Homework on a Friday Afternoon

As soon as I got home today, I called a counselor at the DSPS to talk about two students I have with disabilities.  Even though no one ever reads this blog, I don't feel free to identify them here.  After all, I got their written permission to confer with their counselor, but I didn't ask about a blog!

So...he and I talked, and then I sent messages to three other teachers about one of these students, and two of the teachers wrote back right away.  They had very good insights and reasons for not passing one of these students.  I asked one of them for his permission to pass on what he said to the counselor.

I checked my messages and found one from a student who had to go to the Social Security Office and closed her letter saying that she loved me.

I responded to another message from a student who has an emergency taking her back to China.


Then I contacted the person from Broadcast Media Services who brings equipment into our ill-equipped classrooms.  This morning I'd asked my tech-savvy students about the DVD I have of Angela's Ashes, and one of them thought that I could get it to play even though it's a Region 2 DVD.  I believed him.  So I called Broadcast Media Services, and after I'd introduced the topic, I thought it would be better to have the student speak directly to the person in charge.  Wrong!   When I came back on the line, the person in charge said, "I couldn't understand a word he said."  I could, of course, having years of experience a-tuning my ear, but I wasn't sure about the tech aspect of it, so in the afternoon I tried to get it all in writing:

Dear ...

                Thank you so much for your help this morning!  I’m sorry if I put you on the spot when I let my tech-savvy student speak to you in non-native (!) English.  We ESL teachers know how hard it can be to understand students, and we’ve had years of experience. 

                He says that if you have a DVD player with a USB port, he can bring his computer and another device so we can stream the DVD we have.  Would it be possible to have a delivery on Wednesday, September 25?

                Have a great weekend,

                Tina

 I got this response:

Can he play it on his computer? If yes, does his computer have a VGA-out? If yes, then he can hook his computer to one of my 32" television monitors in Cloud and show it that way. If it is a PAL disc, it will not play in one of my DVD players. For more information, see: http://www.diffen.com/difference/NTSC_vs_PAL .

So I forwarded this message to my student (instead of checking out the link).

Then...before planning my lesson plans globally for next week, I created an extra-credit quiz on "Wasting Good Food."  I created a pdf document of the article and got it online, and it includes the  quiz, so if the students check the website, they'll know exactly what I plan to ask on the quiz.  

Now my homework is to

do the lesson plans

respond to the chapter tests in ESL 142, Speaking and Listening

record the chapter tests and get them on Easy Grade Pro along with other grades

track down the notes I took on the phone messages students say they left but I never found

create a list of students for Early Alert  (I talked to one this morning.)

I'm happy to say that the contact report instructions and sample report for ESL 142 is still online from last semester, so that's one time I don't have to re-invent the wheel!

Oh, and I almost forgot that I have a set of out-of-class essays to respond to this weekend--the same week I do the Walk to End Alzheimer's at Mission Bay and have lunch with Kathy, go to the Francophone/Francophile group, and see Shakespeare in the Park's production of Macbeth at McLaren Park.