Review for Final Exam, Continued (Days 171-172)

As most of you already know, there was a mass shooting yesterday at a Texas elementary school. I have only one thing to say about this and the other violent incidents that recently occurred around the nation -- it's just so sad that many of these shooters are right around the age of my own students.

Due to the Texas incident, a lockdown drill occurs at 10:00 today. And it's possible that another such drill might be scheduled for next week. All students and teachers had to enter campus through the same gate that we previously used for safety against COVID, now being used for safety against violence.

As it turns out, today's one of the busiest days I've ever had as a teacher. Perhaps I should have made today "A Day in the Life" instead of last week:

  • Advisory is graduation practice. We teachers must participate in the practice since, after all, we'll be there for the actual graduation.
  • In second period Ethnostats, the review for the final exam continues. And we lose a little time -- first, the class starts a few minutes late after nutrition is extended when food is delivered to the cafeteria late, and then the lockdown drill occurs, with all students hiding below the desks.
  • In fourth period, the review also continues. Fortunately there are no interruptions like second period.
  • Sixth period is my conference period, yet even this isn't a break for me. First, one of my students in fourth period will be absent the day of his final, and so I let him take the test today. While he's taking the test, I have a lengthy phone interview for a teaching position for next year.
  • And then right after school, the lone girl in my Trig class attends tutoring. She's the only student to take up my extra credit offer -- we practice the unit circle before she works on redoing some old quiz and test questions. And some girls from Calculus also come in work on their video projects.
  • And my day still isn't over, as I go home just to log in to Zoom for a school meeting.

Well, at least I don't have to write about what happened in my odd periods. I end up seeing some students from each of my classes today.

Even with everything going on, I make one last modification to the Ethnostats class as I catch an error in one of my questions during the review. But that's why I wrote up the exam during spring break -- today I only have to tweak the exam rather than rush to finish writing the last ten questions. I complete the tweak in time for my fourth period guy to take his test. He does well on the exam -- 25 out of 30 questions right, equaling his score from the first semester final.

Today is Nineday on the Eleven Calendar:

Resolution #9: We value academic instructional time.

And we definitely value academic instructional time during Ethnostats as I use every possible moment to prepare the students for the final exam.

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