Restroom Break

Tuesday. Fifth period.

It was the independent work portion of the period. I had gone over some problems (we've started the probability unit, so they were doing practice problems on things like, "How many possible ice cream cones can you make with 3 cone types, 5 ice cream flavors, and 3 toppings?"), and it was their turn to try them on their own. 

The students weren't having too much trouble with the concepts, so Ms. L and I were at the front of the room, waiting for questions. A student approached. 

"Jeff got in a fight. Now he's in the discipline office."

Both Ms. L and I looked over at Jeff's desk. His computer was open. His notes were sitting there. His backpack was leaning against the bottom of the chair. 

Ms. L: "He just left to go to the restroom..."

He hadn't been gone all that long. Definitely not long enough for either of us to be concerned. But now we knew he wasn't going to return.

Deep sigh.

(How did the student know? I assume that Jeff texted him, and he conveyed the information to us.) 

We continued on. At the end of the period, all the students cleared out. Jeff's stuff remained at his desk. 

After fifth period was lunch. Security arrived a few minutes into lunch to retrieve Jeff's stuff. (The computer belonged to the classroom, so I logged Jeff out and returned it to charge.) 

Some students give off a certain vibe. You know they're trouble. Jeff? Not so much. He's a good kid who's doing fairly well in class. So, I was shocked. But really, at that age, I shouldn't be that shocked.

Trying Again

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 we (our world, our lives, our planet) is a recreation of a long gone civilization? (This was a random thought I had the other day. Who we're recreating and how "they" managed to do this were not included in the random thought, so that's open to your interpretation.) 

More Lights

It turns out that the Christmas lights crochet project is a great take-along project. It may be the only thing I'm working on for a while. At least until I get some other projects started. 

I've made a couple other colors.

I now have ideas for other projects. It's just a matter of starting them. 

Starting consists of finding the yarn (which consists of me digging through boxes and bins of yarn) and/or finding patterns (which consists of me searching online for what I want to make). 

I mean, I could try designing, but that's for when I want to make something specific that I have in mind and I don't figure it'll exist as a pattern somewhere (like when I knit a new purse). 

Decisions, decision, decisions. I have to figure those out first, then I can jump to the starting stuff. And that's where I've been stuck. But my long-term is over, so I might have some more head space in which to consider the problem.

Until then, I can plug away at the Christmas lights. I've got plenty of time to do them before the holiday.

In case you're wondering, the pattern for these lights is here.

Reading the Script

When I started this long term assignment, the computer science classes were doing a "careers" unit. But there were only so many days I could go over how to interview and they only needed so much time to construct a resume. 

Besides, I was getting bored. And if I was bored, I was sure they were bored, too.

Once I felt like I'd covered everything (well, not everything, but enough so they knew the basics), it was time to get back into the computer science of the thing. But, I don't know computer science. 

The classes are built on lessons from code.org. Their assignments have been on that website. 

It turned out, the lesson plans for each lesson contained a slideshow to show to the class, and a lesson plan with a script. 

Of course, the assumption is that the teacher actually knows what she's talking about, so the script is more talking points to help direct where the lesson should go. 

That's not how I've been using it, though.

The next unit on the agenda was about algorithms. So, gamely, I got the slides ready, and I prepared to "teach" the lesson. I read ahead and saw that they needed sticky notes, so I got them sticky notes. We got into the lesson...

I have two periods of computer science. One period gamely went through the lesson.

The other period? Half of them were completely tuned out, playing games on their computers or phones. 

Sigh.

But that was half the class. The other half was attempting the lesson.

Did they learn anything? I hope so. At least it was more interesting than another lesson on how to answer "Tell me about yourself". 

Class Swapper

Last week was state testing. In the spring, the schools are all mandated to do these official tests that the state then uses to classify schools and check progress and that sort of thing. 

As a sub (even a long-term one), I was not required to proctor the testing. But I was required to be on campus. "My" classroom was being used to administer the test. So, I borrowed the desk of the class' co-teacher as she has a desk in the special ed learning center. 

The testing block was the first two hours of the day. You might think having to be on campus was a bad thing, but I had actual work to complete. The computer science classes had turned in their resumes, so I had to grade them. Then once I got those done, it was again time for progress reports, so I had school time to input grades.

Oh, and I also got the math classes' test and study guide for that test finalized. That took longer than expected as I forgot to include one of the problem types on the study guide. And there was one problem on the test that would not format no matter what I did.

(Every time I tried to move this triangle to the spot it should appear on the test, it vanished from the test. I won't go into how many times I tried things to get this to work. In the end, I had to just leave it where it was and modify the other questions to work around it.)

Just when I was back in the classroom...

The math teacher next door was also a coder at one time, so he's familiar with computer science. Mr. J had asked him to explain something to the computer science classes. But Dr. K had his own classes. Of course.

Well, there was a simple solution. We traded classes. Dr. K explained what the kiddos needed to know. And I watched Dr. K's kiddos take a test. I got the easy part.

Make Ups

Remember Jordan?

Jordan is in Mr. J's second period sophomore math class. She pretty much took the month of February off. And much of March. And April. She merited a blog mention when she was surprised her grade had dropped because of a missing test (that I didn't just cancel for her). 

Since I last mentioned her, we had another test in the math class. That put her two tests behind. 

Just after we took the second test (with me), Jordan managed to come to class and... gasp... make up that first test. And she did pretty well on it. (She didn't get an A, but she didn't fail it, either.) 

Tuesday. Jordan showed up to class. And she asked if she could make up that second test.

Well, of course she could.

While I was teaching the last lesson in our current unit, Jordan finally got caught up on her missing test. 

At the end of the period, Jordan turned in her test. And then she asked me, "Will this be in the gradebook right away?"

Ahem. 

Before she left, I restated something just for her that I had told the whole class. Thursday we'd do a study guide for a test that would happen on the following Monday. (By the time you see this post, that test will have happened.) 

Will she show up on Monday and stay up-to-date? I'm doubtful. But we'll see. 

(If you ask me in the comments, I'll be able to tell you whether she was there or not.) 

Zealous Advocate

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 that person that your friend is so zealously defending is dangerous? 

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