Category Archives: Work

That Light Through Yonder Window

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The usual tip for getting things done involves placing butt in chair. I tried that today, but the results were mixed.

I spent the day marking high school exams which is a process, as I’ve written before that involves 50% denial, 50% distraction and 50% actual work. To finish the exams I spent most of the day in my home office in my home office chair with the tests on my home office desk. This, however, creates a problem.

The problem is that whoever thought of the place butt in chair advice didn’t anticipate computers and the internet. It’s therefore better to say “place butt in chair; place computer in other building (with family)”.

Typically I keep a TV show running in the background, at least at first, and this has mixed results if the show is actually interesting. My distraction of this marking season is the Scottish detective drama Taggart. Usually these shows are bland enough that they provide background noise but are not particularly distracting. Unfortunately Taggart is just good enough that it’s become distracting. It’s also got me practicing my Glaswegian and saying “murder” as “MARdr” and “dead body” as “deed BOdi” and has She Who Must Be Obeyed looking at me as if all her fears have finally been cnFARMd, er, confirmed.

The other problem is that I sit in one place long enough that mold and mildew begin forming on me and I often am not aware it is raining and I have to bring in the laundry or that it is now dark and I should close the curtains.

Eventually the 50% denial will go away Taggart will give way to headphones and music. That marks the last push.

I’m actually ahead of schedule with my marking at this point. That means I have to be especially careful as it’s too easy to fall in to the “I’m ahead so it’s okay if I fall a bit behind trap”.

 

 

Hurry Up and Wait And Wait Then Wait

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There was a train delay today that caused me to encounter into a train delay. I was also being clumsy so the delay was probably for the best.

At the start of July we finally got June weather–rain–but it’s been unusually cool this year. However, any time there’s rain, even though Japan has an annual Season in Which it Rains and a proper Rainy Season, there’s always a risk of train delays as certain train lines always seem to have delays as if there’s never been any rain on the tracks before.

This, of course, had to happen the first day of exams. However, on the way to work the only problems were mine. I was pouting at the rain and listening to music and didn’t notice the train signal and was surprised when barricade started to lower. Then I walked into the station with my umbrella still deployed and had to undeploy it before I got on the escalator.

Luckily, there were no problems with the exam itself, although I remain nervous during the listening test. There weren’t even any questions which is unusual as at least one person tries to trick an answer out of us (more on that in another post).

Then, after the tests were picked up and sorted, I found out that one of my students had arrived late because of a train delay and was taking the test in another room. I’d have to wait 20 minutes to get the test.

After the test arrived I headed home and as soon as I got to the station and saw the crowd of people outside the gate I knew there was a problem.

Someone had apparently committed suicide on the tracks about the time I left the school. If I’d left right after I got the main batch of exams I could have probably got home with not problem. Instead of hanging out by the gate I went to buy some pretzels. (Someone is dead and you are buying pretzels? Yes. That’s cold, dude, that’s cold.)

An hour and a half later the police had investigated and cleared the scene and the train finally started running. I had pretzels but didn’t eat them. I mostly napped. Which is also kind of cold.

Now You Know Me and What I Am

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The tenth graders at the school where I work are funny people. They are in their first year of high school and as they approach their first final exam in my class, they get, well, kind of funny.

For lots of complicated reasons the classes I teach don’t have mid-term exams. This creates a couple problems for me. First, because they haven’t had a major exam in my class but have had them in others, the students tend to not take my final exam seriously. This is a bad problem for them to have because they need a higher percentage in their English classes in order to get automatic recommendation for university than they do in all their other classes. However, because there’s been no big exams, they don’t act as if the coming exam is important.

Second, because they’ve usually just finished a major final project, they often act as if there’s nothing left to do in class. My job, then, is to remind them that they are wrong.

That was an issue this week with a couple of my classes that, for various complicated reasons, have had lots of extra class time. In such cases I usually offer a deal: if they study my class on the next to last class, I will look the other way at what they are studying on the last class. They should study my class, but I won’t look too closely at what they are doing.

However, if they play or waste time, I take that as meaning they want to study my class on the last day and I prepare a review lesson. It’s at this point that they start trying to test me. I had students laugh at me as if I were joking when I told them I’d give them work on the last day. I had students mock what I was saying by repeating it and laughing. When I pointed out that two guys who were supposed to be studying together had their textbooks open to different units (with one book open to a unit we didn’t study) they just ignored me.

This is partly because many of my students didn’t go to junior high at the school where I work so they don’t know much about me. Those that did are used to my English classes not having much meaning but they should also know that I never bluff (well, almost never).

At the end of the classes, I told them that because too many of them hadn’t studied, i planned to bring something for them to study. Most ignored me.

Then, today, I handed out a work sheet that involved writing a couple hundred words.

Suddenly I had their attention.

One student reminded me that I’d said there’d be free study. I reminded him that I’d said that not enough people had studied and that I’d bring an assignment. However, when he finished the assignment, I wouldn’t look at what he was studying.

They were all annoyed but they were quiet as they finished the assignment. After they finished I checked their answers with them which also kept them from having any free study time.

If this goes like normal, this will be the last time I have this problem with these students.

 

Starting Off a Good Day in a Crappy Way

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Everything was proceeding according to plan this morning, I wrote my morning pages, ate some breakfast even had some to waste. Then I got my migraine spot.

Today spot started out looking like the burn mark a camera flash leaves in your eyes but then then it didn’t go away and started to grow. I guzzled some coffee and took some Excedrin Migraine. In the past I might have sipped some whiskey as part of a homemade version of Tylenol 3 (which is basically alcohol, caffeine and dope). However, there were two problems with this plan: First I got the spot before I went to work and it would be bad to show up even half drunk (or half sober if you’re more optimistic) and Second, a scientist told me my home remedy would ruin my liver. (I was like: but will it cure my migraine and he was like, yeah, by killing you slowly and I was like, that can’t be worse than a migraine but I finally took his advice.)

One of the problems with my migraine spot is it blocks part of my vision of and makes it difficult to read. Not only am I about to be in pain when I get the spot, but I can’t enjoy my last few minutes before the pain because I see anything clearly.

Luckily the Excedrin worked and I didn’t have any pain and I didn’t get the usual migraine hangover. I did, however, feel sluggish and cranky most of the day. When my better bad class of 8th graders didn’t want to study for their final exams, I ignored them and let them not study. (I don’t have to pass the test and the fewer questions they answer the easy it is for me to mark and do the math.)

This also effected the way I taught high school. During a study hall in a last class of ninth graders one of my students was making gestures around his crotch that resembled, well, things involving the crotch and/or the Divinyls. Normally I would have told him to get back to studying, but since it was a free study time, I dismissed it as him studying biology. When he later tried to twist off the arm of a fellow student, I dismissed it as him doing a physics experiment.

Now I’m feeling the hangover set in. It’s time to go to bed.

This Year the Stress is Not Mine

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I’ve written before about how this time last year I was stressed because I’d decided to change things and was waiting for them to fall apart.

This year, though, the stress isn’t mine.

Once again we decided to have our students film two minute “television” commercials for original inventions as their final project. This process involves first screening the inventions to make sure 1) the inventions aren’t just modifications of an existing product (in other words, no “These totally aren’t Google glasses” glasses or iPhone 12s) and 2) the inventions don’t already exist. For example, a couple of my students tried to use “Memory Bread” but I said they couldn’t use it because Doraemon already had some.

The students then had a chance to prepare their scripts and visual aids and polish their presentations.

This week, though, I started filming. Unlike last year, I’ve made friends with one of the computer lab teachers as they also serve as the “Keepers of the Cameras”. This means I’ve already got cameras and tripods reserved which removed a lot stress. I’ve even moved an entire class of students to make it easier to access the few open rooms we need for filming.

The new teachers are feeling the stress a bit more, as are the students as we’ve emphasized that they will fail if they don’t do a good job.

Last year several students taped their scripts to the backs of their posters. Because I didn’t have time to have them do their videos again, I let them get away with it. This year, though, because I have more time, I let them finish their commercials and then tell them they have to do it again.

Today’s only glitch was that I had students misunderstand my instructions. I told them I’d give them two takes to do their commercials. I meant that they could stop once and start again. They interpreted it to mean they could do a crap job today and get a second chance.

Once I corrected this misunderstanding, the performances suddenly improved and a couple pairs hurried back to finish.

I just relaxed and let them do their work.

 

 

The Sacrificial Lamb Faces the Sacrifice

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Today I got to watch a person who was showing physical signs of stress try to wave the company’s flag for a few hours.

I’ve written before how the company I work for likes to send observer’s at the worst possible times. Today our observer arrived and we were shocked by a couple things.

First, it was only one guy. Usually we get two visitors, one foreigner with no real authority and one Japanese with slightly more authority. I do not know if that means the school where I work only gave permission for one visitor or if this was a case of symbolism over usefulness. (i.e. I’m here to show the flag and pretend I’m here to critique these people who’ve been teaching almost as long as I’ve been alive.)

 

Second, the observer looked stressed and even had physical symptoms of stress. We do not know if this is because of the less than friendly greeting I gave them this time last year or if there are other things going on behind the scenes (or both). Either way, we usually treat the foreign observers well because they don’t have much more authority than we do so I don’t think it had anything to do with us.

Third, the observer only stayed a few hours. Mind you, this is not a problem as nothing cramps your style more than having “the man” hovering over you at all hours, but usually, to make the trip worth his time, the observer stays longer than a couple hours. The goal is to get a feel for working conditions. (Which got worse as some “genius” at the school decided to lock the air conditioners at a surprisingly warm level. This may have driven the observer away, too.)

Then again, I like to think the observer was scheduled to be there all day but decided to take the afternoon off.

I hope that’s what he was doing.

 

There’s No Accounting For Taste in Office Pens

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The school where I work has always been very good at providing good pens for the staff to use. The pens they provide are so good there’s now an “I took X” sheet we are expected to fill out every time we take a pen.

My dilemma, of course, is “do I take two pens but only sign for one?” Luckily for my conscience, I don’t use the kinds of pens they provide. (In other words, we’ll never know what I would do.)

The pens cover all the categories from waterproof pigment pens to gel pens to ordinary ball point pens.

The black pens. Uni-Ball Signo UM-100; Uni PIN water proof; Zebra Jim-Knock; Zebra N-5000.

The black pens. Uni-Ball Signo UM-100; Uni PIN water proof pigment pen; Zebra Jim-Knock; Zebra N-5000.

The blue pens: Uni-Ball Signo UM-100; Sakura Pigma Micron 03; Zebra N-5000.

The blue pens: Uni-Ball Signo UM-100; Sakura Pigma Micron 03; Zebra N-5000. The Sakura is very tempting…

Before I went full pentard with fountain pens, the pens I used to mark exams were either a red Signo UM-100 or a UNI PIN water proof (an older version).

The main requirements for a marking pen are: thick line that doesn’t bleed through on to other papers; good ink supply; a tip that doesn’t suddenly go dry; and a tip that doesn’t jam up as you mark harder in harder in increasing frustration. (The UNI PIN were especially bad at the latter test.) The problems were that over time the Signo built up gunk around the tip and needed to be wiped off and the marker-style tip of the UNI eventually wore down or got smashed in frustration.

I eventually moved to a red Pilot Vanishing Point filled with Pilot Red Ink for marking. It was comfortable to hold and had a decent ink supply. Although the ink supply wasn’t as good as a ballpoint or a gel ink pen, stopping to refill ink every now and then forced me to take a break and gave me a chance to find some whisky. (The timing of whisky to exam marking will be dealt with in another post.)

This year I’ll be marking my exams with a TWSBI Mini loaded with purple ink. There’s no particular reason for this other than 1) purple is one of the school’s colors; 2) it’s an excuse to use the pen more and 3) I’m interested in seeing the psychological effects of the purple ink on the students; and 4) I’m always looking for ways to use up my ink supply.

 

 

 

Watching But Not Listening

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The company I work for has been pretty good to me but for some reason the people who work in the office won’t listen to a word I say.

For example, for several years we were blessed with being left alone and then one day the staff in charge of us announced they wanted to start doing classroom observations. I emphasized that they were welcome any time (well, not really, but that’s what I said) as long as they didn’t come at the end of June when we were busy finishing projects and making exams and going slightly mad.

Then, last year, things got strange: the observers came unannounced (an ambush observation) and they came on the last Friday in June, only a couple days before exams started. We were in the middle of filming projects with our students and it was the worst possible time to be there as I’d have to be out of the classroom while most of my students stayed behind.

When I saw the observers I said, in the most diplomatic manner possible “What the hell are you guys doing here?” Eventually I invited them to the filming room to watch a couple projects being filmed and peace was made.

When they observed later in the year, they called and warned me and I was much more diplomatic. No. Really.

Then, this year, before school started, one of the observers asked me what the best days to observe were. I held back the response on the tip of my tongue (when hell freezes over) and instead suggested the beginning of June as to come any later would mean they would merely see almost exactly the same class they’d seen before (me filming students as they did a project).

After all this I got a call explaining they’d be coming next week, which is the last full week before exams start. The conversation I had with them went something like this:

Them: We want to observe would the end of June be better or should we wait until next term?
Me:      Late September, early October would be better.
Them: So we’ll see you at the end of June then?

Now the optimist in me (as small and weak and naive as he is) believes that they are REALLY busy and this was ABSOLUTELY the ONLY time they could observe. The pessimist/realist in me thinks this is a compliance test and/or a way to show they are in charge of us and the school where I work.

I’ve tried to explain that these late June visits annoy the Japanese staff as well, but I have better luck getting through to our teenage daughter than I do the company I work for.

Temptation to Laziness or Sticking With What Worked

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I resisted temptation today. Mostly.

It is exam making time at the school where I work and this creates an odd dilemma for those of us responsible for making exams. Do we stick with what worked merely recycle what we used last year (aka get lazy) or do we try to make a new test (aka rearrange deck chairs on the Titanic.)?

To be more specific, I don’t want to use too much of last year’s exam because students who took it are still roaming about the school with copies of last year’s exam. On occasion we find loose copies floating around the classrooms. However, because much of the material we’re teaching is the same as the year before it’s hard to come up with something new other than change last year’s “True” answer to “False” and reword a couple questions.

In my case I usually end up with a hybrid. I stick with what worked a few years ago and then reword a few questions. I also, on occasion, come up with new questions and change up the listening questions.

There’s then an commenting/editing session where colleagues teaching the same grade get a chance to read through the exam and hack out the bits they don’t like. Typical comments are “We didn’t teach that this year did we?” “I didn’t teach that. Were we supposed to teach that?” “Who taught you how to spell?” and “How drunk were you when you wrote this test?”

This is also the time when we offer to make the test easier or more difficult based on how annoying our students are being. On occasion, after a particularly bad class, I’ve been known to tell test a test writer that she can’t possibly make the test too difficult. I usually add the phrase “If one of us can pass it, it’s too easy.” Granted, I usually fall for the traps in the listening and fail that part anyway which complicates my instructions but I generally pass the rest. (Note: I wish I was joking.)

For a brief moment there’s a twinge of concern that we might be making life difficult for those students who try really hard in our attempts to punish the bad students.

But that moment ends fairly quickly and the test gets harder.

Beware the Ides of June

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June has come and its arrival was marked by one of those days.

For one of those days in June, though, it wasn’t as bad as it could have been.

First the weather was stuck somewhere between “humid” and “liquid”. Luckily it was reasonably cool and I wasn’t as sweaty as I could have been by the time I got to the station and to work. This meant my forearms only stuck to my papers and notebooks for about 20 minutes after I started working.

Second, for reasons I don’t fully understand, the school where I work has decided to lock the air conditioners at 26 Celsius (or just under 79 Fahrenheit). This wouldn’t be so bad except the ACs don’t run enough to dehumidify properly, the students get sleepy and I, well, I just stop caring because my forearms are sticking to my papers and notebooks.

Third, perhaps because of the changing weather and air pressure and the current pressure to produce exams, I find myself experiencing what can only be described as “blind” or “game concentration” where my focus on what I’m doing keeps me from focusing on what I should be doing.

In today’s case that meant working on my exams instead of going to class. I looked up from my project to see that it was 11:55 and my brain process went something like “Wow, look at the time. Luckily I have time to work before I have to be at class at at 11:45. Cool. Wait. Crap!”

I got to class and was surprised to see my better bad class sitting in their chairs and ready to go. I was also surprised that most of them worked the rest of the period. Hell, I was being irresponsible, I couldn’t exactly ask them to be responsible. (Note: Officially I was taking an important phone call so that may have made me appear more responsible than I was.)

During lunch, for some reason, every surface I touched was messy and I had to wash my hands three times.

Later I spent several minutes cursing auto-format before realizing I was working on the wrong section and had to hit Ctrl + Z about 30 times and start over.

Despite all that, I managed to finish my exams and get some other work done. However, the way things went today, the exams probably didn’t save correctly or the computer will crash. Or, I actually did mess them up.

June has come, which means optimism is dead.