#flex time

*throws phone specs* Mwahahaha only for Genshin bitxh

Today was Neon Day, so I spent the first block explaining the impeachment process to a room full of students who looked like a highlighter explosion, so that was pretty memorable. They asked some fantastic questions, many of which I had no answers for because they’re unprecedented hypotheticals. Once all the questions were asked, we went on with our regularly scheduled lesson (on the expansion of national government power through Supreme Court rulings), which went really well. 

There’s a unit test next week, so about half my students came back to see me during flex time for a bit of test review. We developed a study guide, I let them ask me anything (and then had a massive brain fart trying to come up with an example of a formula grant, which, ugh, so embarrassing, but it happens), and finally gave them some practice multiple choice questions to try. It was really productive, and I’m glad students took advantage of it. 

In World, students have been studying different aspects of culture in Latin America, and today I turned their collective attention to current issues in the region- illegal immigration, drug trafficking, deforestation in the Amazon, the situation in Venezuela, etc- and told them we’d been spending the next few classes figuring out the causes for those issues. So I lectured on post-colonial history, with a particular emphasis on the Cold War era, and gave them a reading to annotate about the emergence of the cartels in Colombia. More on that next class.

Dear child(ren),

This is mundane, but it’s part of my routine. Every day when I get to work, I write down the time I came in, and I write down the time I leave at the end of the day. At the end of every week, I count up the hours I worked and I log my time sheet that way. Having flexible hours is one of the best parts about my job.

Dad

So today could have been a disaster: Mrs. T was out sick, I had to change some questions on my APUSGOV test about ten minutes before the test review was supposed to take place, and I had meetings all afternoon... Everything went pretty well, though, so yay! Disaster avoided!

I was worried about World/English because B days are rowdy, and the debate prep has been challenging for many of the groups, and it’s not easy for one person to manage. Mrs. T did request a sub, though, and luckily it was one of the good ones. He was actually able to answer some questions and redirect off-task students, so it wasn’t all on me to do it. And students’ behavior was unusually good. I don’t know if it’s because it’s the last day of debate prep and students knew they had to buckle down, or because the lighter evenings have them energized, or who knows what, but I was happy about it. 

Both of my most challenging students had really awesome days because I kept suggesting small tasks they could do to help their groups. We always tell students to break their work into small tasks, focus on one thing at a time, and take breaks in between tasks as needed, but not all students know how to do that for themselves. They will have to learn how in the future, but for now? I'm totally willing to help. Yeah, I still had to keep telling one of them to go back to his seat and finish the task he’d been given, but he didn’t shout at me when I did it, and he did get back to work, so it’s progress.

During flex time, one debate group met in my room to practice giving their arguments out loud. I was holding an APUSGOV test review session (after hastily revising the test because I decided it should have more questions about checks and balances) at the same time, and made an exception to allow the ninth graders in. So they were there along with fifteen wicked smart seniors, which I think was both slightly intimidating and slightly inspiring. I caught them pausing every so often to listen to us discuss different concepts that will be on the test. 

Also, my phone rang when I was mid-review because another presidential campaign staffer saw my invite and wants to bring their candidate to class. Lesson, as always: it can’t hurt to ask. 

What else? Meetings! The team had a meeting with a parent during Block 5. I was worried it was going to be rough because basically everyone- the parent, the student, all of us teachers- has been feeling frustrated. But it was really positive and helpful, and I think it’s going to make a huge difference for the student. One funny/awkward moment: I was taking minutes, and my computer froze while Mr. F was talking, so I asked him to stop. I should have said “wait” instead of “stop” because he thought I was asking him to stop talking entirely! I clarified quickly, but I felt SO bad!

After that meeting, we had a faculty meeting, which started with a most excellent surprise: free tacos!

The Principal figured he’d interject something unexpected and awesome because, as I’ve said repeatedly, it’s been a rough year. He went on to say that there will be some trauma counselors here next week to talk to staff, and there will be (and have been) some to talk to students, too. Plus, the admins are planning a school spirit/morale-building fun day for sometime this spring (The Principal did add a dry, “Yes, there will be a spring” because there still are several feet of snow on the ground). They took suggestions for fun day activities during the meeting. These were mine:

ultimate frisbee

laser tag 

lip sync competition

t-shirt decorating