Today is the last day of my long-term assignment, which counts as a special day. So it's time for "A Day in the Life" for this special day:
8:45 -- First period arrives. This is the first of two seventh grade classes, and the first of two classes with an aide.
Just like yesterday, I begin the class with a review lesson on scale before starting the scale Quizizz. I know that there are 13 questions on the Quizizz, and so I try to leave about two minutes per question -- or 26 minutes -- for the quiz. This is a bit challenging though -- I don't think I hit the target in any seventh grade class.
As the quiz is about to start, one girl suddenly tells me that she knows the secret to access that infamous Monday worksheet. She goes to the key -- which has always been accessible -- and then clicks on "Open in Google Docs." Suddenly, the worksheet -- blank, not they key -- appears! Why the sites are working this way remains a mystery.
During this class, I continue some of my traditions. First, since I finished entering the second quarter grades last night, it's time for me to reveal my report card from when I was a young student. As usual, I show the students my report card from the corresponding quarter -- in this case, the second quarter of seventh grade. This was my strongest quarter that year -- a B in my elective wheel class (which was Shop) and A's in all my other classes.
Also, since it's the last time I'll see these students, I handed everyone an index card with an individualized "Good Luck" message. I did the same four years ago as I left the old charter school. (I wrote about this on the blog, but then it got lost in the Posting Purge of 2017.) Even though most of these cards have the same basic message, I change them slightly to fit each particular student.
For example, here's what I wrote for a pair of twin sisters who are unexpectedly absent today (and thus I still have their cards for me to type on the blog):
"You did great 2nd quarter. And I'm glad I was able to help you in Math Skills as well. Good luck."
"You did great 2nd quarter. I hope you'll continue to enjoying playing in soccer matches. Good luck."
As those messages imply, the first girl is also enrolled in Math Skills. The second plays club soccer -- in fact, she and her family traveled to Arizona a few months ago to participate in a tournament. (Ironically, the twins logged in to our Google Meet class from Arizona that day, but not today.)
I also have the students sign a huge poster paper to say "Welcome back!" or "We missed you!" to the regular teacher, so that it will be the first thing he sees when he returns to his room next week.
The song for music break today is Square One TV's "Draw a Map," as I mentioned in yesterday's post.
9:40 -- First period leaves and second period arrives. This is the first of two eighth grade classes, and the second of two classes with an aide.
Today I have the students work on the assignments that are listed on the agenda as being due at the end of this week. The first is an Edpuzzle on converting from standard to slope-intercept form. As we've seen before, the Edpuzzle is classified as an "Assignment" in the Math 8 grade weighting, and so it's worth a huge percentage of the grade.
Many students struggle on this assignment, as I can tell from the one free-response question that I'm required to grade. But the new girl already completed it last night and earned 8/10 on it, including the free-response point. It turns out that she already learned this at her old school. (In some ways, she reminds me of the "special cousin" at the old charter school -- that girl had already learned much of what I was teaching because she'd been enrolled in Algebra I, and so she found my lessons easy.)
Once again, I take the time to pass out the "Good Luck" cards. It turns out that one guy in my class has tested positive for the coronavirus -- of course, he attends class online today. And so I add the words "Get well soon!" to his Good Luck message, which I type in the Google Meet chat.
Once again, I reveal my own second quarter grades as a young eighth grader. These grades were dreadful due to my suspension at the end of November. Some teachers allowed me to make up the work, but my science teacher didn't, and I earned my lowest ever grade, a C-.
I sing "Draw a Map" for the eighth graders, even though it relates to the Math 7 curriculum. In a way, the song is also fitting as the last performance of the class -- the lyrics are about being apart from close acquaintances (and thus needing a map to find each other and reunite).
After music break, I mention the second assignment that's listed on the agenda. This is a worksheet on graphing lines in slope-intercept form. Officially, the students already learned this in Unit 3 and so this is review, but we already know that they didn't do well in that unit. Indeed, graphing is one of the more challenge lessons to teach during this pandemic situation.
Also, this is the first time that the lines y = constant and x = constant appear as possible lines. Thus this is my only opportunity to mention HOY/VUX -- one of the Sarah Carter mnemonics.
10:35 -- It is now tutorial -- and all these week, tutorial is tied to second period, so the students stay right where they are.
I take advantage of tutorial to show the students the third assignment due this week, which is on solving systems by graphing. I tell them that it's just like the first worksheet, except that now they must graph two lines and find where the two lines intersect.
11:05 -- Tutorial ends for snack break. I say good-bye to the aide who has helped me these months.
During the break, I speak to the department chair next door. She tells me that most of the seventh graders are doing well on their Quizizz assessments. Based on what I've heard my students tell me, my own kids are succeeding on it too.
11:15 -- Third period arrives. This is the second eighth grade class.
Since this class doesn't have the benefit of tutorial, I show them only two assignments. I let them work on the Edpuzzle and then show them only solving by graphing -- since I'm graphing lines on that one anyway, if they understand this one, then they should find the other one (where only one line needs to be graphed) easy.
12:10 -- Third period leaves and fourth period arrives. This is the second seventh grade class.
I tell the students about the secret of accessing Monday's assignment, as well as the new one that's on the agenda for today. I inform them that it's up to the regular teacher who's returning next week to decide which one he'll count.
1:05 -- Fourth period leaves for lunch.
1:40 -- Fifth period arrives. This is the Math Skills class.
For the second time this week, this class has only a single student attending in person. Two girls who are listed as hybrid are attending online instead -- this includes the twin from earlier. But one boy remains absent both days.
To encourage the students to do their ST Math minutes, I tell them that they must complete at least 42 out of 60 minutes (70% -- the lowest possible C) in order to avoid the "non-participating" label. Only two students fail to reach this target. One is the other girl who was absent this week -- she starts late and can't reach possibly reach 42 minutes, so I have her do as much as she can (and gets to 28 minutes) to avoid "non-participating." The other is a guy who arrives early to tell me that he's having trouble with his family computer that's being fixed, and so won't be able to do the minutes until the weekend. I don't know whether to believe him or not, but I already marked him as "non-participating" earlier this week and see no need to mark him twice. (Once is enough to get the message.)
Meanwhile, the one girl who's in-person helps me clean up the room ahead of the regular teacher's arrival next week -- she's completed her 60 minutes ages ago. Some of the posters taped on the wall have fallen. The digits of pi are placed on the back wall, but three die-cut digits have been missing since the day I first arrived. So she traces out two 2's and a 0 and cuts them out with scissors, and I tape them on the wall. Finally, I post the "Welcome back!" sign in a prominent location.
I conclude the week, as I usually do, with a Hero Quiz. Since this is my twelfth week at the school, it's the 12's Hero Quiz. While teaching the times tables up to 12 used to be traditional, I'm aware that not all schools teach the 12's nowadays. So I write them on the board for them to study, and then I erase them before the quiz. I choose random students to tell me 12 * 1 up to 12 * 12. Usually, I'd go from 1 to 12 twice, but with only one in-person student and six online kids, I only go once. (Communicating through Google Meet requires that extra step.)
By the way, the one in-person girl tells me that it will be strange to have the regular teacher back. Since he was only there for six weeks and I was there twice as long, she says it will feel almost as if he is the substitute teacher!
2:35 -- The one girl in fifth period leaves, thus concluding my day.
As soon as she is out of the room, I call the regular teacher and tell him "Mission accomplished!" I inform him about the problems we had with the seventh grade worksheets, and that he should decide which ones he'll actually count. He replies that he might not count either of them, since this transition is such a confusing time. Only the Quizizz will definitely count.
He tells me that the final task I should complete is the Weekly Attendance Log that all teachers in California are required to complete (as proof that we're really teaching 240 minutes for 180 days).
3:30 -- I remove my items from the room and leave the school for the last time. This includes my guitar, which I take directly to the Guitar Center to get a new tuner for the D string. It just sounds so nice to hear EADGBE on my guitar again!
And so my long-term assignment is complete. I was there for 12 weeks of school, comprising 57 days (as there were three non-school days -- two in November, one in December). I started on Day 29 and finished on Day 85. If we combine these 12 weeks with the time I taught at the old charter school, it does add up to close to one full year of teaching middle school.
I will now return to day-to-day subbing and keep an eye on further long term positions. As I already mentioned on the blog last week, perhaps I will get a long-term in my other Orange County district, and perhaps it will be at a high school.
As for the blog, it's time to return to the U of Chicago text. Since it will be Day 86, we'll start with Lesson 8-6, which is on the areas of trapezoids. This has been my traditional first lesson of the second semester the past few years on the blog, and so it's a familiar starting point. It launches one of my favorite activity weeks.
As usual, I'll add the "subbing" label for any math classes I cover for one or a few days, as well as middle school classes where I might focus more on classroom management. And I'll describe the day using "A Day in the Life" format.
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