So instead...I'll talk about my job. Or, more specifically, my lack of success at my job. I gave a test today. No big deal, we've been working on this unit for over a month, I announced the test over a week ago, so my students should be very well prepared, right? Not so. The test consists of fill-in-the-blank definitions and examples. The definitions, and even some of the examples, are STRAIGHT out of the notes. Like, word for freaking word. It's rote memorization. That's not ON Bloom's Food Pyramid, is it?
And still...my highest grade was BARELY a B. Seriously? Progress reports come out next week, and I'm going to be inundated with complaints from students and parents alike wanting to know why they have such low grades. What am I supposed to tell them?
Well...your kid is out at least once a week and never gets his makeup work.
No, he can't have it now.
Your kid misses at least one day a week, then complains when he doesn't understand the material and gets mad at ME when I won't completely re-teach the lesson that his 25 classmates managed to show up for.
Your kid sleeps every day.
Your kid comes in every day and asks for a pencil. WHY would you come to school EVERY DAY with no writing utensil?
Your kid waits until the DAY OF THE TEST to tell me he doesn't understand everything we've done for the last month.
Your kid doesn't pay attention, doesn't follow directions, and requires me to repeat everything that comes out of my mouth. I hate repeating myself.
Your kid talks all.the.time.
Your kid wants to go to the bathroom EVERY SINGLE DAY right in the middle of notes.
Your kid doesn't take notes, then gets mad when we have an open-notes quiz.
Your kid doesn't bother to correct his assignments when I go over the answers, then gets upset when I take off points because his answers are wrong.
Your kid is too busy trying to hit on all the girls in my class to pay attention.
Your kid did NOT turn in all those assignments. Somehow I find it hard to believe that ONLY your kid's work was "stolen" out of the basket, when everyone else's work managed to find its way there.
OK, obviously I only wish I could say some of these things. But seriously? 24 days left in the year and sometimes I wonder if I'm going to make it. And the sad thing is that for the most part, I LOVE my kids. I really do. As kids, they're great. As students...well, sometimes not so much. And I'll admit that a lot of it isn't their fault. Some of them have no one at home emphasizing the importance of education. Some of them have never been held accountable for anything in their lives. Some of them wouldn't recognize a consequence if it bit them in the ass.
I hate to sound as if I feel that it's my own personal responsibility to take them all down a peg...but in some ways, I do feel that way. I've literally had students tell me that nothing matters in high school--they'll start trying in college. Excuse me? With that attitude and those grades, you're not going to get IN to college...and it's going to be too late when they realize it.
OK my brain literally just shut down in the middle of my thought process. Probably a good thing. As I was leaving the babysitter's today, I told her that I would be picking up Charlotte tomorrow. I completely thought that tomorrow was Wednesday, and didn't realize until several hours later when I was home that tomorrow is Thursday and I have ESOL class until forever p.m. That doesn't even make sense to me. I'm going to bed now.
In the mean time...Happy Moo!
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