A Very Bad Idea

It was 7th period PE at the continuation high school. Things had been going fairly well. There was one basketball game, one game of horse, and one volleyball game. Until the volleyball game broke up...

Not sure why it happened. The ball hit the net. The two teams debated whether it was in or not. They came to a conclusion. But the discussion was enough to alienate one team.

The girls went and joined the game of horse.

The basketball game occupied one half of the court. The game of horse occupied the other. It was all rather peaceful, although the boys playing basketball were really going at it.

Until they weren't.

One boy passed the ball to another who had chosen that moment to abandon the game and head for the water fountain. Then the boy who passed the ball needed a drink. And the game came to a standstill.

So, a third boy decided to find a different way to entertain himself. He wondered if he could hit the building on the opposite side of the basketball court. One of his friends shouted encouragement. The boy put the basketball down on the ground...

No. Absolutely not.

I don't remember my exact words. "No" was in there. So was "don't". I do know I said something, because later three different students echoed that I had told the boy not to do it. Unfortunately, the boy did not hear me.

He kicked the basketball...

It sailed down the court...

...And smashed into the back of a girl's head.

Hard.

She didn't lose consciousness. She didn't fall down. But she was in pain. A lot of pain.

She left school via ambulance.

Everything had been going so well. Up until that point.

Vengeance is Mine

I've been dithering over this post for a couple days now. I have too many half ideas swimming around, none of which have quite coalesced into a "what if?" I consider good enough. But time's up, so...

What if you* were wronged so badly that you contemplated revenge on the one who wronged you*? How far would you* be willing to go?

*You'd never really resort to revenge, would you? So, by "you" I mean any character in your current WIP.

The Request

"A knit beanie that looks like someone took an archery target and put it over your head..."

Um, okay...

Something like this?

What do you think?

The Line

Restroom passes are tricky. Some teachers refuse all. Some permit all. Some limit passes per quarter or semester. And many teachers leave no clue as to their class's routine in the lesson plans.

When in doubt, I go with my own rules. The main one is that I only allow one student out of the room at a time.

Which means that if I get several requests, I end up with a sort of waiting list. (Although, once we get to revolving door status, I tend to cut them off as I feel I'm being taken advantage of.) And once the waiting list is more than two students long, I lose track of who goes next.

If I'm in some class where many of the students are strangers to me, I have a hard time keeping everyone straight to begin with. I rely heavily on seating charts. Then throw in a lot of restroom pass requests...

So, it was a 10th grade biology class. One girl had gone to the restroom. A second boy was out of the room. I got my third request. Immediately followed by requests four, five, and six.

"Not right now." (My standard reply when someone is out of the room.)

The second boy returned. The third boy...

Remember how I said I lose track? Which boy asked next? Where is he sitting now?

Oh well. I went on with watching the class. (They had a worksheet, and most were doing it.)

Some time passed. I expected the boy to make himself known and repeat his request. He didn't. Then someone else asked to go.

I said yes.

"I was next."

Oh, there you are!

"Yeah. Twenty minutes ago," I said.

I would think that if he really had to go, he would have noticed the other boy's return. Or he would have asked if the boy had returned a whole lot sooner.

On the bright side, that really cut down on the rest of the restroom requests. (I don't think they really had to go.)

Shoulda Known Better

I must have been in junior high when I saw The Man Who Saw Tomorrow (on HBO or one of its precursors). I might have been a bit younger. All I know is that it made an impression on me. (The earlier link is to the video on YouTube. Here's a link to it on IMDb.)

I was fine up until they got to the predictions for the then future. Let's just say that part freaked me out. A lot.

Last week I covered a middle school science class. The teacher had an emergency, so the lesson plans were kind of last minute (read: she pulled out a video). The DVD was The Universe. Perfect for them.

The first episode on the DVD was "Secrets of the Sun". I hit play.

"We've seen that one. Can we watch 'The End of the Earth'?"

Sure, why not? I stopped the other episode and started the one requested.

It was only after the episode got into near earth asteroids like Apophis and gamma-ray bursts that I realized my mistake. A group of students were chattering, and their chatter wasn't the usual video chatter. They were worried.

(I tried to calm them by telling them that Apophis' next near Earth pass was a long way out. "How old will you be?" I asked, forgetting that they were all born in 2000 & 2001. Even I can do that math. It puts them in their mid-thirties.)

I told them that they had nothing to worry about. The scientists would have a solution by the time Apophis is due to return. The gamma ray bursts were such a small probability that it wasn't something they needed to concern themselves with.

But I understood their worry. I was told not to worry about random quatrains as well. Didn't help. I was at that age.

I really should have known better.

What scared the bejeesus out of you at 12 & 13?

Lying About Lesson Plans

I was already late due to a late call from the sub caller. Then I get into the room (with the whole class as I got there just after the tardy bell), and there are no lesson plans. Not a thing.

The assignment on the board was from the previous week. From the first day they had had a sub (they explained). This was the fourth day the teacher had been out, and everything on the board they had completed.

I called the office. Lesson plans had not been emailed. I did not get a call from the teacher.

32 students with nothing to do.

"Can we watch The Lion King?"

They knew where the video was. The VCR and projector were already set up. Sure, it was a class of juniors and seniors, but leaving a class with a free period...

While first period was "busy", I had time to take stock of the situation. Sure, the stuff on the board was finished. The next chapter... Not quite going to work. But after perusing their textbook, I found some random questions the classes could work on. Not ideal, but better than making classes watch cartoons all day.

Third period arrived. (Second period was the teacher's prep.) I had written the assignment on the board. I explained what they were to do...

"We're supposed to watch The Lion King."

Because, of course students talk and compare notes.

So, I explained that I had no lesson plans first period (which first period was well aware of). Then I kind of let them believe that I had gotten the lesson plans... Well, I didn't admit that I had cobbled them together myself. They never would have done any work then.

Although, they didn't really do the assignment. But without my outright lying to them, they kind of thought that perhaps I had heard from their teacher.

Because there was no way I was showing a movie all day (that was not already planned by their teacher).

"So, you just gave us more work."

Um, yeah. Period six figured me out. But by that time the day was just about over.

It's the End of the World (& I Feel Fine)

Kinda for the R.E.M. reference. Kinda from Jeanne's blog post from Saturday. Kinda because I haven't had time to watch Through the Wormhole lately...

What if the "apocalypse" already happened? What if we're what resulted?