Plodding Along

I haven't made a whole lot of progress on the pillowcase...

...although it's coming along. 

But, the other day I was checking my Etsy shop (which is just patterns right now), and I saw an image for a pattern. I clicked, and now I'm obsessed. 

Because of copyright concerns, I won't post a pic, but if you click on this link, you'll see it. Go to the second "image" and it's a video of various iterations of the design. (If you don't want to click the link, it's crocheted ear cuffs that look like leaves or butterflies or lacy things.)

I have absolutely no use for these things, and I doubt I'd ever actually wear them, but still I want. That's a reasonable price for a pattern, and it doesn't look like it would be too difficult to do. 

I'll hem and haw for a while. It'll likely be a couple months before I jump in and do it. (Although, if someone wants them, I would totally make them for you. The pattern writer says people can sell the finished product so long as we credit her as the designer. Just let me know...) 

At least I have something to keep my hands busy while I work up the energy to start something new.

That's the pillow this piece is going to go on. I hope I got the math right and it's wide enough. (In person it looks about right.) 

Locked Down

Some days are just weird.

I had taken the gig fully aware that it was a roving situation. When I inquired further, I was told that several teachers were being filmed for a video promoting the career and technical classes. The teachers would need time out of class for their interviews, but not a whole period, and especially not a whole day.

I do love a good roving assignment.

When I arrived on Friday, I learned that the interviews weren't starting until noon. (School starts at 8:30.) I was given a class to cover for one period, but I would have the second block off.

So, second block, sitting in the teacher's lounge, I was waiting. And then an announcement...

We were going into lockdown. 

(Later I learned that there was a robbery nearby. The suspect fled. In an abundance of caution, the sheriff's department locked down us and the nearby elementary school. The suspect never entered either campus.) 

Students go a bit nuts when they hear lockdown. Suddenly half the class has to use the restroom. And they know we can't send them out of class, so they misbehave more than normal. (I know this from experience.) 

Luckily, I had no students. I had a nearby bathroom. And I had comfortable couches to sit on. 

Yeah, I don't mind this sort of lockdown.

The lockdown lasted almost an hour. Of course, that meant that the interviews would start late as we weren't allowed out until after noon. (It was just after noon, though. Maybe five minutes.) And the teachers I relieved were a bit frazzled as they had had full rooms of students during said lockdown.

I lucked out.

The Activity

It was Wednesday at the continuation high school. Advisory. 

Advisory is a short period between periods one and two that occurs only on Wednesdays. Back in the day (I've been doing this a long time), it was the time when the students would get printouts of their graduation status. With computers and access online to their records, they don't need this information once a week (they still get those printouts about once a month), so advisory has evolved.

On this day, the ASB was conducting an activity. While I was reading the usual announcements (this is the time when they deal with administrative stuff the students need to do), the counselor came over the intercom to let us know to release the students to the quad. 

I've been at the school for games of musical chairs. I've seen some interesting games. But this was the first time the students were lined up for something and I didn't hear any sort of explanation as to what they were doing. 

They all seemed to understand the game already. 

I gleaned the rules from watching. After, I asked a student what they had been playing.

It's a game called Sharks vs. Minnows. Apparently, it's a well-known elementary school playground game. 

This is actually a good tip for dealing with teenagers: they do like doing stuff from their "childhood". (The trick is to do it with full awareness that they are Too Old for This.) 

Unlike the earlier games I had seen, this time they had plenty of volunteers. We only had one injury when a boy slipped and fell. (He complained that he was wearing Crocs which don't really work well for a running game.) 

As for the game: in the middle of the basketball court, four students lined up. They were the sharks. At the edge of the court ten-ish students lined up. They were the minnows.

At the start of the game, the minnows were to run across the court and make it to the other side. If the sharks tagged them, they were out (and became sharks, although some just stepped out of the game). They went back and forth across the court until all the minnows got tagged out. (I would have assumed that someone should win, but they had that last kiddo run across one last time. With four plus sharks, the kiddo was doomed.) 

Cute game, but completely new to me. Have any of you heard of this game before?

Pulled

Fifth period. I was covering the special ed teacher (Ms. A) of a co-taught seventh grade math class. 

The bell rang. The general ed teacher, Ms. M, gave instructions. The students logged into Quizizz where they had questions to answer. 

Nash rolled in. Ms. A's first period was seventh grade English which also had Nash as a student. The first period general ed English teacher warned me about Nash, and I spent much of first period hovering over him, trying to get him to do some work. (I failed.) 

So, I knew where I was going to be. I had to tell Nash three times to get a computer for the assignment. Then I waited while he took his time logging into the Quizizz. (He was late to class. The other students were already on task.) 

Then the class' phone rang. I was on the other side of the room, so Ms. M picked up the phone. 

It was for me. The secretary was pulling me from the class and sending me to cover a different class entirely. 

Classes that are co-taught have the two teachers so that the special ed students can get the help they need while they are in a general ed class. I'm there for extra support. I'm actually covering for a teacher. But when there's a class with no teacher...

I grabbed my stuff and headed out. I found the class standing outside, waiting. Security arrived at about the same time, and he unlocked the door and let us in.

It was an intensive ELD (English language development) class. They had bookwork which they got right to. This was all pretty impressive considering that they were a middle school group that had been stuck outside for several minutes waiting for someone to arrive. 

I wondered what had happened. Had the teacher suddenly taken ill? 

We got through class. It went well. 

Then it was time for me to check out for the day, and I learned why they had to scramble for coverage.

What the schools are doing now is giving the teachers a spreadsheet of the periods they need coverage for. The teachers sign up to cover those extra periods. (They get paid extra for it.) 

The class actually had had another teacher sign up to cover, but that teacher had to cancel at the last minute. 

I am no stranger to last minute changes. It is kind of part of the job.

Love Is Love

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 😉 

What if your marriage was suddenly illegal? (For example, what if some governmental entity decided incompatible blood types couldn't intermarry? Or, what if both parties had to have been baptized into the same religion since childhood? Or, what if you could only be married to someone who was born in the same geographical region as you?)

Keeping It Simple

Progress has been made (since last week): 

I haven't really worked on it that much, but because the yarn is bulky, it works up quicker. 

I'm using a simple stitch pattern called the Escalator Pattern. As the yarn is bulky, fuzzy, and variegated, using a complicated stitch pattern is just more trouble than it's worth. 

Stitch definition is really hard to see in the pictures. In this case, less is more when it comes to a stitch pattern. 

I'll keep plugging away at this. Hopefully I've got enough yarn to complete the whole pillow. I rather think I do at this moment.

Sniping at Each Other

Digital art. Sixth period. 

It had been a weird art day. The classes were mostly silent. (Art classes are generally very talkative.) So, sixth period gave me a bit of culture shock when they weren't. 

Of course, the class was filled with mostly freshmen...

Two boys were sniping at each other from across the room. One insulted the other boy's hair. The other questioned the first boy's sports prowess. And on it went. 

Then:

Boy 1: "Stay in your corner, big man." (By his tone of voice, he meant "big" as "fat".)

Boy 2: "Stay at McDonalds, big man." 

This exchange got everyone's attention. It was repeated twice by others as some had missed the nuances. (Picture me shaking my head.) Someone chimed in to say that boy 2 was being racist. 

Boy 2: "Not gonna lie, that was kinda racist."

Another boy entirely: "You both are the same race!"

Ah, the joys of freshmen...