This has been an early week for me.  I know a friend of mine over here always gets up at 5 or 5:30, and once upon a time I had a job where I had to do that, but these days I am just not used to it and exhaustion leaves its mark on me by the middle of the week.  Such as today.  Fortunately I was able to nap for a little more than an hour so I am good for the moment.

Let’s see, by Sunday night I had no job for Monday so I had to go to bed at around 11 with my phone by me.  Sure enough, I got a wakeup call at about 5:30.  I would be needed in a middle school so I could not go back to sleep, and up I went.  I did have a chance to catch up on my newspaper reading before work.  How was the day?  It was actually quite interesting, thanks for asking.  It was a class where there were students with semi-severe learning disabilities- about as disabled as students can be in this district as they hire out a special education company to handle more severely disabled students unlike the other two districts I work in.  There were two assistants in the room and a student teacher, so I didn’t have so much work to do other than walking around and helping out.  There were three grades represented so it was a little crazy, though not as crazy as last Thursday when I did ELL.  I’m not sure why I didn’t write that one up.  It wasn’t so crazy because of the students, but because of the school play.  That Thursday and Friday they were showing the school play, Around the World in 80 Days (link to random theatre company that performed it) (link to publishing company page).  Between the two tays all three grades had two see it. Let’s see- two days, three grades- how did that work?  Well, they had 8th and 6th grades go on separate days, then split up the 7th grade.  Now how does that work when half the ELL class, comprised of all three grades again, would see the pay one day and the rest the other day?  You see?  Quite a mess, especially when the absent teacher made no note of how she wanted to do it- no mention at all in fact about the play.  Oh, and the play lasted for three periods, not all of which the students were in this room, so no, we couldn’t just say, “We’ll all go today and tomorrow you’ll all have class.”  That would have left some students missing actual classes one day and having no classes the next while their team or grade was at the play they already saw the day before.  It wasn’t easy but we worked it out.

So back to the topic of early starts.  The next day I was scheduled in the district that starts middle school really early.  So, up at 6AM.  I worked as a 7th grade LD teacher.  All the classes were either team taught or resource, so I didn’t do any teaching.  In fact, even the guided reading groups I was supposed to do were vetoed by the other teacher who was concerned about behavior of the students.  She was scheduled to be observed- apparently the administration was impressed at how she teaches her class and set up other teachers to observe what she was doing.  Yeah, If I were her I’d probably be worried too about how the kids would act with a sub when I was trying to lead a group (we were both supposed to do groups).  Resource was just simple reading together and students answering questions about the reading.  Again, I was not alone with the kids as there was an assistant this time.  Better than a homework period I suppose.  Math was like language arts- walk around and keep students focused.

While yesterday I was like an assistant but getting paid as a teacher, today was the opposite.  Like Monday I didn’t have the job set up by the next day, so I set my alarm for 6 so I could get up and look for jobs if I didn’t get called first.  Problem is, my mind was awake before 5:30 and there was no way I could get back to sleep for the half-hour until the alarm would go off.  Up I went again.  I searched for jobs in vain as none showed up this morning.  I got caught up on my reading again while I checked every five minutes.  Ironically, it was a phone call at 6 that gave me the job.  Low paying, but more than a half-day which is probably all I would get otherwise at that point, though I still kept an eye out for a better job in another district up until 6:15, afterwhich I knew I could no longer cancel the first job (two hours before starting time).  Again, no time to go back to bed, so I finished the paper and opened the book I was reading until it was time to eat and finish getting ready.

I was really hoping I was not going to be a one-on-one assistant.  I really dislike those jobs.  I got my wish.  This teacher getting paid as an assistant (seriously, if they are going to give her so much responsibility they should pay her as a teacher (and on that note the subs like me… 😛 )- I have done less as a sub for a regular special ed teacher, and I don’t mean because there was a student teacher either.  All day I was pulling out groups for reading or math, three different grades, taking them to a different room to work with them.  There was supposed to be an intervention group as well after lunch, but I had no plans for that so they cancelled it.  If I were to hazard a guess at why she doesn’t get paid as a teacher, she probably doesn’t do much planning, but I wouldn’t be so sure.  My mother worked as an assistant for a couple years and they gave her some planning as well so I guess districts are allowed to do this.

That brings me to now.  I have two more middle school days.  They are at a close school so I get to sleep in until a late 6:15. Okay, still early.  I will be glad for the extra hour on Sunday.  Next week I will also have a day off as all districts are taking off election day.  All but one are taking the next Tuesday off as well for Veterans Day so I will likely have that day off as well.  Nap days. 🙂

Maybe tomorrow…

On the topic of The Legend of Zelda I brought up a couple of posts ago, here are a few videos I turned up at Youtube/Google Video.  Enjoy!

[google-video]https://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=2967926040995072267[/google-video]

Hilarious live action parody.  College video, so has some foul language at a couple of points.

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Japanese Legend of Zelda dance.  ‘Nuff said.

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Different live action video.  Funny soundtrack too.

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Remember I mentioned getting so into the first Zelda that I had a book of maps I drew?  Well, this could have been me if I had a video camera at the time and was more outgoing…

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Legend of Zelda the movie!  Wait, what was that release date again?

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[google-video]https://video.google.com/videoplay?docid=4275555552047254064[/google-video]

Two in one- Super Mario Bros. and Legend of Zelda live in concert!  Be warned, this is a two hour video and has the music from these games in the styles of Jazz, Latin, Country and Bluegrass.  Performed September 14th, 2003 at the Nihon Seinenkan Hall in Tokyo, Japan.  I haven’t watched this yet but it looked interesting enough to post here.

It is a specials time for me this week.  Yes, I did mean to spell it that way.  Monday I subbed for art in an elementary school and today I did music in middle school.  This day was one of those times where I did the same lesson for all classes.  Yes, that means all grades from 1st to 4th did the exact same thing.  Why would they all do the same thing?  Well, apparently Metra is sponsoring a safety poster contest and have done so for the last couple of years.  Kids from kindergarten through high school make posters that have to deal with safety around trains.  Each grade competes in their own contest so a 1st grader, for example, doesn’t have to go up against a middle schooler.  Some of the posters from last year are really good.  Too good in some cases I think.  Check out this poster for example:

This looks like a fine 2nd or 3rd grade entry, but kindergarten?  Hmm…  The previous year’s kindergarten winner looks a bit more age-appropriate.  So the kids got the details and started working on ideas for their posters, due in a short four months.  Anyway, check out all the previous winners at:

2007-2008 Winners
2006-2007 Winners

Today as I wrote above I did music.  This was a most enjoyable experience for me because I got to show videos for movie musicals.  6th grade got to see one of my favorites, Oliver! Well, the start of it.  Having been in Oliver! I was really able to get into it with the kids and talk a little about it and my own experience.  8th grade was next and they continued watching Willy Wonka & the Chocolate Factory.  That’s right, the old one which in my opinion has the better Willy Wonka, played by Gene Wilder.  No offense to Johnny Depp’s acting, but that interpretation of the character just didn’t work at all for me.  Not much to say about this.  They were engaged 8th graders, and that’s what was important. 😀  A couple in the second class asked if I could skip the songs.  Let’s see now, the class is music and he wanted me to skip the music.  I think you can guess what my answer was as we continued to listen to “I’ve Got a Golden Ticket.” 😈

Moving to 7th grade (last classes of the day and relevant to the topic title) we got to see the start of Singin’ in the Rain.  I’ve never seen this before believe it or not.  It is now on the reserve shelf at the library waiting for me to pick it so I can finish it since I saw only the first 35 minutes of it, twice.  If you’ve seen this movie then you know there are some kissing scenes in it, several of them.  I couldn’t believe it when one of the seventh grade classes had some boys going “ewww” during these scenes.  I heard “cooties” as well, but to be fair this was probably a joke reaction to the ewws.  I would expect this from 4th graders, but I would have supposed the sex education the kids get in public schools would have desensitized them to things like kissing.  I guess not.  I guess I learn something every day. 🙂

Check this Oliver Twist picture out (click image for larger version)- funny! 😀

Mike R. Baker

Okay, I’m shifting gears for a post.  I really have nothing exciting to report for the last couple of days.  The second 6th-grade day went much like the first, though my perception of it was better because I really enjoyed working with the kids.  5th and 6th are probably my favorite age group to work with, though sometimes with a class that is a real problem I might let that get in the way and no longer enjoy it.  Friday was an ELL primary day.  It was a resource class so I worked with groups an hour at a time.  All we did was play board games.  Educational board games, but still.

So, why not talk about probably my favorite game series of all time?  I believe 1986 or 1987 was the year that the first Legend of Zelda was released here in the US.  When I received this game (gift I think) I was impressed with both the gold-colored cartridge and the fact that it actually saved games, no need to enter a long password to continue a game.  Never mind that later I would find out the consequence of this battery-backed save system was the game periodically being erased, something that couldn’t happen with a password system, though incorrectly writing down one could generate the same frustration.  I played and played this game, making my own book of maps which I still have somewhere.  When the quest was finished it really wasn’t because now there was another quest to play and map.

About a year later a new game game out- Zelda II: The Adventure of Link.  Though very different than the first, I still played this game a lot though I don’t remember mapping it like I mapped the first.  There is an interesting story to this one.  The US wasn’t the first to get a release of this game.  I was able to get an imported copy of it for a little over $100 at Gamer’s Paradise.  This was apparently a European release, or at least it had a multilanguage manual indicative of European releases.  The funny part of this story is that our admin here may have provided Gamer’s Paradise with the very copy I purchased, according to him!  I hadn’t even met him at this time but now of course we are close friends.

The third and fourth games in the series, for the SNES and Gameboy I had to wait to play as I didn’t own the systems.  I think C lent me his SNES to play that Zelda game, but the Gameboy one would have to wait for emulation on the computer before I would play that one, the color version of course.  Similarly, I would play the two Oracle games this way as well.  I never did try linking the two games with the emulator to get the bonus content that owners of both games would get after completing both.

In 2000 two programmers would make waves in the emulation world, fielding the wrath of Nintendo with their release of an emulator for a system that was still selling in stores- the Nintendo 64.  It required a 3DFX card and didn’t play many games, but one of the games it was made to play was none other than Ocarina of Time- the first Zelda in 3D.  Nintendo did an excellent job updating this game for 3D which was unlike many older games updated to a first-person 3D perspective and I soon found myself buying a 3D card for my computer to play this game.  Why didn’t I just spend my money on the N64 system and Zelda?  I don’t know- I guess I am more computer-centric and it must have been cheaper.  When the next title came out, Majora’s Mask, and it didn’t play well with emulators, C came to the rescue again and lent me his N64 this time so I could play this.  Different than the first N64 title, but still quite fun.

Over the last several years my need to play games, including Zelda, has been waning.  I did eventually obtain a Gamecube with Windwaker and eventually Twilight Princess (which I stopped about halfway through over a year and a half ago and haven’t picked up since), but I haven’t played games like the Four Swords adventures, the Minish Cap, or the Phantom Hourglass to name a few.  One of these days I may pick up a used DS, but considering how much I actually play games these days my money is probably better spent on other things.

Want to play Zelda-style games for free?  I’m not talking about emulation here, and certainly not about theft :o.  I’m talking about a program that can make and play games in the style of the original Legend of Zelda.  While the games are in the style of the original NES game, the graphics and sound on the adventures many people make are more in the line of later systems.  Some even use custom graphics to make non-Zelda games.  Zelda Classic can be had for Window, Linux, and OSX.  You can get Zelda Classic and quest files (the custom quests) at:

Zelda Classic main site (https://www.zeldaclassic.com/) (You can also get the main program for Windows here)

PureZC (https://www.purezc.com/)

Both sites have forums too, for discussion of Zelda Classic and quests for it.  If you want Zelda Classic for Linux, OSX, or just recent builds for Windows (only recent builds work correctly with Vista) you have to get it at https://www.shardstorm.com/. You will have to scroll down to find the latest Linux or OSX builds as the most recent are for Windows only.

Well, I hope you don’t mind my post on retrogaming.  I’ll get back to subbing news when I have something interesting to post.  Until then.

Massage the teacher = bad.  Just remember that, m’kay?  In reference to a previous post we learned that while paper passer, messenger, and librarian are good jobs for teachers to give their students, massaging the teacher doesn’t quite fly.  However, apparently not all service jobs are a problem.  From the title I think you can guess what unusual job I ran across today.  Coffee.  That is, making and serving coffee to several teachers in the school.  That’s right, this teacher is training her students up for the type of job they can only hope to achieve should the economy not pick back up.  Another 733 points today- sigh.  There’s more to this story though.  Apparently today was something like clothes mismatch day.  Some students traded a shoe to have mismatched shoes.  One boy had a sandal on one foot, a gym shoe on the other.  Other students turned shirts inside out or wore them backwards.  It was quite funny to see hoodies with the hood in front, like they were made for people who get carsick… 😮

So one student was wearing an apron.  A forest green apron.  I walked up to him in the morning and joked with him, “could I have a grande latte, please?”  I had noticed the coffee job by this time by the way, so it wasn’t coincidence much like I would like to say it was.  There were two girls assigned to this.  As a non-coffee drinker I don’t have much experience making coffee and I guess they didn’t either as we tried to set the older-type coffee maker up.  Guess who did know what he was doing and came over to help?  Mr. forest green apron of course.  That was the coincidence and what I found funny.  I left it to him and the girls and started with the lesson.

Let me tell you that this had to have been the noisiest group I ever worked with.  Sixth grade and social.  This sort of group should have been in a middle school still trying to learn the new system back at the bottom of the food-chain.  Some people disagree and say that sixth graders in elementary school is better for them.  I was in a sixth grade middle school class myself, so I guess it’s just what I’m used to.  When I first got there today I found out they had a sub yesterday.  I read some of the notes she left about their behavior.  Great…  It could have been worse though.  There is bad behavior and annoying behavior, and chatty behavior falls into the latter category.  The ELL class I mentioned several posts ago would be the bad behavior, as would some of the BD classes I have subbed for.  Talking I didn’t mind so much, except when I or someone I have called on is trying to talk of course.  They turned out to be good kids, just chatty.

And I will be with this class again tomorrow (a two-day assignment, yay!), so more on this in another post.

During these times of uncertainty I think it appropriate to mention that I have had a couple of lean days in the past week.  How so, you ask?  First of all I am not talking about my diet or any lack of jobs.  What I refer to is the lesson plans.  Twice in the last week I have walked into the classroom to a lesson plan book opened to the appropriate week.  Okay, this gave me the general outline for the day but another teacher had to come in and help me interpret them.  Seeing “10:15-10:30 Student Council Election” doesn’t tell me who is running, for what positions, and how to do the vote.  In this case I was told to skip it by the other teacher so I happily did so.  Things a lesson plan like this doesn’t include is behavior management system, details on what is to be taught, students who can help, and more.  Fortunately as I said the teacher across the hall laid it out for me and I was able to take it from there.  In addition there was a teaching assistant in the room for one of the students.  Both were very helpful.  As well, I had a good class, so all in all today was a good day.  Well, in the spirit of lean-ness this post must come to a close.  Well really because I’m tired and want to go to bed but if it fits the topic then, hey. 😛

My three day assignment that was cancelled earlier this week would have been at the school I wound up at today.  You can say it turned into a one day assignment I suppose.  Oddly enough, the teacher I would have subbed for was the “team teacher” in two of the classes.  In those classes I of course acted as an assistant, but I did get to teach four classes.  I couldn’t let the opportunity pass by and I mentioned the three day assignment to her and she told me she just rescheduled because she didn’t like taking days off in October.  I didn’t ask why, but conferences are around this time I think so that’s a possibility.

So the four classes were run pretty much the same way though they were actually two different levels.  The regular math classes were working on percent markups and discounts.  Given a cost and a percentage, they had to determine the final price.  The other two classes were algebra.  They were working on graphing equations and determining solutions from the graphs.  I actually got a high complement in one of these classes.  One of the students told me I taught this better than the regular teacher.  I didn’t know what else to say but to just thank him.  So…  Besides the last class having a couple of characters in it (I expected it, being a class of just eight students, and one of the regular classes as opposed to algebra) it was another pretty good day.  First period was one of the two “team teaching” period, so Just watching for the one period and seeing things not in the plans definitely helped here in keeping with the routine though I suppose being eighth grade they wouldn’t have had a tough time adjusting to a different routine if necessary.

It is now the start of a three-day weekend and time to get some rest…

No comments at all on the last blog post?  I either posted this story before or I caught all of you on a bad day I guess.  Anyway, I moved from 7th grade the other day to two different 2nd grade classes, and I do mean different in more ways than the obvious.  Yesterday was generally a good day.  I unfortunately had no break for specials like PE or music, but even without I didn’t have much to complain about.  There was an hour at the end of the day for computer lab and research, but though another ran that class I still had to be there.  They were researching dinosaurs.  Their entire day (well, almost) was actually based on this topic, from books to read for silent reading to centers work to the research at the end of the day.  This topic is an early speller’s nightmare by the way, with all those crazy names.  I think I can spell some of the more common ones like T-Rex, er- I mean tyrannasaurus rex and pterodactyl.  Those of course have come with practice.  Let me just take a quick look at Wikipedia for some of the more unusual ones…  Okay, just looking at one single classification of dinosaurs I found names like archaeornithomimus, anserimimus, struthiomimus, ornithomimus, pelecanimimus, shenzhousaurus, and harpymimus.  Yech- see what I mean?

So again that day went well.  A few students had to flip cards (oops, I mean “pull tickets” – small details like what things are called is of utmost importance to these concrete thinkers) but they were pretty well behaved.  I wish I could say the same about today’s class- some of them were all over the walls (figuratively).  I would often have to repeat myself when I told someone to just sit down.  Very chatty too.  They did not seem to know how to do work with no talking.  This is the sort of class I had when student teaching.  The teacher also didn’t leave directions for her behavior plan so I had to try to figure out how the one they had, one I was not familiar with, worked.  They tried to tell me, but they couldn’t agree on the details.  I did mention doing things just right did I not?  I had one boy who would just complain how I would do it.  Needless to say I will not be using this plan if and when I have my own classroom someday.

This class also had no break, but there was a shorter lunch and less “off” (someone else in charge) time.  In fact, the only time I had outside the classroom besides lunch was fifteen minutes to check out books in the LMC- they didn’t even get recess outside of lunch.  It wasn’t in the plans, but even if it was they would have lost it.  Needless to say between these two things the day felt quite longer than yesterday.  Does this tell me I am not able to do it?  Not at all.  I think I need to come up with my own behavior plan next time rather than conform to the cooperating teacher’s plan if I don’t like it.  That was probably also a mistake- trying to conform with how she ran things, automatically taking a follower (read: teaching assistant) role.  Not good when I’m supposed to be training to be a leader.  So, should I go back if the college agrees to give me another chance?

Today was a special day that occurs just once a month.  10AM, first Tuesday of the month- the testing of the disaster sirens all over the area.  I’ve always wondered what if there was a real disaster at this time?  No one would believe it.  It is also the season for testing something else.  For the past two days I have been lucky enough to work at the two closest schools to me.  One elementary, one middle.  For the past two days I’ve been blessed with the classroom disruption known as the fire drill.  I was warned of the impending one this week at the first school, and eventually told that Monday was in fact the day, but today at the middle school I didn’t have much warning.  In fact, I would have had none at all if it weren’t for the happenstance of one of the students leaving the room (with permission) to do something, and being told by another student that there would be a fire drill.  He came back and told us (there was a teaching assistant there as well).  Of course student-to-student information cannot always be trusted when you’re talking 7th grade, but we prepared for the possibility anyway.  Sure enough, about ten minutes later we were headed out of the building and across the street.  I bet that van driver coming up the street was none too happy about having to wait for a few hundred students to cross in front…

Yesterday I was with fourth grade, and had such a good day that, coupled with the clarity of being wide awake from an energy drink imbibed at dinner I was thinking- what if my calling to teach the grades I’m comfortable with was an accurate interpretation after all?  I speak of a calling I felt back around ten years ago to teach.  I was reading an article about teachers that day when I felt the overwhelming presence of the Holy Spirit on me seeming to tell me “this is what I want of you.”  After that I started to teach, badly at first due to my lack of experience, 4th grade at my church.  A new 4th and 5th grade ministry was formed that same year which I joined and still teach to this day.  A couple years after I went back to school to finish a degree.  I had come so close to an electronic engineering degree and failed at the very end.  This time I would be going to become certified as a teacher.  Well, I did very well for most of it, just like with my electronic engineering degree some years earlier, but like that degree I failed to pass the ultimate test.  Back then it was a senior design project.  This time it was student teaching.  I did an excellent job on my lesson planning, an okay job on teaching the plans, and a horrible job managing the classroom.  One of the rooms had over thirty students, but that’s no excuse I guess.  After that, I cooled my heals and started substituting- the professors at the school felt sorry for me and gave me a degree anyway, calling it success after so much time spent in school, but to this day it hasn’t felt like success.

A couple years later, I had an idea that I would get secondary certification (6th-12th) and get certification that way.  I would teach science in middle school I thought.  Well, after being told by a professor there, who had even filled in as head of the education department for a short time, I was later informed that no, it was a mistake and the policy of no second chances at student teaching still applied, even if I changed from elementary to secondary.  I then applied to another school and was accepted, but then once again I was later told that no, it was a mistake and they couldn’t take someone who started a teaching program elsewhere.  It has now been a year since that decision and a lot of wasted money taking classes to fulfill that secondary degree.  Thanks a lot. 🙁

This brings me back to today.  As I was saying, last night I had some sort of clarity on this and the shortcomings I have thought I had seemed somehow miniscule, and that I could indeed teach reading and writing as well as the things I’m good at- what was I thinking?  I am most comfortable with upper elementary so why should I have settled for a secondary degree anyway?  I am now seeking confirmation with God that I am ready for this and have His approval and blessing.  My mind has been changed so often that I can’t be sure on my own that this clarity is true or just caffeine-induced.  I do have some other lifestyle changes I need to make, particularly as I am not sleeping well again.  I had started Tae-Bo about a month ago, but then I pulled some leg muscles, followed by severe lower back pain (both are gone now), and finally the flood in the basement where I was working out.  I’m still not positive about guys and aerobics, even if it is martial-arts aerobics, but it’s better than running or laying out big $$ for weight training equipment or a fitness center membership.  Hopefully this can help me sleep once I start again.

So… how was today?  Well, I had no problems.  It was another LD/BD resource position like last week, but the kids were much better behaved than the one job.  In fact, talking was the only issue leading me to believe they were strictly LD (learning) issues.  I am a little perturbed about the rest of the week though.  I had a three day assignment that was cancelled at the last minute.  I logged in to the system to confirm it again and it was gone, no call about it no nothing.  I called the system as that is where it actually does the cancellations- for some reason it doesn’t do them through the web interface- and all I got was a busy signal.  That explains the lack of a call I guess- the phone interface was down.  I eventually got through and it did tell me the job was cancelled, so now I have to fill those days again.  Actually I did find a local 2nd-grade position for tomorrow, so that beats geting up at 6AM (other job) but now I work until 3:30 instead of 1:45 (Wednesdays are early dismissal days in the one district).  Well, that’s part of being a sub I guess.