Thursday, March 28, 2024

Doing the Work

Mr. J has three periods of sophomore math and three periods of computer science. I'm qualified to teach the math classes. The computer science classes, however...

When I started the classes, Mr. J sent me an email with a suggestion. 

Computer science is a CTE class, short for career and technical education. The CTE department is going to have a job fair in May where local employers will come to campus to interview students. The idea is to give the CTE students an opportunity to practice being interviewed for a job.

Mr. J suggested that I could do a unit on interviewing and resumes so the students could prepare. That I can teach. (Although I am terrible at it, I know the basics of what I should do.) 

I started the unit with what to wear. Then we delved into resumes. They are going to have to turn in a completed resume as they will need one for the job fair. 

Friday. I went over the basics. Gave them some tools to use. Suggested that the internet had all sorts of advice. Explained that resume templates existed. (I did give them a template to use if they so chose.) 

Then I gave them time to work.

I heard some playing video games. Some of them clearly weren't on task. (That's kind of how things have been going. But, some had completed a resume in other classes, and I wasn't requiring them to write a new one, just to turn in the one they already have done.) 

But then, I heard a group of boys in the back of the room. Discussing how to describe their skills...

They were doing the assignment? 

They were doing the assignment.

The computer science classes were kind of off task as they weren't getting direct instruction in anything, but now that I'm following up, things are getting done.

Deep breath.

This is what it's supposed to be like. It's good when things work out.

Wednesday, March 27, 2024

A Test Makeup

It was week three in Mr. J's classes, and I'm starting to get my feet under me. That means that certain things I may not have noticed initially (while I'm trying to get a handle on the bigger things) are now catching my attention.

Jordan is in my second period class, but I hadn't seen much of her. In fact, I hadn't really seen her at all. 

I first noticed Jordan's absence when I was getting the quarter grades taken care of. She had pretty much taken the month of February off. And she was doing the same for March. Her grade was fine, but that was only because no one had input the grades.

Once I finished getting the grading caught up, Jordan's grade dropped to an F. 

I checked her attendance. It appeared that she was attending school every other day. As the school is on a block schedule, that meant that while her first, third, fifth, and seventh period teachers were seeing her regularly, her fourth, sixth, and eighth period teachers, as well as me, weren't seeing her at all. 

Thursday was an odd day. During passing period, Jordan showed up at my door. (I was at the door greeting students as they entered. The administrators encourage this of the teachers.) I knew who she was because the seating charts have photos. 

Jordan said that her grade had dropped because she was missing a test. (She was missing two tests and five or six assignments, but I didn't point that out.) After expressing displeasure that I hadn't just automatically cancelled the grade for her, she wondered if she could make up the test. I told her of course she could. Then she was on her way to her fifth period class. 

(There is a way to make an assignment not count for a student. I did this for a student who was out for a while after a suicide attempt. I will do this for various students who already completed an online course on how to job interview which I'm assigning to a couple classes. I will not do this for a student who ditched class for a month and now sees that her grade dropped.)

Did Jordan show up to take the test later that day? No, she did not.

Jordan did show up to class the next day. So, I offered her the opportunity to take the test right then. 

She wasn't that quiet, although I think she thought she was, when she said something along the lines of, "I don't want to do this now." I suppose I could have pressed the issue, but I gave her the out of taking it later in the day. She said she'd be there.

And then a meeting I needed to attend ran long, so I got back to the room late. So, of course Jordan wasn't there. Had she been there at the time we'd agreed? 

Well, I double checked her schedule. She does, in fact, have an eighth period when she said she didn't, so I kind of doubt that she was there. 

She can still make up the test and all the work she's missing. I'm accepting all late work. 

But will she? Will she get that work made up? 

We shall see. 

(So many of them did little while Mr. D was covering the classes, and somehow they thought the work didn't count. I had a couple weeks of students scrambling to get assignments in once their grades plummeted after I got those assignments input in the gradebook. Some still have not done anything.)

Tuesday, March 26, 2024

The Big Yawn

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 😉

Most religions have some sort of "second coming" in them, don't they? (I'm not particularly religious, so I can't be sure.) I'm not going to specify religions, but assume the major prophet or some such was reborn when I say "second coming". 

What if the "second coming" happened, and we just... missed it? That is, what if that prophet or whoever did return, but no one noticed?

Monday, March 25, 2024

Plotting and Planning

After finishing the afghan, the next item on my knitting agenda is the dragon swatch. Back in January I explained that I have to rip it out and start over

If this was a video, I would point out where the errors are. 

Have I touched this since finishing the afghan? Not at all.

I'll need to drop a lifeline before I start frogging, and I just haven't had the mental bandwidth to sit down and attempt it. I'll get to it sooner or later. Likely later. But spring break is next week, so I should have some time then. I hope.

I had time this weekend, but I spent much of Saturday trying to fit my Tuesday "what if?" questions to the letters of the day. I'll be doing April's A to Z blogging challenge, but nothing changes around here. My game is to fit what I'd normally write to the letter of the day. 

Have I prewritten anything? Just the what ifs. But that's pretty standard for me. The first couple years I did the challenge, I created a "back up" list for just in case. I never used it. So, I don't do that anymore. 

And now I'm rambling, so I'll stop. I hope everyone has a great week planned. I've got four days of work, and then it's spring break. Yay!

Friday, March 22, 2024

Full of Stars

As an adult who often interacts with teenagers, I consider it my duty to report back to you when I notice a trend. And lately I've noticed that the kiddos have all started doing something kind of weird--they now wear star stickers on their faces.

These are not large, maybe a half centimeter across. Usually they're yellow. And they can be anywhere on their faces. Usually girls, but I've seen some boys wear them too.

Curious, I Googled it. And it turns out that they are pimple patches. Oh, that makes sense.

Here's an article I found about them. If you search for them, you'll find they sell them on Amazon, at Walmart, and many other places. 

So, if you encounter teens and you see little stars on their faces, now you know what they are. 

Thursday, March 21, 2024

The Wrong Answer

I started the long-term math class right at the end of a unit on solving quadratic equations. All that was left was a study guide (that I went over with them) and the test.

The test...

(See yesterday's post for the explanation for why they didn't really learn anything about solving quadratic equations.) 

Grading the test, I saw how much they really didn't know. Deep sigh. If only I'd gotten to them sooner...

One boy clearly did not read the directions as he attempted to solve the equation using a different method than instructed. (He was supposed to use the formula, which was given on the test, but didn't.) His answer wasn't even close.

Then the next paper I graded... It was the exact same "solution" without using the formula. I went back and double checked. Sure enough, this whole paper was pretty much exactly like the first boy's. 

Then there was a third paper. Identical.

If the answers had been right, I wouldn't have noticed. But all of the wrong answers were the exact same wrong answers.

I graded a few more tests. Then I found a fourth paper identical to the other three.

*rolls eyes*

I mean, if you're going to cheat, you might as well cheat off of someone who knows what they're doing.

But no one in this group knew what they were doing. 

The worst part? I watched them. I stood in front of the class (and the four boys sat at the front of the room) and watched them take the test. I did not see them sharing answers. 

Wednesday, March 20, 2024

Guilt

It was the second week of my new long-term assignment, and I spent much of it getting their grades caught up. For much of the month of February, nothing had been graded and the non-co-taught classes had been kind of left up to their own devices.

When I talked to Mr. J about his upcoming absence, he had planned to be out starting in mid March. So, when another teacher asked me to cover her classes for the last two weeks of February, I figured I'd be free and agreed. 

But Mr. J's wife had to take her maternity leave early and Mr. J needed to be home with her. So, the secretary got another sub to take the class until I could start. I don't know Mr. D very well, but he is well-liked at the school, and he's done quite a few longer assignments as of late.

As it wasn't technically long enough to be long-term, Mr. D didn't get grading access, nor did he directly instruct the classes that weren't co-taught. 

There's one sophomore math class and three computer science classes that aren't co-taught. (There are two sophomore math classes that are co-taught, and Ms. L was instructing them.) 

The computer science classes were going to be tricky anyway, as there aren't any subs who are well-versed (or even partially knowledgeable) in computer science. They were always going to be kinda on their own. Their lessons have videos, and one can follow what they're supposed to be doing. But mostly they were supposed to be keeping up with the lessons on the website.

But the math class was also kinda left to their own devices. They had computerized lessons. The co-teacher made them videos. But sophomores. 15-year-olds are not known for being self starters.

So, I've been sorting out things like tests that didn't happen and grades that didn't get input. And lessons that the kiddos didn't actually get. 

I've been hit with a whole lot of guilt.

Because, if I had just dropped out of that two-week assignment, I could have started this class back in February, and we wouldn't be in the midst of a mess.

The math class had a test over the unit that they were supposed to be keeping up with. It went badly. The computer science classes missed a test at the end of February over their unit. (Once I realized this, I gave them a week's heads-up that the test would happen, so they had time to look over what they were supposed to have learned.) That test also went not great. (Some did well. Some, not so much.) 

Their quarter grades were due at the end of last week. And many of them took a nose-dive. 

Part of me is exasperated as clearly they weren't doing anything while Mr. D was there. (And he gave them the assignments, and they had the time in class to do them.) But part of me also understands that some things got missed because of the situation.

This would not have been the situation if I had started in February.

Deep sigh.

All I can do is move on from here. And kind of enjoy watching the kiddos scramble to turn in assignments late that they should have done in February. When they were assigned. When they had time in class.

(The baby's been born, and both mother and son are doing well. I don't know much more than that as I haven't been bothering Mr. J with school stuff while he's on leave.)