Online Help

I finally made it back to the continuation high school. It's been a while.

English class. Their assignment was online. (This is becoming more and more common. I think it's a good thing. And since I can fix the majority of the issues that crop up, I'm good with it.)

The assignment had them reading an article and an excerpt of the U.S. Constitution (yes, really), and then they had questions to go along with their reading. It looked to be a pretty straightforward assignment.

So, I was surprised to find the students Googling things. No, they weren't looking at random sites. (Well, they did do that, too.) No, they were Googling the questions to the assignment.

Um, why? The answers to the questions were in the reading. And the reading was part of their assignment.

"But I couldn't find it," they complained. Funny, I found the answers while looking over their shoulders and skimming...

Well, there's a reason they're at the continuation high school...

Bad at Math

I was in Ms. J's math class again. This time they had a test.

8th graders. This is the first class in the high school math sequence. It's the class that most 9th graders take.

I did my usual test day intro, and during those remarks I mentioned that the test was open note. This turned out to be a surprise.

Oops? Was there a typo in the lesson plans? The other classes that day knew their test was open note. It was possible that the teacher could have made an error while copying and pasting for this group's test.

But I was going to go with what was written. I was sticking to the open note instruction.

(Then they asked if they could talk. Deep sigh. I gave my standard response: "The test is open note, not open neighbor.")

Tests passed out, they got to work. As I meandered about, one student confessed to me that he understood why the test was open note. "We're bad at math."

Um, no. If they were "bad at math", they wouldn't be in a math class one year ahead of their grade level. "Bad at math" kiddos take math 8 and have an extra period of math called "support" where they spend more time practicing math skills.

The boy amended his statement. "We're bad at this unit."

OK. I can understand that. (The unit covered functions: linear and exponential.)

Missing the Answers

Algebra 2. The students had a test the next day, so the assignment for this day was for them to review. They had a study guide, and the teacher had given them the answers to the problems on the study guide. They were good to go.

Not so fast. Not everyone was present when the study guide had been passed out. Uh oh. (This was the Monday after Thanksgiving. They got the study guide just before the break.)

Normally, a teacher will leave extra papers when the assignment is something like this. But I got the feeling that this teacher hadn't planned to be out. (The phone call that morning was my first indication.)

It was a simple oversight. It happens.

I had a student show me what the worksheet looked like, and I went hunting. I found it pretty quickly. I thought all was good until a student told me that the teacher has passed out a sheet with the answers on it (instead of giving them the answers in a lecture as I had assumed).

Again, I went in search of worksheets, but I was coming up short. Two girls asked if they could go see if another teacher had them. I wrote them a pass.

They hadn't been gone two minutes when I happened upon the worksheets. Naturally.

It took a while for the girls to return. When they did, they had the answer worksheets. The teacher they had gone to see made a bunch of copies. That we didn't need.

Ah well. All's well that ends well. (I hope they all did amazingly well on the test.)

In Hiding

At the heart of much speculative fiction (and fiction in general) is a question. What if? On Tuesdays I like to throw one out there and see what you make of it. Do with it as you please. If a for-instance is not specified, feel free to interpret that instance as you wish. And if you find this becomes a novel-length answer, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements ;)

What if the Earth is a witness protection location for aliens?

Mini Wreath Pin

The other day I went rifling through my jewelry drawer for something or other, and I stumbled across a small crocheted wreath pin. Well, three of them. And it got me thinking.

Crocheted Mini Wreath Pin

At that point I didn't remember making them, but I knew they were my handiwork. I went in search of the pattern. I had to have it somewhere, right?

Well, no, I don't. Slowly, the memories returned. I do remember the initial idea behind them. (I found an old pin my great-grandmother made, and I wanted to do something similar.) I bought a couple skeins of yarn (which I still have--these pins don't take much). And I knew I still had the box of safety pins I bought for that initial batch.

I remember I gave them to everyone that particular December. How long ago? A good decade, probably. Maybe longer. (After 2001. Before 2007. I can't narrow it down any further.)

Time to reverse engineer the things. Turns out there wasn't much to them. Not surprising. I didn't write it down, so it had to be something easy enough.

And so, for me, so I have a record, I am going to put the pattern here. Because I know what I did now. And I don't want to have to figure it all out again.

Crochet Wreath Pin

Materials:
Worsted Weight Yarn (I used Lily's Sugar 'n Cream Christmas Sparkle)
Size G Hook
Safety Pin
0.23 in/6mm Bells (although a larger sized bell could work)
Sewing Thread
Tapestry Needle
Sewing Needle

Gauge:
Gauge is not critical (it'll just be a bigger or smaller wreath), but my finished piece has a 2 inch diameter.

Instructions:
Ch 5. Join with sl st to form a ring.
Round 1: Ch 3. Work 15 dc into the ring (or the number to fill out the ring--a couple dc more or less won't be a big deal). Sl st into the top of the ch st.
At the same time: Attach the safety pin by holding the non-opening side to the back of the work. Work 2-3 dc over it (while working them into the ch 5 ring). It doesn't matter where in the round this gets done, but I generally do it near the beginning.

Attach safety pin to back of work by crocheting over it

Safety pin with two double crochets worked over it

Round 2: Ch 1. Work one reverse sc into each dc around. Then cut yarn and fasten off.

Wind in ends.

Back View

Once the base is made, cut a short piece of red yarn and tie it into a bow.

Attach the bow and the bell to the wreath using sewing thread.

Crocheted Mini Wreath Pin (with quarter)

Not Testing

Yesterday I talked about the final story they read. (11th grade English class.) On Friday (before Thanksgiving week) they had the quiz.

Well, naturally not all students were ready to take it. One girl asked to be excused because she had been absent all week (and had missed reading the stories). Then a boy in the same class had the same reason. (I had access to the attendance records. Both had been absent all week.)

This happens from time to time. I figure they can work out makeup times with their teacher. All I ask is they sit quietly and not disturb the testers.

The girl asked to sit over in the corner so she could work on another assignment. The boy, however, chose to remain at his table. And communicate with his pal who sat next to him.

Okay, seriously? During a test?

You know, that didn't get a complimentary write up in the note.

(Even the boy who decided not to take the quiz because he was leaving for the continuation high school behaved better.)

Knitting in Class

11th grade English. 6th period. I'd been warned that they might be difficult...

(6th periods are strange classes. They're either the worst period of the day or they're odd. There's something about having been in school all day that makes them a bit punchy. And, all the athletes have their sport's class then. So, for some reason, that's when most of them let their freak flag fly.)

The assignment was to finish reading "Everyday Use" by Alice Walker. (The link goes to the actual story online. Worth a read if you haven't read it before.

Now, I say they were to finish reading it, but when I questioned them on what happened the prior day (with a different sub), no one could tell me what had happened. And since the next day they had a quiz over this story (and several others), I figured we'd better go back and understand the thing.

But, 6th period. Having them read aloud (which presumably they did do already)...

I made the executive decision to read the part of the story to them that they were supposed to have already read.

They were actually happy with this idea. And let me read without talking over me. Score!

I noticed out of the corner of my eye that one girl pulled out her knitting. As someone who knits while watching TV, I had no issue with this. I figured she could pay attention just as well.

I finished the page or so they should have read. Then we went on, and I called on readers. (I had index cards, so I could randomly select.)

A couple students heckled the girl. Knitting in class? She wasn't paying attention...

So, naturally, hers was the second card I picked. And you know what? She found her place and read better than some who were supposedly following along. (Well, there were several heads down on desks, so not really following along.)

Her turn over, she went back to her knitting. (She ended up ripping it all out. She didn't like the feel of the yarn.)

I need more knitters in class. Although, most of the time they have actual work to do, so they can't really knit...