Law of Gravity

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...