Zoinks!

1st period government. Seniors. It was day 3 of All the President's Men (of 4 days). They had 30 questions to answer. Surprisingly, they had finally settled into the movie and I think some of them were actually enjoying it.

2nd period geography. Freshmen. A boy walked into class and freaked. So, I had to investigate.

There was a condom on the floor.

Great! Just what I need!

It was open but unused. But try telling a 14-year-old that.

I removed it to the trash can. And eventually the class moved on. (They had a movie of their own.)

But I'm left with a head-scratcher. What senior opened a condom and left it on the floor? To what purpose?

Obviously, I did not see the incident. But the only thing that I can think of is that a group of them reacted to something that was not on screen. It got loud in one small area for a minute. That attracted my attention. I shushed them. But whatever riled them up was not more than what I had been shushing them about for three days. So, I felt no need to investigate. (I wish I had.)

The next day I asked them why they wanted to sabotage me with the freshmen. Why would they leave trash on the floor? I didn't say what. And the boys who sat nearest the spot looked at me as if they had no idea what I was talking about. Or they had really practiced their innocent expressions. (My money is on the latter.)

"Why would I whip out a condom in class?"

This came from a boy two rows over. Interesting. I hadn't said condom. And now he's volunteering his innocence?

All of that went into the note. Maybe their teacher can figure out who did what and why.

Okay, give me your best guess. Why did they open a condom in class? The more elaborate, the better. Because their explanations can get a bit long-winded.

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Yelled At

6th period. Adam walked in and claimed a dry erase marker. Cleared a spot on the white board and started to write up an apology. "I'm so sorry, Sarah..."

As he was doing this, he explained. Sarah had not spoken to him all day. And he had no idea why. So, he had spent the entire day apologizing to her, to no avail.

In the midst of this, Sarah walked in. Saw what Adam was doing. And it made her madder.

Adam left. (He wasn't enrolled in this government class.)

* * *

"Get your hands off me!" Followed by a smack on the arm.  

It was the end of period 5. The students were filing out. And Samantha just lit into Jacob. 

Jacob acted perplexed. He told anyone who would listen (including me) that he had done nothing wrong. He had bumped into Samantha. Shoved by someone behind him. He then apologized for bumping into her. And that's when she let him have it.  

Now, normally I would believe Jacob. But Jacob was of the crew who had spent the period chillin' in the back of the classroom, acting as if he had nothing to do but hang with his guys. And talk. And laugh. (They were supposed to be watching the movie and answering questions that went along with it.)  

So, I have a feeling that there was a bit more to that interaction than what Jacob says.

* * *

The next day Sarah and Adam walked into 6th period arm in arm. All was forgiven? 

"Adam, why was she mad at you?"

Adam still had no idea. She wouldn't tell him. She said as much...

"Will you at least tell me?" I asked.

I admit, I was curious.  

She explained that Adam wanted to go to prom in a muscle car, and she didn't think that was appropriate. But upon further consideration, she realized she wasn't letting him make any prom decisions, so she'd let him have that one.  

Um, okay...

Did you spend weeks planning your prom experience? Did you go to your prom? Would you have asked Sarah for all the details, too? 

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Have you entered? Friday's the last day to enter.

Xenogenesis

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 ;)

What if you could create how your children look? Would you make them look like you? Would you make them look completely different? 

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This letter available for the giveaway

Watching Movies

When I got the assignment the week prior, the sub caller said that the teacher wanted to talk to me. So, I called him. And I learned that the government class would be watching All the President's Men for much of the week while he was out. Score!

I like this movie. I thought it would be a lovely treat for the 12th graders.

(The teacher wanted to let me know that I'd need to use the DVD player that automatically bleeps out the inappropriate school language. I've used this type of player before, so that wasn't going to be an issue.)

So, on Monday I let them know what we'd be doing. I passed out the movie questions (like 30 of them, to make sure that the students watched the movie). And I got us started.

And I spent the rest of the week (well, we finished about 20 minutes into the period on Thursday) fighting them. Sigh.

I tried everything. I explained what was going on in the movie. I stood over them. I called out when various questions' answers were showing on screen. I turned up the volume.

But no. They would not let themselves get sucked into the movie. Why? "There aren't enough explosions."

It was a very long week.

Have you seen All the President's Men? What's a movie you enjoyed that your friends and/or family didn't?

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

W is available for the giveaway.
Giveaway is open for one more week! Make sure to enter.

Variegated Blues

A while ago, I introduced the regular readers of this blog to my EOS Lip Balm Holders.

I even published the pattern (for those of you who crochet).

The suggestion was made to make it in a variegated yarn. So, since today is V day, I figured it would be the perfect opportunity to show you how those came out...

I think they turned out rather well.

Less than a week left. How are you keeping up with the A to Z Challenge? Ready for it to be over? Found any good blogs we should know about? 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

Yes, V is available for the giveaway.
Have you entered? It's open through the A to Z.

Ubaldo*

Last week I covered the visually impaired classes for two days. One of the students is mostly mainstreamed, and she only joins us for 6th period. Another student is only with us for half the day as she takes regular classes the rest of the day. One student has a one-to-one aide who she spends most of her time with.

I spent most of the two days with Ubaldo.

Ubaldo has a kind of gangster vibe going. He acts tough. But he's struggling.

Each period was a different topic. We went through his English assignment, and then he had time to answer some questions. We went through the geography chapter, and then he had questions to do. Same for government. Same for economics.

He had braille copies of the books and assignments. I had print copies, so I knew what his braille copies said. He would get frustrated that he couldn't find answers. I would give him hints to help him figure out where those answers were.

Things went pretty well, but because he took so much time in finding answers, by 6th period, he had quite a bit of work to finish up. And since he had not done his homework from earlier in the week, that work was really piling up.

6th period on my last day, Ubaldo went through what he needed to get done with the help of an aide. Which did he want to do: the easier work or the harder work? (I can make arguments for either, depending.) Get more done or get the harder government assignment out of the way? They decided, and I focused on the student in math.

Suddenly, Ubaldo exploded. He stormed out of the room, hitting the doorframe on the way out. And pounding on the wall once he was outside.

His aide explained that he has a tendency to act out, but they've been trying to curb him of that habit.

Well, he saved the explosion for the end of the second day. So, pretty good all in all.

*Not his real name. I never use the students' real names here. They are minors, after all.

Do you know how to read braille? If you could, would you learn? We're almost done with the Challenge--are you ready for it to be over? 

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Only one more week!

Team Teaching

...is my new favorite assignment.

I mentioned yesterday that it was a special ed week. It seems like all the special ed teachers now have at least one period a day where they team teach with a general ed teacher. So, two days last week I got to go and "help" another teacher for a period.

10th grade English. They were reading To Kill a Mockingbird, too. But rather than listening to it, this teacher had a whole other thing going. They read on their own for a while. Then they did an activity related to the reading.

My job was to "help as needed". But it was one of those days where I wasn't needed much. So, I got to observe another teacher at work. It was cool.

The other team teaching period was a different day. This time it was 7th grade English. The class had been state testing all week, so they were having an "easy" day. They were doing preliminary work before they were going to write a short story.

I had a bit more to do this period as the students had several things they had to complete. And 7th graders being 7th graders needed more hovering to stay on task. But again, I got to do quite a bit of observing. It's fascinating to watch teachers work.

The students don't behave this well for the sub.

What's your favorite thing about your job? Have you entered the giveaway yet? 

Today's A to Z Challenge post brought to you by the letter...

Sorry, T not available for the giveaway.
But many other great letters are.