Summer Activities

So, for the last week I have been working at OHS, doing a "credit retrieval" summer school of sorts. Pretty much, we take freshmen who earned around 55% in a core class and give them time, space, and tutoring to do enough assignments to get it up to a passing grade, 65% or so. I was in charge of the science group, which meant organizing lab materials, photocopying tests and packets, and of course brushing up on my own chemistry and physics skills. Very rusty.

The next project is to study for my standardized math test to add a 6-8 math endorsement to my license. I am hoping that will improve my chances at getting a full time job next year!

The total so far ...

105.5 days of subbing!

We have 2 days to go ... but does anyone call a sub the last 2 days of school??

Science!!

Half day today, filling in for a science teacher at OHS. I can't remember if I wrote about her classes before, but I did sub for one day about a month ago. It was block day, and I got her 3rd period freshman science followed by her 5th period, which was the same curriculum but sheltered for English language learners. Long story short, it was a "simple machines" lab where students experimented with pulleys, see-saws, etc and recorded results. 3rd period was terrible. Uninterested, uncreative, unresponsive. 5th period was amazing - students from 5 different countries working together to build an elaborate pulley system to raise a jug of water that 3rd period couldn't budge.

Anyways, today they were working on their final project, which was to use simple machines to build a wacky Rube Goldberg type device. It seemed really fun and reminded me of this:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qybUFnY7Y8w

Which I let some students watch online for inspiration.

Winding down ...

This has been the second-to-last full week of school and man, have things been sloooooow. Just one booking, for today, at AHS. A lot of jobs at the end of the year are covering for teachers who are chaperoning the end-of-year field trip, and this was no exception. Small classes, no fancy lesson plan, it was pretty nice.
It was also nice to see one of my old students from OHS. She came to AHS because a picnic she was attending was rained out and AHS kindly offered up it's cafeteria. The picnic was for graduating members of the Teen Parent Program - yup, a cafeteria full of unwed teenage mothers, their guests, and offspring. Actually, I shouldn't say that, we actually have several Somali refugees who are married and having babies, but still in high school. Anyways, I was one of this girl's teachers when she found out she was pregnant in the fall, had her in class all the way up to practically her due date, and then continued to communicate with her during her maternity leave as she somehow recovered, parented, and did classwork at the same time. She really is amazing, she now has scholarships and is college-bound and her daughter is adorable. I'm not really a baby person, and I'm really not a baby-in-high-school person, but if anyone can make it all work it is this young woman.