Law of Gravity

The topic for the day was writing a summary, so for the seventh graders' warm up, they were to write a summary of their favorite movie. You'd think this would be easy, but several didn't have a favorite movie or didn't like movies, or some such. But once I took away the onus of it having to be their very favorite,  most found something to write about. I asked for volunteers to read out their summaries without telling us what movie. And for the most part we knew what the movie was just from the summary. There was Toy Story, X-Men, Spongebob Squarepants, The Lion King, and several other movies that weren't at all surprising. I may have mentioned a time or two that sixth periods tend to be different. They can be wild. But I've got a good group, and I'm not allowing wild, so this group is just kind of strange. There are a couple girls who act way more mature (and seem to have a good head on their shoulders) than I generally get in a seventh grade class. I gave t...

Back in my retail days (at the evil toy store), I worked for a time in the cage where they lock up all the video games. (They got rid of the cage in the latter days of my employment with them.) It was a small booth where we constantly were filling the shelves only to have the games (and other electronic stuff) sell. We'd get trucks in. We'd place the newly arrived merchandise on the shelves. People would purchase things, and we would hand them out to them. It was a decent system most of the time. But, it was retail, so from time to time, we would get new items in that didn't have room on the shelves. Or we would get shipments and it would be so busy we didn't have time to put them away. At those times, the floor of this very narrow booth would fill so one could barely walk back and forth to get stuff. When I'd arrive some evening (I was in college at the time) to find the booth piled with boxes, I would play a game called Find the Floor. The object was to get every ...

I'm still in that middle school English class I started off the year in. There's a reason I don't do these sorts of assignments all that often. They are hard slog. I have three periods of seventh graders. They've been lovely. A little squirrelly, sure, but for the most part they've been fine. The eighth graders, however... This day was going a bit better than some others, but the group at the back thought something was hilarious. "They're laughing at you," a girl informed me. Because, of course they were.

Friday was picture day. I've never before experienced picture day. The English teachers usually aren't out for it, I suppose. I can't imagine why... I vaguely knew we had to go to the cafeteria. I thought I knew the way. As I had first period line up outside, I saw another English teacher leading her class. I told my kiddos to follow them. Turned out, I would have totally gone to the wrong side of the building if that other teacher hadn't been there. Then she clued me in that I had to pick up cards to distribute to the kiddos. (The teachers are so helpful. They really are.) These cards had bar codes on them that the photographers scanned. That gave the computer enough info so the students' ID cards could be printed out immediately. After that, I became an old pro fast. By sixth period I knew the drill. I instructed the two kiddos that didn't have cards (the card system was great, but these things are never perfect) to bring their schedules as the photographer ju...

I'm slowly getting up to speed in this middle school English class. During the first full week (the first week of school was just Thursday and Friday), one of the major things I worked on was establishing some sort of routine. I don't have a lot of resources. There weren't many supplies left in the room from last year. (I've been slowly acquiring things. I learned who the keeper of the dry erase markers and paper clips is. So, I've gotten a few necessary supplies thus far.) The one thing the room did have is a working projector. And the teacher in there from last year left behind his laptop. Well, it's the school's laptop, but he didn't return it, so I commandeered it. But the laptop was buggy. There was some antiviral software that needed to be renewed, and getting logged in was a trial. I got help from the technology person, and things seemed to be working. The first couple days the computer asked for a restart a few times. I suppose since the computer...

It was the first full week of school. I am covering a "vacant class" until they are able to bring in a teacher for the rest of the year. I have three periods of seventh grade English and two periods of eighth grade English. Because of this, I got to do something I've never gotten to do before. I got to go over the syllabus with the students. The next day, the eighth graders had a writing assignment. (The seventh graders did too, but they are way more cooperative than the eighth graders. Good for me, bad for the blog.) They were to write a letter of introduction. It's their first writing assignment of the year. Every day I've tried to have a list of what they'll need for the day written on the board for them. (Some days I'm able to, others not so much.) On this day I had that list up. They needed a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. I explained the assignment. They got to writing. Only about half way through the period, one boy said he was finished. That...

Yesterday I whined about getting stuck with a vacant class. But this wasn't my first rodeo . Even when the sub caller told me it wasn't a vacant class, I prepped for the day as if it was. And that saved my butt. Because while there was a school-wide activity prepped for the first day, there wasn't one for the second. I decided to have the kiddos interview each other. It was a simple activity. I prepped ten questions for them to ask each other. Then I gave them a sentence frame to insert their partner's answers into. Finally, everyone got a chance to read their sentence frames out loud. The seventh graders did very well. The most popular wish was to ask for more wishes. I was surprised how many students considered Alfredo their favorite food. One student told how his partner had gone to Ohio over the summer. The partner clarified that he had actually gone to Idaho. The eighth graders... Yeah. Um. They finished interviewing each other. That was cool. However, we did not ...

When I write next year's end of year post, I get to write this sentence: I did cover the first day of school (and this time, it definitely does count ). The thing about the first day of school is, teachers tend to not miss it. There are very few events that would pull a teacher out of class on that very important day. (One year a teacher took her daughter to start college. Another teacher missed because she was on maternity leave. Those are the only events I can think of.) This means, when one is covering the first day of school, one is generally covering a vacant class. Vacant means there is no teacher assigned. No lesson plans. Nothing set up. Thrown in on the first day with no support... So, when I got the call the day before the first day of school, I asked. "Is this a vacant class?" I was told it wasn't. Okay, so technically it wasn't. In actuality... The official teacher is on a leave of absence. His replacement (long term sub) couldn't start until Mond...

The other day as I was clearing out some old papers, I found some blog posts that I'd never posted. I wrote them down with the intent of putting them on the blog, but then... I suppose something more interesting happened that week. That's my only guess. "But if I get another referral, I'll be kicked out of school." He should have thought of that when he refused to step outside and stay outside when I told him to. "If I get another referral, I'm going to be sent to my dad in Texas. I don't want to live with my dad. He drinks." And yet, when I asked him to stop talking so I could go over the day's assignment, he couldn't manage it. "I can't get another referral. Could you make this a warning?" And what were those three other instructions? The "stop talking"? The "step outside"? The "go back where I told you to go"? And what about continuing ot talk after I said he'd get a referral for disobeyi...

The other day as I was clearing out some old papers, I found some blog posts that I'd never posted. I wrote them down with the intent of putting them on the blog, but then... I suppose something more interesting happened that week. That's my only guess. I heard the distinctive clatter, rhythmic and regular. I didn't have to see it to know what it was. "Could you please put the Tech Deck away?" Ten minutes later, I heard it again. I went to confiscate. "You told me to put it away. I did. You didn't say how long to put it away for." Semantics. Really? "Besides, you said 'can' and 'please'. So it was more of a request..." So, because I was polite and didn't bark it out, he was going to continue playing with his toy? Deep sigh. I clarified my position on toys in the classroom, especially when there was actual work to complete. I "offered" to keep the toy so he wouldn't be tempted to pull it out again. Freshmen...

The other day as I was clearing out some old papers, I found some blog posts that I'd never posted. I wrote them down with the intent of putting them on the blog, but then... I suppose something more interesting happened that week. That's my only guess.  I remember being very annoyed with this boy. But somehow the act of writing this out dispelled much of my anger. I can't tell you when this happened, but it was at least two years ago.  "Remember me? I was in the first class you ever subbed." Me: "Really? You were in the 11th grade history class at [different high school] in [different city which is two hours away]?" "No, I was in the first class you subbed here." I made some joke about how he'd been in high school an awfully long time. I've been subbing a while. At least since before he was in school. The first class I ever subbed at his school... There are teachers teaching at his school that were students in classes I covered. (Truth...

I'm not great at detecting lies, but sometimes the kiddos are obvious. Today's #ThrowbackThursday post is from February 22, 2008 , but I remember it well.  Today I covered a 7th grade world history class. I needed a silent room. I was not getting it. So, I warned them: "I will take down the names of those who continue to talk." This only works when I cover some teachers. This was one of them. They fought me on it for a moment. I stared down the few whose names were going to be on my list. Then one of the girls (the talkers were all girls in this group) told me to write down her name. "I'm Amanda," she said. She offered up her name way too easily. I was suspicious. I checked the seating chart. Sure enough, Amanda sat in that seat. But she did not look like an Amanda. She did not feel like an Amanda. I was sure I was being lied to. Twenty minutes later (I had gotten my silence, so I didn't need to make my list) two other students were exchanging words...

It's time for a dive back into the way-back files. This post originally appeared December 8, 2009 .  12th grade AP English. They were working on some essay or other (I didn't have a lot of details, but they were AP kids and could be trusted to do their work without me having to prompt them). They were half working, half talking about random stuff. One student started talking about coffee. He asked what people put in it. One of the girls mentioned cream and sugar. The boy said that no, that's what kids put in it. Adults put old in it. That's not a typo. He said "old". He continued with this reasoning. He said that coffee makes kids old. One girl complained that she drank coffee, but she wasn't old. The boy said that she might be 17, but the coffee made her older. So, I asked what about older adults who did not drink coffee. He said that they just age normally, not extra aged because of the old in coffee. It made only a smidgen of sense. Of course that was t...

It was my fourth (and last) day in Mr. G's class. Being summer school, they had individual work (that they weren't doing, mostly), so I had a lot of time to sit and watch them. I had read my Entertainment Weekly , written three (well, this one too, so four) blog posts, and beta read thirteen chapters of a fellow blogger's book. I had also taken roll, kept track of all the classes, and made sure the classes' assignments kept up with what they should have been able to finish. I needed something else to do. I had recently (April-ish) replaced my school bag. I decided my IKEA clock needed a cozy. Let me back up a minute. I carry a small clock for days when the classroom has no working clock. My new school bag doesn't have a great spot to stash it. So, I figured I could knit it a clipped pouch to make it easier to access in the bag. And since I needed something to do while watching kiddos not work... I started the gauge swatch. I measured it and the clock. I figured ...

"Friday! It's movie day!" Last block of the day. Second semester eleventh grade English. Mr. G had been out Thursday as well. The reason was mysterious--confusing texts to the summer school principal. Sudden absence. No plans... Movie day? I'm down with that, provided that they're not lying. (If we watched a movie every time a kiddo claimed the teacher had promised them a movie, all I would do all day every day is watch movies. Seriously. At least one student every day  claims this.) But, even if I had wanted to, I could not do a movie. I did not have a computer to hook up to the projector. (Once upon a time, every classroom had a TV and VCR. Then a DVD player. A couple years ago, all of them were removed. Now every classroom has a projector installed with speakers in the ceiling. One can hook up a DVD player to the projector--I've done this a couple times--but most of the time teachers just hook up a computer and stream something.) I do not carry a computer w...

Those of you who have been following my blog for a while know what comes after the last day of school... SUMMER SCHOOL!!! Woo-hoo! Summer school started last Monday. My first call came on Thursday. When I got there, the summer school principal, Mr. E, walked me to the room. From what he said to me and to another passing teacher, it was clear Something Happened on Wednesday, and I likely didn't have much in the way of lesson plans. Perhaps I'll find out what happened later... As expected, there were no lesson plans. But it turned out the class had gotten books and had had a homework assignment the previous day. Okay, cool. I'd assign the next selection in the book (which turned out to be an excerpt from Antigone ). It was a first semester tenth grade English class. As we were getting started, a girl informed me that Mr. G (their teacher) had said they could finish the homework in class. I'm terrible at lie detection, but this was clearly a lie. It was in the way she hesi...

It was Monday of the last week of school. The eighth graders were on a celebratory field trip to Knott's Berry Farm . The teacher I was covering was one of the chaperones, and I was left with all of his seventh graders. Mr. S had one period of middle school leadership, one period of middle school theater, and two periods of English Language Development (read: English learners). As his leadership and theater classes needed a different sort of room, he traveled to a more academic classroom for the ELD classes. The room he used for his ELD classes housed health classes the rest of the day. It's the end of the semester, so the health classes are currently studying sexually transmitted diseases, something first period gleefully informed me of. (I knew this already, so I shrugged it off.) The classes' assignment was an essay about what goals they had for their summer vacation. And they were less than pleased to be writing. And sixth period... They were terrible in the usual sort ...

Seventh grade science. It was a one-off period for me, and it appeared that the teacher was only out for that period plus the following. The kiddos were supposed to be working on study guides for their finals. Being seventh graders, they came in from lunch a bit wild. I warned them to sit in their assigned seats. But, I got howls from various kiddos that their seats were not vacant. One small, timid boy informed me someone was in his seat and would not give it up. So, I went to intervene. The girl was downright rude about it. She was new to the class, in her assigned seat, and the boy was a snitch. Some profanity was sprinkled in to this whole thing. The boy did get his seat. I got a glance at the girl's paper so I could let her teacher know who was so difficult. (The seating chart was far from accurate, which is probably why the teacher had hidden it from me. That's a whole other story.) I kept an eye on Yesenia for the rest of the period, but she kept it to kicking with her t...

The girl was sort of watching a video. Her computer sat on a nearby desk. She leaned over, watched something, paused the video, and then sketched something on her paper. Upon closer examination, I saw the video was instructions for how to draw a gun. And that's what she was drawing on her paper. I moved on. The boy was watching an episode of Ellen . I caught a glimpse of the show topic. I moved on. A second boy was watching a basketball game. Me: "What should you be doing right now...?" Seventh grade English. Their end of year projects were to create a slide presentation (as a group) and a "creative component" (as individuals) on a topic about protest and activism. The first girl's topic was Black Lives Matter. The first boy was watching an interview with the Parkland survivors. Other topics included #MeToo, women's rights, the Montgomery Bus Boycott, and human trafficking. Clearly the second boy had been goofing off. Having computers in class for resear...

I've been struggling with this post for days. It still might not make much sense... It was Thursday. I was covering the Mandarin class. No, not that one . Different school. Apparently Mandarin is a thing now. At least for this school district. That morning, I woke with a sore throat that went into full blown head cold for the holiday weekend. (If you noticed that I wasn't around the blogs, that was why.) It turned out to be not a bad day. Which is a good thing when one is starting to feel miserable. However, I was warned about sixth period. They were the "interesting" group. When the teacher told me this (Ms. L was there that morning as she was chaperoning a field trip to a local temple), I took a look at the seating chart (with pictures!), and I did recognize the students she warned me about. Jake was one. I did get to chide him on pretending to be Steven. When the other students overheard this, I informed them that Jake preferred to be called Steven. And I told Ms....