention with my explanation.

Period 3. The students were watching Super Size Me. (Health class.) As I do when a video plays (over and over and over again all day), I occupied myself with other things, but with a vantage point where I could watch all of them.

I noticed movement, and looked up to see the student fall out of his seat.

My first thought was that he had fallen asleep. I dismissed that in an instant. I picked up the phone and called for help.

(The first time this sort of thing happened in class, I froze. I didn't handle it much better this time, but this time I handled it better.)

"What happened?" The boy, now alert, got up off the floor.

At this point the video was forgotten, as every student's attention was on the boy. Most stood, but none crowded him. Someone explained. Then security arrived, radioed to the office that the boy was up and alert, and escorted the boy away.

After he left, I noticed the wet spot on the carpet.

Period 4 was curious as to why the janitor was in class, scrubbing the carpet with bleach. I gave some vague answer. I didn't want to tell them about the incident. Not that they won't hear about it--they just won't hear about it from me.

Period 5 had heard.

I'm glad these sorts of things are rare. I hope the boy is okay.

Wardrobe Malfunction

1st period 8th grade science. I waged the usual battles. They were seated and mostly on task. So, a successful period.

I needed to retrieve something from my bag, so I sat down in the teacher's chair to get to it. As I slid along the armrest into the seat, I felt something sharp along my right hip.  

The armrest of the chair slid aside, revealing a metal plate which presumably secured the armrest to the chair. The corner of that rectangular metal piece tore a big gaping hole in my pants.

Can you tell that this is along my hip?

Now what was I supposed to do? Why couldn't this have happened 6th period?

A student called me over, needing help. I pulled my shirt down. My jacket was slightly longer, but it felt like the hem just grazed over the hole. I walked over pretending nothing was wrong, and I hoped for the best.

They didn't appear to notice. (They're 8th graders. I'm sure they would have made a big to do over it if they did.)

Somehow, I managed to get through the rest of the period. I searched the room for safety pins, but I didn't find any. Luckily, a neighbor stopped in looking for the teacher, and I asked him if he had any. He did. And doubly luckily, the next period I had a prep, so I headed for the restroom and tried to make sure that the hole was a bit more secure (so that my underwear wasn't showing).

Not great, but better than leaving a bit, gaping hole

I got through the rest of the day feeling highly self-conscious. But no one seemed to notice anything amiss. Phew.

And from now on, I'm going to be a lot more careful when I take a seat. Especially early in the day.

Get Your Own Seat

One rule I enforce is one student per chair.

Yes, sometimes students try to share chairs. They'll go halvsies or one student will sit in another's lap. Both are okay with the arrangement and not pleased when I break them up. (There are enough chairs in the room so that each student gets his/her own.)

It was a government class. All seniors. They had the assignment, and I took a seat at the front of the room.

I noticed the boy looking at me. He hadn't raised his hand; he was just regarding me like he wanted my attention. Once he had it, he pointed to the girl on his lap. (Something I should have noticed before this. I'll blame it on where I sat versus where he sat--angles of sight and such.)

Once the girl found her own seat, the boy thanked me. "I'm just too nice."  

I couldn't figure out why he didn't get rid of her himself if he didn't want her there. They were both seniors. He was a large guy.

But the girl was pushy. I noticed this as the period wore on. She shoved and pushed her way to where she wanted to go and what she wanted to do.

Sometimes my job is to be the one to say no.

I kept my eye on the girl for the rest of the period. Waited. She didn't try anything more with the boy who clearly did not want her attention.