Friday, March 30, 2012

A High School Librarian... again

I spent more time in the high school today working on the inventory.  My two day total was just about 4,000 books scanned.  I can only really ball-park on the exact time spent working on this (what with taking a lunch break, and stopping to let the scanner charge), but I think I averaged about 15 books a minute.

Confused?  Check out my last two posts, here and here.

Wednesday, March 28, 2012

A High School Librarian

Same teacher today as Monday.

The high school library is starting an inventory of their collection.  Since I was pretty much disposable labor for about two hours, I was given the privilege of kicking off the event.  In just under two hours, I scanned a just over 1,500 books.
I think there are a few librarians out there reading this... is that a high number?
Either way, I will more than likely get to do it again tomorrow.  I'm hoping to beat my high score.

Monday, March 26, 2012

An Elementary and High School Computer Teacher

Unless something changes, I'll be in the same job the next few days.  The job is a bit difficult to classify.  I start my day in the elementary library, teaching a computer class to 5th graders.  After an hour of that, I'm a librarian until about noon, when I head to the high school library to be their librarian for about an hour, before finishing out the day teaching a high school computer class.

The 5th graders were working on some internet typing games today.  What's funny is that they are through the BBC, so not only do all the games feature a British accent, but the kids get to spell words like "colour" and "favourite."  I wonder if they even notice the difference.

In the back room of the elementary library they had a 3" tall, super-detailed statue of Dobby the House Elf from the Harry Potter movies.  I'll try to get a picture of it tomorrow.

In the high school, they were putting on a school talent show at the end of the day.  Most of the "acts" consisted of kids singing badly to modern pop songs.  One boy actually put on a magic act, interwoven with a mild comedy act.  He was, by far my favorite... if only because he had the guts to do something so different.
At the end of the show, while the judges were tallying their scores, all of the kids who performed went on stage to sing Don't Stop Believing, by Journey.  It ended with the entire school belting out the song along with those on stage.

Lastly, can anyone tell me if the American Chiller and Michigan Chiller books by Johnathan Rand are as super-popular elsewhere in the country as they are here?

Friday, March 23, 2012

Another High School Science Teacher

It just occurred to me that I've been doing this blog for just over a year now.  Whoopee!

I had a video day today.  I got to watch Jane Goodall's Wild Chimpanzees 5 times.  It wasn't too bad.

One of the classes, though, is tasked with collecting and sorting all of the recycle bins in the school on Fridays.  They dump out the bins right in the middle of the classroom floor, then dive into it; sorting everything into paper, cardboard, plastic, glass, and metal.  It made for a horrible mess, but these kids were pros, and had it all sorted and cleaned up with 15 minutes left in class.  The entire process, from job distribution, collection, sorting, and putting the bags in the appropriate dumpsters took all of 45 minutes.
I was impressed.

Wednesday, March 21, 2012

A High School Science Teacher

This must be science week.  I've had science Monday, today, and I've got science scheduled for Friday.

I had an AP biology class today, and I've never before felt like such an idiot.  The kids had just finished a study guide of some sort, and we had to go over the answers today.  There wasn't a lot of time, because they needed to get started on a test, so the teacher wrote, "just read the answers to them."  Seems easy enough, right?
First off, the key was hand written, and the teacher's handwriting was horrible.  I've gotten pretty good at deciphering chicken scratch, but this was just like nothing I'd seen.  Second, the material was something I knew nothing about, so I couldn't even try and infer what he wrote by having an educated guess at the answer.
The end result was that I stumbled horribly through the guide.  It's a good thing this was an AP class, because the kids pretty much knew all the answers anyway, and could explain anything I couldn't answer.  I felt like an idiot, and I just KNOW that they were sitting in their chairs thinking, "who is this dumb-ass, and why is he standing in front of us?"

On a related note, nothing kills your good morning better than, while standing outside your classroom door you hear "f--ck yeah!  We got a sub today!" erupt from some unseen kid in the hallway.

Monday, March 19, 2012

A Dreamer

My intention when building this blog was to keep it from ever being a place to rant about my political opinions.
However, I found this video on YouTube, and I really have to post it here.

I'm not a scientist, let alone an astronaut, but NASA and the space programs have always held a strong fascination for me... I'm sure my love of Star Trek is connected some how.

Whenever I hear people talking about de-funding NASA, it makes me sad.  

Take a look at this video, maybe you'll agree that continuing to fund our nation's future isn't such a bad thing.


A Middle School Science Teacher

I'm back now to my old nomadic life style, roaming the land, going wherever the work takes me.

I was in a school today that I had worked a LOT before my 7 week stint as an art teacher.  On my last day there, back in mid-January, I forgot my lunch box in the teacher's lounge.  I went in search of it today, only to find that it was most likely thrown out.  Sad face.

I learned today, in seventh grade science, the difference between a genetic trait and a characteristic.  A characteristic is, for example, the ability for an organism to produce hair.  A trait is, for example, whether or not the organism will produce blonde hair, black hair, red hair, etc.  But, of course, you already knew that.

Thursday, March 8, 2012

An Art Teacher (Long Term 12)

In one of my classes I have a student who is obsessed with Jelly Bellies.  He often likes to blurt out ideas for new flavors.  These are usually random things, often with the intent to "gross out" whomever is in earshot.  
Today, near the end of class he called out, "Mr. C's mustache!"

I laughed much harder than I should have, before I caught myself.

Wednesday, March 7, 2012

An Art Teacher (Long Term 11)

If all goes to plan, this Friday is my last day.  The teacher I've been subbing for should be back on Monday, though the principal has asked me to stay on-call, in case I have to come back suddenly.
I get a pay bonus after so many days in a consecutive job.  If the teacher comes back for one day, and then I'm called back in, and I get reset back to the base pay, I will be VERY upset.

Kindergartners can be fun...

Little Girl: "Look at  this scary picture!"
Mr. C: *Looks over her shoulder at an undersea picture-find book* "Oh?  What's so scary?"
Little Girl: "It's the mermaid!  She steals all the fishes' souls!"
Mr. C:  "Yeah...?  And... how do you know that?"
Little Girl: "I dunno... I just made it up."
Mr. C: "Oh, okay, carry on."