An Unlikely Story

I was at the continuation high school most of last week. Tuesday I covered the social studies class. Wednesday I covered the math class. And Thursday I covered the computer aided drafting class. (Monday I was elsewhere and Friday was a holiday.) 

On Tuesday during the passing period before sixth period, I had two students approach me. Regina said she needed Harper's help with her assignment in computer aided drafting as the teacher was out and Harper knew how to do it.

Two parts of that story sounded completely true. 

I hadn't been aware that Mr. G was out that day, but I later found out he was. 

As I have subbed that class many times, I knew what the lesson plan always was. The students were to complete their assignments in Solidworks. They have a video they can access to help them complete the project, but sometimes there's a bit that they don't know how to do. It helps them if another student who has done it can help them get past that bit.

I gave Harper permission to be out of class. 

Thursday, sixth period. Regina and Harper both walk in, Harper holding a pink classroom exchange pass. (That's her permission to be out of her class.) 

And now, I got to see how much help Harper was on Regina's project. 

I was not at all shocked to find that Harper was of no help. Regina never even logged into her computer. Deep sigh. 

No one got much work done that day. It was the last day of the grading period, so they were truly only hurting themselves. 

But, now I have new knowledge. The next time that Regina insists that Harper has to help her on her assignment, I can reference being the sub in the class and that they did no work. Harper won't be getting any more classroom exchange passes from me. 

See, they were only hurting themselves.

Avoiding Deadnames

Tuesday. I was covering the social studies classes at the continuation high school.

Fifth period. I was walking the room, asking students their names...

(I don't call roll if I can help it. I hate "calling" the roll with a fiery passion. Instead, I take a class roster, walk the room, and ask each student their name.)

Student: "MK. It's at the top." The student's friend said the last name, and then: "Different first name. We don't want to use his deadname." 

Actually, both the student's preferred name and the student's deadname were on the roster. (I printed the screen of the online attendance.) The deadname was the name listed, MK was in parentheses. I marked him present.

I continued asking names around the table.

Student gave his last name, and his last name only.

As I was searching for it on the roster, the girl sitting next to him asked, "What's his first name?"

The student shook his head. 

I located the student's name.

The girl: "It's Charles, isn't it?" 

The boy had two names listed. One of them was Charles. The other was Mason. Charles was in parentheses. I marked him present.

Me: "I'm not getting in the middle of this." Although, I tilted the roster towards the boy so he could see how he was listed. 

As all the students at the table had been accounted for, I walked on to the next table.

So Close

My counter of blog posts tells me that this is my 3,500th post. A milestone of sorts...

The prior Thursday when I covered the ceramics class, Lou complained that I needed to cover his math class. He was not fond of his math teacher who he felt really needed to take a day off. 

I did not have anything scheduled for Monday. Sunday evening, I got an alert from the sub scheduling system. New gig. I pulled up the app and looked. And guess who was taking Monday off?

I laughed. And I took the gig. 

The math class was co-taught. The special ed co-teacher was present. Actually, she was Lou's case carrier. 

(Every special ed student has a case carrier. This teacher is the one who keeps track of the student and generally they're the one that knows them the best.) 

The ceramics class and the math class are within sight of each other. I just happened to step out when Lou stepped out of the ceramics class. He saw me. He waved. He asked where I was that day. And when he saw that I was covering the math class, he was quite happy. 

Then it was time for Lou's period. I got a different co-teacher. As the co-teachers swapped, one said to the other, "Did someone tell Lou he's no longer in this class?" 

Turns out that one of the reasons Lou really hated his math class was because it was too hard for him. He really needed to be in the special day class math that's fully special ed. 

(The goal is to mainstream the special ed students as much as possible, hence the co-taught classes. But there are also "slower" classes for special ed students who can't quite keep up with the general ed classes. The pacing is slower. There are more helps so the students can learn the material.)

So, Lou showed up, said hi, and then he was taken to his new class. He was a bit disappointed. 

Ah well. I'm sure I'll see him in a different class eventually. His English teacher should need to take a day off sooner or later.

We Make Great Pets?

What if? It's the basis of many stories. We ask. We ponder. We wonder.

On Tuesdays I throw one out there. What if? It may be speculative. It may stem from something I see. It may be something I pull from the news.

Make of it what you will. If a for instance is not specified, interpret that instance as you wish. And if the idea turns into a story, I'd appreciate a thank you in the acknowledgements 😉 

I am once again stealing an idea off Twitter, but as Twitter is getting iffy these days, here's a screenshot of the tweet: 

What if we get out to space and meet the aliens (to us), but it turns out the others out there see us as adorable?

Möbius, Take 2

I finally started something! 

I had some time last week to go through some ideas I had for various projects and "organize" them. I took the instructions for the Astro Cluster Stitch Pattern and I sketched it out. Then I was ready to cast on. (What's the proper term for this in crochet? Cast on feels so knit.) 

I had to rip out my first try as I couldn't get the stitch pattern to mirror over the first round. I did some more sketching, and I figured out what I needed to do to get it to work. And it did.

So a win, for now. 

We'll see. I mean, I've already begun something with this yarn and ripped it out. 

It's still got a couple rounds to go before I can be sure if it's going to look good. 

But right now I don't hate it. And it's easy enough that I don't have to think too much while watching TV. So, it's good for now.

Five More Minutes

For my extra period assignment last Thursday, I ended up going back to the ceramics class. 

(We are far enough into the school year now that the sub shortage is being felt. Every day there are at least two teachers who aren't covered by their very own sub, so these classes are covered by other teachers who have conference periods. And by subs on the conference period of the teacher we're covering.)

Mr. P had an IEP meeting, so he hadn't quite left during the passing period. Lou walked in, saw that he was leaving, and protested. "We have a sub?!?"

Me: "Lou. It's me."

And suddenly it was okay. Lou came over and gave me a huge hug. Mr. P was amused by all of this.

I only once briefly mentioned Lou before, so allow me to explain. I met Lou that week in the ceramics class. Then Lou was in the success seminar. I did not realize his pronouns were he/him, so I misgendered him when I mentioned him previously (giving him the blog moniker of Louise). 

Some students actually like me. When they give me a chance, they realize I'm there to help them, and I only give battle when they fight me. 

Mr. P went to his meeting. Class started. As it was ceramics, the students had things to work on. Lou had a chance to question me.

I hadn't seen him since I left the success seminar class, but I had seen some of his classmates. He asked where I had been. I told him I'd been around.

People are surprised to learn that I work every day. They may not see me for days or weeks, and they don't get that I'm just elsewhere in the district. 

Mr. P's meeting didn't go the whole period. He was back in a little over a half hour. So I packed up to go...

"No. Ms. A. You can't leave yet. You have to stay."

Technically, I was contracted for the full period, so I could stay. But teachers don't really need a sub hanging out. 

"Mr. P, can't she stay for five more minutes..."

Mr. P said I could. I agreed.

And Lou timed me. Did he talk to me for five minutes? No. He was working on the day's project (they were practicing making coils). But when I thought he wasn't paying attention and made a move to go, he told me time wasn't up yet. 

I stayed until he said I could go.

Will I see Lou again? So far, I don't have any other of his classes booked, but I'm only booked up through November. I do get around.

About Time

Eighth period graphic arts. They were doing what students usually do with a sub: as little as possible. But it was nearly the end of the period, the end of the day. 

This school has the new clocks. They're nifty. They're digital. They show the day of the week as well as the date. And, of course, the time. They're all synced, so at the exact minute that's the end of the period, the bell rings. 

Alas, the time on the clocks is not the same as the time on their phones...

"My phone shows it's time to leave." 

Me: "But we're on school time. School time is the time on the clock." 

And then I got into a discussion on time.

"What is the 'right' time, anyway? How do we define what the exact minute is? There was a time when each individual town had its own time. It was only with the coming of the railroads that any sort of shared time was established. Before that..."

I darted to the door.

A boy decided it was close enough to time to leave, so he left. 

Yeah, not on my watch.

I got to the door before he got too far. I called him back. We argued. He said it was time according to his phone. It was close enough to the end of the day. I informed him that the bell designated the end of the period, and it hadn't rung yet.

Reluctantly, he returned to class. And I stood over him, making sure he didn't leave. 

(At least I got him back. The next day I had a student that absolutely refused to return to class, but that's a whole 'nother story.)

Finally, the bell rang, on the exact minute it was supposed to, at least according to the clock.

The group I had started talking about standardized time to weren't actually interested, but I finished my thought anyway. As they were walking out of class. 

I mean, I have to do my job, but I do like to spout random facts when the opportunity arises.