Chasing a Raccoon

I decided to take the week off, so to speak. I did work last week, and I have some stories, but I'll post those next week, when we're all back to work (sort of). Which means today I'm doing a #ThrowbackThursday for the holiday. This post originally appeared on November 5, 2009. Enjoy. 

Today was day four with the opportunity class.

First thing this morning, they came in, sat down, and did their work peacefully. A minor miracle.

As they were working, Jake had a story to tell. I thought I'd share:

Jake had a run in with the police last night. He was out late, and he was running. The police pulled up beside him, flashed a light in his face, and asked him what he was doing.

Jake explained that he was chasing a raccoon.

Jake saw the raccoon earlier. He tried to take its picture with his cell phone, but it was too dark. Then the raccoon took off. Jake decided to chase it.

("Why?" I asked. What would he want with a raccoon? "I wanted to kick it," Jake replied. I tried explaining why this was not a good idea, but Jake didn't see my point.)

The cops told Jake that this was dangerous. The raccoon could attack and scratch him up badly. Jake could get rabies. Then the cops let Jake go ("I didn't even have to get in the car," he marveled).

Jake was relieved. He is on probation. He could have gone back to juvie.

Was any of this true? I have no idea. Jake told it convincingly. It could be true.

I'm never sure what to believe, so I listen and reserve judgement.

I remember this week. In my nightmares. This class no longer exists as the teacher now teaches something else somewhere else. How she put up with these kids for as long as she did, I have no idea.

Knitting Ornaments

I've been knitting Christmas tree ornaments.

I've been working on the pattern. It isn't quite there yet. But the trials are looking good. (The one on the left sold at the holiday boutique over the weekend.)

The purple one (on the left) was my first attempt with the beads. (Sorry about the picture quality. It came out a bit dark.) I decided that there weren't enough beads, so my next tries had more.

What do you think? How do they look to you?

(I'm also over at the California Crafters Club of Etsy blog today. Make sure to check out the Black Friday/Cyber Monday sales.)

Missing Years

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.

I saw this article on io9 a few weeks back. Apparently, there's this theory banging about that Pope Sylvester II and Holy Roman Emperor Otto III decided they wanted to be remembered or something, so they wanted to be around in the year 1000. Only they weren't, so they moved up the calendar. Because they were powerful enough to do that or something.

(This theory is well-known enough to have its own Wikipedia page.)

Which just boggles the mind. Whether it's true or not, it makes for an interesting story.

Where do I go with this?

What if you could initiate a hoax? Would you? Would you use it for good or evil?

Full Tables

I did a small church holiday boutique this past weekend.

And I took a few pictures of my tables.

Because I'm crazy like that. Only one of the shots came out blurry...

Ah well. At least the table looked populated.

Did you have a good weekend?

Different Sub, Different Lie

"Nah, she's chill."

I glared at Anthony. I was not so chill as to let him sit in some random seat anywhere he wanted. Although, he seemed to think I was going to. I disabused him of that notion soon enough, and he found his assigned seat.

It was a 12th grade government class, 5th period. And they came in like a herd of elephants.

(5th periods have been interesting lately. Probably because they're right after lunch.)

I talked to Mr. T before school. He told me that the last time he was out, the class had convinced the previous sub that Mr. T allows the students to eat in class. Mr. T was less than pleased, so he wanted to make sure I was aware of the rules.

Interestingly enough, no one tried to convince me they were allowed to eat in class. (I guess when Mr. T said he was furious, he meant he let them have it.) But they tried to convince me of other things.

Mr. T clearly outlined his restroom policy. The students must write "I will use the restroom at the proper time". They only have to write it 20 times before they go. If they leave the room first, they must write it 30 times.

All day I reminded students of this policy. They all seemed okay with it. A couple decided not to go (which is the point of such policies--if you really have to go, you'll be okay with the standards, if not, it won't be worth the effort).

5th period told me, "We don't have to write standards for subs."

Um, really? You sure about that?

They backed off pretty quick when it looked like I was taking down the names of those who insisted this was true. (I wasn't. I was writing down the name of the student who had just left.)

I did see Mr. T before I left for the day. I made sure to let him know about the seating chart lie (and Anthony specifically, who it turns out has been an issue for Mr. T before) and the restroom pass standards thing. I have a feeling they won't be trying those lies on the next sub.

Faking in Spanish

Remember Juan? I do.

It was 3rd period, and I called the roll. Juan responded with, "Aqui".

I don't much care how students respond to roll call as long as they respond to their names. I just need an indication of who is present in the room. On occasion I'll call a student name, and the student will reply with, "What?" I respond, "Taking roll," and continue on.

So, a response in Spanish doesn't even merit a raised eyebrow with me.

It was only after when Juan and I spoke about something else (I don't even know if I asked him something or he just voluntarily started talking) that I noticed that he was exclusively speaking in Spanish.

Upon further inquiry, Juan claimed (in Spanish) that he didn't speak any English. (Don't ask how I figured out the gist of this as I didn't take Spanish in school. I think another student chimed in to "help". And I do understand snippets from time to time.)

I do encounter students who speak no English in various classes. Usually they have a buddy helping them. And we make do. But there were two reasons I did not believe Juan.

Number 1: Students who don't speak English don't get sent to the continuation high school. Yes, there are several who are not fluent and the school offers ELD classes, but the true newcomers are so new they haven't had a chance to fail enough classes to get sent out.

Number 2: I met Juan before. In other classes. Where he spoke to me in fluent, unaccented English.

Once class was started, I approached Juan to talk to him about the whole not-able-to-speak-English lie. He started with a bunch of words I did not recognize, but ended with something about Espanol fluency. And that's when I had him.

Juan turned to the girl next to him. "How do you say 'fluency'?"

Later Juan blamed me for breaking his record. He had been doing well up until I questioned him.

Ah well. Once he stopped the whole Spanish-only thing, he could have done what he was supposed to be doing--writing an article for the school newspaper. (Oh, did I forget to mention that this class was the journalism class?)

Although, he didn't really get much of anything done. That girl sitting next to him? He spent the period flirting with her.

A Rule Change

I was back at the continuation high school for the first time since September, and I noticed a major change. Every student (practically) had a backpack. Huh?

I mentioned previously that backpacks were not allowed on campus. And one student took exception to that rule. (Please do glance at this post from August. I don't often get to follow up on the results of something.)

Ms. M stopped by her class during the prep period, and I had a chance to ask her about everyone now having backpacks. She told me that it was Juan that got the rule changed.

At a previous staff meeting, Juan presented his argument. Ms. M said it was well reasoned. He brought in a backpack and pulled out the stuff that he said students would want to carry--deodorant (for PE days), food (because they always seem to be eating), pens (which previously no student seemed to carry), and other stuff that students usually carry.

As for students bringing in stuff they shouldn't (like drugs or weapons), Juan agreed that searches could be permitted. (And this meant that the girls' purses would be open to the same searches.) They discussed either random searches or daily searches (like at concerts when they glance through the bags when people enter).

The teachers voted, and they approved allowing backpacks.

And now they're all carrying them. Which is actually good, because now they all seem to have pens with them so they can do their work. (Yep, before basically no one carried anything to write with. It was as big a nightmare as you can imagine.)

Which goes to prove--if you present a well-reasoned well-argued request to the proper authorities, you can effect change.