No Time to Goof Off

9th grade English. Their assignment was to complete the final draft of some culture essay. They had their graded rough drafts. They had writers' folders. And they had the whole period in which to complete it.

The lesson plan warned that I was to collect all final drafts at the end of the period no matter how much they might whine about it. So, I clamped down on them early. I warned them that they had the period and only the period, and once they knew I meant business, the room settled to a comfortable working silence.

I took a seat at the front of the room. I looked out at all the busily working freshmen. Only Juan stared back.

So, I watched him. Usually, my undivided attention is enough to get a student to look back down at his desk and to the work that he should be doing. But not Juan. Juan watched me back.

He had way too much time. I went over to investigate.

Juan was drawing circles on his writer's folder. No rough draft was visible. He had no paper nor was he working on something that looked like a final draft of what I assume was an essay worth a bunch of points. So, I asked him about it.

Juan explained that his rough draft was missing. He took it home and threw it out or misplaced it in his backpack or something. So, instead of panic, trying to reconstruct it, or finding something else to do, Juan was watching me and looking like he had all the time in the world to goof off.

I have a feeling I should get to know Juan so he'll be easier to handle when he gets to the continuation high school.

I did make sure to note his lack of work in my note.

Missing the Point

Last Tuesday I covered an English class at the continuation high school. They had a worksheet on commas.

I stood at the front of the room. Two students had various questions, so I helped them a bit. Then I tried to convince the other students to do the assignment.

There was a group of them that all had copies of their transcripts. Because of the way the school works, students have easy access to their current transcripts and a thing called a status report. These report how many credits they currently have and how many credits they need to graduate.

The discussion was all about how close they were to graduating. One student explained that he was ready to go back to his "home school" at the semester break.

(Students get sent to the continuation high school when they aren't going to graduate on time. Whereas at the traditional high school a student earns 5 credits for passing each class each semester, at the CHS a student earns credits based on how much work he/she completes. Students can earn way more than 5 credits per class per semester, but only if the student does the work.

If the student manages to make up the credits he/she is lacking, that student can return and graduate from his/her previous traditional high school. But, to return to the "home school", the only credits the student can have remaining are the credits for the classes that student is going to take for that final semester.)

The student explained that he only needed a few English credits, a couple math credits, and then he could transfer. Since the semester ends at the end of January, he figured he was perfectly situated.

I pointed out that he wasn't doing that day's assignment. An English assignment. An assignment that would be worth points that would lead to another credit so that he could complete the credits needed to get back to his "home school".

He didn't turn anything in that day. Sigh. Just when I think they "get it", they again prove that they don't.

Better Late Than Never

I've been a bad blogger lately. I've been scheduling my blogs way in advance, and then I get so slammed during the week that I haven't had much of a chance to do much except scroll through all your blogs and make the occasional comment. Because of this, I've missed out on some announcements.

Better late than never, right?

First up, Sharon Bayless has started up The Blog Tour Exchange. It's a place where you can sign up your blog to host future blog tours and where you can set up your future blog tours. Check it out. She has a contest going, and you can enter as long as you sign up by November 1st.

And of course I missed Charity Bradford's cover reveal on October 1st. (I'm 21 days late. Eeek!)

By the time you see this, I'm sure I'll have missed some other major events in the blogosphere. School gets into full swing and I get swamped. This is normal for me.

Oh, and I won a copy of PT Dilloway's new book Tales of the Scarlet Knight: A Hero's Journey. So, when I have a spare moment, I'll be reading.

Intellectual Curiosity?

Last Friday I was in a science classroom. Science classrooms many times have working faucets at the workstations. The students are supposed to leave them alone unless they are doing a lab, and most of the time they do.

I noticed one group of four running the water. Of course, I went over to investigate.

They explained that they were doing physics. They wanted to see how many drops of water they could get to balance on the end of a pen.

This kind of pen, although theirs was blue.

Because of the surface tension of water, they could balance a couple drops. If you look at the end of the pen closely, you'll see that there's enough of an indentation to keep a little water there, which is what held a drop on top.  

They were able to get three drops or the third drop obliterated their efforts--I wasn't clear on which.  

I stood there and watched them for a bit. It was kind of interesting. 

There are all sorts of things students will do when given the chance. (The assignment was a finish-up-the-packet-that's-due thing, and several students pulled out work from other classes.) Many of my nightmare posts result from this.  

But of all the things they can get up to, this is the sort of thing that bothers me the least. 

Week of the Sweater

Every year, I swear I won't do it again. And every year, I end up panicking in December. I've never cut it this close before, however.

I happened upon this really cute sweater pattern in Knitty. The youngest nephew is 18 months old. How long could it take me to knit him a sweater? He's small (sort of). I can do this in a week, right?

On Saturday the 17th I started. I figured that I'd better get the bulk of the knitting done over the weekend. I finished the back that Saturday, and I got about half the front done on Sunday. (The pockets took a little time which meant the front was going to take longer than the back.)

I believe I finished the front on Monday. Then I had Tuesday and Wednesday to complete the hood and "sew" the side seams. The hood took a bit of time as it was increased by two stitches every other row. I was anxious to finish it, because I knew the sleeves would be a bit of a challenge.

On Thursday the 22nd I started the first sleeve. The instructions were a bit...well, they could have been a bit more detailed. Plus, they used a short row technique I had never tried before. So, I picked up the stitches and jumped up every couple minutes to check the pictures on the computer.

I felt like I had the technique down. I changed colors and started the second stripe. I held the sleeve up to examine my handiwork...and the sleeve was hanging crooked.

I ripped out, then I went out to finish up my Christmas shopping. I did not, however, get my nephew anything. I was still confident I'd finish.

The first sleeve went a lot smoother the second time. I managed to finish up around midnight. On Friday I finished the second sleeve a lot quicker than the first. That's the good thing about sleeves. Once you've mastered one, you just have to repeat for the second.

Then all I had left for Christmas Eve was to finish the edging along the hood. That took less than a Christmas movie.

So, again I say never again. Never again will I leave the knitting until this late. (I'd better not. That nephew is only getting bigger.)

Oh, and here's how the thing turned out:



I'm calling it a Jawa Sweater as that's how big the thing is on him. (I think my brother said that first.) At least it should last him for a while (I hope).

A Stylish Blogger? Me?

Tony Benson at Fireside Park awarded me the Stylish Blogger award...um...10 days ago:

Thanks, Tony. I wasn't ignoring it. I was waiting for the right time to acknowledge it.  

The requirements are:  

1. Link back to the award giver.  
2. Tell you all 7 things about myself.  
3. Pass on the award to 3 recently discovered bloggers.  

I guess now it's my turn to figure out seven things to say about myself. Um, okay...  

1. I have the same birthday as Harry Potter, or rather he has the same birthday as me (I'm older).  
2. Currently, the only sound I hear, besides the sound of my typing, is the sound of a garbage truck. No music. I work in silence, and I prefer it that way.  
3. In fact, the only times I listen to music are when I'm getting ready for work or when I'm in the car.  
4. If you've seen my sporadic posts on the subject, you'll know I'm a knitter. The only reason I learned to knit was so that I could figure out how to decipher a knitting pattern I ran across when I was 16.  
5. That's also the reason I went as far in math as I did. I wanted to learn what all those symbols meant. (You say there's something called an imaginary number? I have to know what that is.)  
6. I still have that knitting pattern...somewhere. I never made the sweater. I didn't like the sweater. I just wanted to know how to make the sweater.  
7. I need a new umbrella. The one I have is older than the students I teach. The handle is half chipped away. But I live in Southern California, so I know the minute I break down and buy one, that's when this wet winter will end.  

Okay, so those were random. Ah well.  

As long as I have you here, I would appreciate it if you would take a gander at the "like" button I added to my online shop, and if you are so inclined (and are on Facebook) if you wouldn't mind helping me get to 25 "likes". Thank you.  

As for who I'm going to pass this on to... I've been keeping up with all the Crusader blogs (barely), and I notice that this award is making the rounds. It's nice, because I've been enjoying reading the seven things from everybody. But, that means that I think everyone has gotten this already. Some of you have gotten it more than once.  

I hereby award this to all of my new followers, especially my fellow Crusaders from Group 14. Unless you've already received the award. Then you're excused from accepting it again.  

A DNA Model

When I got to the classroom this morning, I found the door open. The teacher next door, Ms. S, was directing traffic. Mr. E was out sick, but the biology students' DNA model was still due. 

It's an interesting project. The students were to construct a model of part of a strand of DNA. They used different materials: some used beads, some used clay, many used Styrofoam, and a couple even used candy. I've seen this project in previous years, but usually the teacher is at school the day its due. It was interesting to get to see them as they scrambled to get it turned in on time. 

Many of the students dropped off their models before school started. Once I got to the room I took over directing traffic, and Ms. S got the video I was going to need. It was a bit of a scramble, but everything was squared away by the time the tardy bell rang. 

During class time, the students all had to look at all the models. Many complained that theirs weren't very good. When I questioned them about this, they admitted that they hadn't spent much time on theirs. I heard claims of being up late and not getting much sleep. One student didn't give herself enough time for the glue to dry. 

I asked the obvious question. How long did they know about the assignment? Two weeks. 

(As I'm writing this, it's lunch time, and two girls are examining all the projects. They told me that yesterday's sub asked how many of them had started the assignment yesterday. Maybe 3. The rest of them planned on doing the whole thing last night. Including the two girls.) 

Procrastination is alive and well in the high school. Although, it's not like this was a surprise.