A Question of Belief

"What do you believe?"

Um. Well. I...uh...

Why am I the only one who seems to think this is a rather vague question? Marcus didn't think so. And he pressed me on it. For an hour.

On the one hand, I appreciate his curiosity. But, he had work to do. Work he wasn't doing. Work he would have neglected anyway, but I'd have rather not been his distraction.

Most days I can wave this question off. Whether or not the students really care (and aren't doing it as a way of getting out of doing their work) isn't my concern. When I'm there, they usually have an assignment. And while I don't forbid discussions of belief (so long as no one is denigrating anyone else's, an open discussion about the topic I think is a good thing), I'd rather they remain on task.

But it was me and two boys. So, pushing the question aside was harder than I thought.

Marcus is a very inquisitive student. Maybe one day he'll figure out how to channel that in a more positive manner.

Pandora's Box

This week's question was actually posed to me by Marcus. (Opportunity is good for the blog, at least.) Well, it wasn't in this form, exactly. The treasure chest idea was his, though, so I should give credit where credit is due...

What if you were walking in the desert, and you came upon a treasure chest containing all the answers to all the secrets of the universe? What would you do with it?

Neon Yellow Lacy Fingerless Gloves

So, I finally made up another pair of the lacy gloves...

Now it's just a matter of getting a good picture of them. Or, like five. 

I'm working on it...

(This is one of the reasons it takes me so long to list things.)

A Mystery

It was day 2 of my 4-day assignment in opportunity. Before I left the previous day, I made sure to shut down the computer and turn out all the lights. (This is normal procedure for me.) So, I was shocked to arrive to a room with lights on and the computer not only on but logged in under the teacher's password.

(Every teacher and student on campus has a personal log on for the computer network. We subs even have one, albeit one that we all share.)

Had the teacher returned?

But I knew he was out of town. 135 miles away. Family emergency. The kind of family emergency where I would not expect him to drive back to town just to check his classroom.

Did I forget to shut things down?

Was the teacher back? Had things changed and no one told me? (Wouldn't be the first time I got to a room only to find the teacher present and be sent back to the office.)

No one arrived. The bell rang. I let the boys in. I started class...

An hour later the instructional aide arrived. (His usual time.) I pulled him aside and asked him about it. Had the teacher come by?

The teacher I was subbing for was also the football coach. He has assistant coaches. Who use his room and his computer. (Assistant coaches I was most grateful for. Otherwise, I would have also been covering football. Did that once...)

Of course. I should have realized.

So, I was not shocked to discover the room in the same state when I arrived the rest of the week. (Which was a good thing. Computers take a long time to boot up.)

My Punishment

I get the distinct impression that the sub caller hates me.

Sure, she calls me. Frequently. I work just about every day. But how else do I explain this wake up call?

"Could you cover four days...in opportunity?"

NOOOOOOO!

(Last week, Monday was a holiday. Otherwise, it would have been five days.)

What is opportunity? I think this conversation explains things:

Marcus: I used to be a good kid. It wasn't until I got sent to [alternative placement school] that I turned bad. I started hanging around with those guys. They're not bad guys, but it wasn't until I met them that I started tagging.
Me: Why did you get sent to [alternative placement school]?
Marcus: I brought a knife to school.

I've covered these kinds of classes many times before.

The class had four students. Each sat in a different corner of the room.

Oh well. At least they make for interesting blog posts...

Dictionary Dilemma

It was a senior English class. The assignment was a group thing. They were to write a rhetorical précis based on some reading they had done.

At the bottom of the page was a list of twelve vocabulary words. (At the moment I can't recall what they were, but they were good words.) They were supposed to do their "usual" vocabulary assignment (something about boxes with definitions and pictures and sentences and such).

About half way through the period, a boy approached. He wondered if I'd let them look up the words on their phones as opposed to getting out the dictionaries.

Sigh. On the one hand, this doesn't bother me. They're using their phones for academic purposes (not Instagramming their activities in class or texting their friends about the weekend party). This is the wave of the future. There are so many things the students can do with their phones that support their learning.

But when he asked, I immediately flashed to the last time this subject had come up.

So, do I stick with the old guard and insist on dictionaries? Or do I realize that these 12th graders know the dictionary skills and let them get to the important part of the assignment--learning some new words?

(I let them use their phones. That's how they'll do the work in college, anyway.)

What do you think? Should I have insisted on dictionaries?

Rethinking Prison

This idea came from a discussion... Well, it would take too long to explain. It has more of a dystopian bent. Not my usual, but then again, the idea came from a not usual place...

What if they were overhaul the prison system and turn it into more of an indentured servitude kind of thing?