Skip to main content

The end of the year

This weekend I attended a couple of foster parenting classes. In one class, the presenter mentioned "the kids we're glad to see go" and it made me think about the students I'm glad to see go.

It's not the PC thing to admit that there are students you're happy to see go. It means you didn't reach them, you might have left them behind and you're just a bad teacher. However, I think that eventually every teacher has to get to the point where you realize that you can't reach every student. Sure, you can try... but you can't get to every single one.

By the time a student gets to high school, they can self-select out of that situation. I know there are a few students who beg to get out of my class every semester. "It's too hard" or "She's a bitch" or whatever excuse they give... they move themselves. For whatever reason, there are always those who don't. Some of them actually enjoy my class. All of their friends are in the class, occassionally they do "fun stuff" and constant prodding to learn is something they've dealt with for years. Others are just too lazy. Seriously, too lazy to go to counselor to ask to be moved... too lazy to do more than the absolute minimum... too lazy to do anything but sit. The worst are the ones that enjoy the conflict. They enjoy arguing about assignments, where to sit, when to talk, when to sleep, how to cheat, when to use the cell phone. I sometimes wonder what their homelife is like, and if it's full of conflict as well. Do they believe it's the only way to be?

In the last week of school, I'm too exhuasted to think about it. I'm just glad they'll be hitting the door for the last time in 3 days.

No news about my AP syllabus.

Comments

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

“They Don’t Get It”

I hear that a lot these days. It used to be mostly from various teens trying to negotiate the drama unfolding in their lives as they wandered into that no-man’s land between adult and child. These days it’s from adults trying to navigate the education scene these days. So many people talking and no one listening. The other day I was reading a post by a blogger I’ve been following for several years. Before there was such a thing as “blogging.” We all know spring is IEP review season. This blogger wrote about his daughter’s. Among the various elements, there was the discussion about the state assessment tests. She did not pass. There was discussion about what this means… and why said student needed to pass this test. Would she be taking a modified test? While reading, all I could think about was what would happen to that child as she entered middle school and high school. A history of not passing the assessment test vs. teachers who will now be evaluated on how many students pass t...
Post a Comment
Read more

The Cruelest Month

I know T.S. Eliot favored April as the most cruel, but we teachers know that May is… even more so these days. Most importantly, it is the final testing month. National ‘assessments, state ‘assessments’, district ‘assessments’, school ‘assessments’… on and on. It’s impossible to actually get anything done. Toss in graduation activities, planning for the upcoming year and the 2011 bonus, lay-offs and transfers, and you have to wonder if it wouldn’t be better to save money by simply shutting down school entirely except for a few test proctors. Meanwhile, there seems an air of hopelessness permeating the education world. Plans to lay-off thousands are coming to fruition. Schools are being closed, despite protests. Charters are increasing where they can whether they should not. Unions have lost a lot ground and teachers are trying to decide if it’s even worth it any more to continue talking about education . ( not that I blame anyone for that, we all have lives to live ) For myself, I...
Post a Comment
Read more

Campaign Promises

While purusing the Sunday paper, I came across an article describing some local candidate forum held over the weekend. Apprently they either weren't able to say a lot or what they said was pretty boring because the article was skimpy on specifics. What caught my eye was a position of Randy Dutton. He wants "higher standards for teachers." My interest was piqued... what kind of standards? In looking at his website, apparently those standards will be raised by carrying a gun to school, finally; "full days of school"-whatever that means - personally I'd love to put in business hours. No more 5 am wake ups; increasing the number of k-8 schools - because those kindergartners don't swear enough; sending disruptive students to placed like Habit for Humanity - babysitting is what people volunteer for; and teaching more American History- too bad that with all the testing, no one ever gets past the Civil War... I'm not sure how any of these apply to teachers, ...
Post a Comment
Read more