This post is destined to tick some people off. But after careful consideration of the four people I'm SURE of who read my blog, maybe it won't be my regular audience.
The closest "real" newspaper to us is the same one in the college town where I used to live, work, and breathe football. On Sundays they publish the baby announcements for the previous week, and sometimes I scan them. I look for former students (even though some of them are probably old enough to be grandparents by now), and sometimes I look for unusual names. This usually leads to an extended session of head-shaking at the spelling of babies' names these days, and then I'm sorry I bothered.
What really bothers me, though, is the number of babies born to single moms these days. I am dismayed by the births that are proudly published in the paper with only a mama, no daddy in sight.
I know, I know, that's terribly old-fashioned (and perhaps narrow-minded) of me. And I shouldn't make judgments without knowing all the facts. There are situations in which I would find it acceptable for a single woman to have a baby.
Most of the ones I've been acquainted with, however, are teenagers. They aren't financially or emotionally equipped to handle a baby (or two), and many, many of them aren't even with the "baby daddy" long enough for him to be present at the birth. They are still more interested in partying than settling down, and they seem to resent the fact that the baby interferes with their social lives.
I feel sort of hypocritical for even saying this. I mean, I was a single mom too, but I WAS married when I had the baby. She was planned, right down to the number of sick days I would need for maternity leave, and I THOUGHT I knew what I was doing. I was college-educated, married, had a (sort of) good job with benefits, and having a baby was TOUGH on me. Having two babies was even tougher, so I had to divorce one of them.
We had a student last year who got pregnant, and like a lot of them she brought her ultrasound pictures to school and passed them around for everyone to see. Sigh. Then she had a "miscarriage" that she later admitted in a teacher conference was actually an abortion (she spilled all those details, we surely didn't ask). She graduated and had plans to continue her education, because heaven knows a high school diploma isn't good enough these days. Then I read on that time-sucking social media site that she is pregnant again and expecting in July and "super excited!!!!!" Double sigh.
And the grandparents. I wrote once about the mom who brought her daughter in to interview for a slot at our school because she was pregnant. She wanted her daughter to come to our school until she had the baby, then the mom wanted her to go back to the traditional school so she could have a "normal senior year," complete with cheerleading. What she really wanted was a chance for her daughter to avoid the inevitable gossip long enough to earn some credits, then go back when someone else was the topic. Triple sigh.
There are stories from the other end of the spectrum, too. One of our former students (who is actually the daughter of a former friend and classmate of mine) also came to us because she was pregnant. Her boyfriend was younger than she, and she made the (to me) adult decision to put her child up for adoption. She went through an agency, met the couple, bonded with them throughout her pregnancy, and helped them decide on the name "Max." When the baby was born (and believe me, she had the normal nine-month pregnancy, long enough for these things to have been ironed out), the boy's PARENTS didn't allow him to sign the papers to let the adoption go through. THEY wanted to raise the baby. What are these people thinking? The happy ending to this story is that she kept the baby, had/has tremendous family support, has graduated from UGA, and is pursuing graduate school. And by the looks of her FB postings, she is an incredible mom. I'm afraid, though, that she is the exception.
I truly wish I could do another dissertation (did I really just SAY that?) about the teen moms just in our county. I think it would make for fascinating reading. I know it happens everywhere, but there is something strange about the culture in our county that makes me go "huh?" Wait...did I just say "something strange"? As in singular? Oops... my bad.
Maybe I'll contact my former dissertation committee chair. We could do an article together or something. It wouldn't be the all-American novel, but it would be SOMETHING.
Jumping down off my high horse now,
Bragger
Showing posts with label students. Show all posts
Showing posts with label students. Show all posts
Thursday, July 19, 2012
Friday, April 13, 2012
Flashback Friday.....Kylie......
I remember the first Kylie I ever taught. I hadn't been teaching high school very long, and it was trial by fire. Typically the newest teachers get the toughest kids. I guess they figure if you've been there a while you've earned the right to teach students above the criminal level. (It was sort of a rough school.) And they must also figure that if you get the tough-as-nails kids and you stick around after the first year or two, you just might make it to achieve tenure and maybe even retire someday.
If there is a positive side to teaching the lowest (and worst behaved) students, it's that as the year rolls along, those are typically the ones who drop out. They get bored, frustrated, disillusioned, embarrassed, arrested, or any number of other things, and they disappear from your classes in droves. When I say "positive side," by no means do I mean to trivialize the social issue of dropping out, nor do I mean I was glad to see any particular students go away. (But you have to know I was.) I just mean that in that setting, with those difficult students, it was much easier to manage a class (and sometimes actually teach) if the number was smaller. Those were energy-sucking kids, and I could fill up a number of blog entries with stories just from them. Some make me want to weep with sadness; others make me want to weep with joy. (I'll try to remember to tell you about the student who volunteered to answer a question when I was being observed one day. Remind me if I forget.)
On the day that sparked this particular memory, we had just returned from lunch. The way our schedule worked, we had a 4th period class that had lunch and a study hall period attached to it. On our hall, we had class, then lunch, then the study hall. Perfect arrangement. It was late in the school year, and my 4th period class had dwindled to about 8 students. (There were probably more than that on roll, but unless their probation officers were checking on them, attendance was sporadic at best.) I felt confident enough leaving them alone long enough to go down the hall to the restroom and brush my teeth after lunch. (Because goodness knows the 20 minutes we had for our lunch break wasn't enough to eat AND do everything else.)
I seem to remember there were 8 students present in study hall on this particular day. I got my toothbrush and started out the door. Then I turned to the meanest girl in that class, a girl named Kylie, and I said to her, "You're in charge." I had used the bathroom and was in the process of brushing my teeth when there was furious banging on the door of the restroom in our faculty workroom. It was a student (or two) from my 4th period class, yelling, "There's a fight in your room!"
Apparently Kylie had taken me at my word about being in charge, and she was in the process of beating the tar out of another girl. The assistant principal got to my room before I did, and I just knew my career as a teacher was over. One of the biggest no-nos in education is leaving a classroom unattended, even if there are only 8 of them and you've left Kylie in charge. He was very forgiving and understanding, though, and it almost made me like him.
The combatants had knocked every single thing off my desk in the melee. I had this precious little pen and pencil holder that spelled out "H-E-L-L-O," with each letter a separate compartment. By the time I got to my room, it said "Hell." I left it there for the rest of the year because I thought it was appropriate.
She was the first girl named Kylie I ever taught. And every time I get a new one (because there are only a jillion in the world now, with half a jillion different ways to spell it), I always remember her. And I shudder just a little bit.
If there is a positive side to teaching the lowest (and worst behaved) students, it's that as the year rolls along, those are typically the ones who drop out. They get bored, frustrated, disillusioned, embarrassed, arrested, or any number of other things, and they disappear from your classes in droves. When I say "positive side," by no means do I mean to trivialize the social issue of dropping out, nor do I mean I was glad to see any particular students go away. (But you have to know I was.) I just mean that in that setting, with those difficult students, it was much easier to manage a class (and sometimes actually teach) if the number was smaller. Those were energy-sucking kids, and I could fill up a number of blog entries with stories just from them. Some make me want to weep with sadness; others make me want to weep with joy. (I'll try to remember to tell you about the student who volunteered to answer a question when I was being observed one day. Remind me if I forget.)
On the day that sparked this particular memory, we had just returned from lunch. The way our schedule worked, we had a 4th period class that had lunch and a study hall period attached to it. On our hall, we had class, then lunch, then the study hall. Perfect arrangement. It was late in the school year, and my 4th period class had dwindled to about 8 students. (There were probably more than that on roll, but unless their probation officers were checking on them, attendance was sporadic at best.) I felt confident enough leaving them alone long enough to go down the hall to the restroom and brush my teeth after lunch. (Because goodness knows the 20 minutes we had for our lunch break wasn't enough to eat AND do everything else.)
I seem to remember there were 8 students present in study hall on this particular day. I got my toothbrush and started out the door. Then I turned to the meanest girl in that class, a girl named Kylie, and I said to her, "You're in charge." I had used the bathroom and was in the process of brushing my teeth when there was furious banging on the door of the restroom in our faculty workroom. It was a student (or two) from my 4th period class, yelling, "There's a fight in your room!"
Apparently Kylie had taken me at my word about being in charge, and she was in the process of beating the tar out of another girl. The assistant principal got to my room before I did, and I just knew my career as a teacher was over. One of the biggest no-nos in education is leaving a classroom unattended, even if there are only 8 of them and you've left Kylie in charge. He was very forgiving and understanding, though, and it almost made me like him.
The combatants had knocked every single thing off my desk in the melee. I had this precious little pen and pencil holder that spelled out "H-E-L-L-O," with each letter a separate compartment. By the time I got to my room, it said "Hell." I left it there for the rest of the year because I thought it was appropriate.
She was the first girl named Kylie I ever taught. And every time I get a new one (because there are only a jillion in the world now, with half a jillion different ways to spell it), I always remember her. And I shudder just a little bit.
Thursday, April 12, 2012
Dear Jacob Zimmerman......
Dear Jacob Zimmerman:
Welcome to the world of grown-ups. Welcome to a world that doesn't revolve entirely around YOU and where actions have consequences. Negative actions have negative consequences, even if they hurt your feelings.
When you and 23 of your closest friends chose to vandalize your high school campus, in full view of video cameras (just how DID you get to be in the running to be valedictorian, anyway?), did you not think there might be some fallout? You might consider spray painting school property as a "harmless prank" (quotations marks my own), but did you ever consider that SOMEONE (it ought to be you, truthfully) has to clean up your mess? Did it ever cross your mind that administrators and other officials might not WANT the words "SENIORS 2012" indelibly displayed on signs, streets, and other government property? (Nice choice, by the way, turning your prank into a felony.)
Did you think being class president, maybe-valedictorian, and an honors student taking AP courses would give you immunity from punishment?
And now your feelings are hurt. “It just really hurts. The school board – you’d think they want the best for the kids, but this is the exact opposite,” you said on television. I heard the words come out of your mouth, and I was floored. What do you think WOULD be best for the kids in this case? A slap on the wrist? A pat on the head because the damage wasn't any worse than it was? (Yeah, a cop-killer about 60 miles from you is trying that defense too. He claims he isn't a cop-killer because he had the opportunity to kill even MORE cops, and he didn't. Let's give him an award.)
The quote from you that really got my goat, though, was when you said, "They are ruining my life."
THEY are ruining your life? Where is your personal accountability in this case? Have you even said you're sorry for participating in such a stupid act? (Yeah, yeah, I know, you left when it got out of hand. Great show of leadership.) THEY have put your goal of being valedictorian in jeopardy. (Ya think? Since you can't even participate in graduation ceremonies?)
THEY are allowing you to finish out your senior year in an alternative school, thereby giving you the opportunity to get your diploma. THEY could have expelled you for the remainder of the year, meaning you wouldn't even get to FINISH your courses.
Personally, I think THEY are teaching you a valuable life lesson. That you can't just commit random acts of vandalism (whether or not there's a "tradition" of such...whatever) and not pay a price. That lawyering up and getting on television in a suit and tie doesn't erase what you have done. That you need to think beyond the next 15 minutes in your life.
I know whereof I speak. I was suspended from high school too, for something equally stupid. A friend and I left school without permission, and we had an accident. Sure, we did it all the time, and sure, everybody else did it too, but because the girl who was driving was foolish enough to pull out in front of another car, we didn't get away with it that time. I remember the principal (whom I neither liked nor respected, but that's beside the point) looking at us and saying that he KNEW everybody did it all the time, but he was going to make an example of us, two honors students. We didn't go get lawyers, we accepted that what we did was wrong and we paid the penalty. Our parents didn't stand by our sides, either. They pinned their arms to their sides to keep from throttling us. We weren't suspended for the rest of the year, but we were suspended for the last two days before prom. And if THEY had wanted to, they could have denied us the right to attend the prom. If they had, it wouldn't have meant THEY had ruined our lives; it would still have meant that we made poor choices, we got caught, and there were consequences to be suffered.
Get off the television and take your medicine. Take your diploma (and be grateful you get it) and get on with the rest of your life. Take this painful lesson (that YOU created, by the way) and use it to become a better person. Learn to take responsibility. Do something good for society instead of focusing on yourself.
And remember that your children will turn into teenagers too. If they make foolish choices and you stand beside them and support them because what they did might have been (in your eyes) "harmless," you're doing them a tremendous disservice.
Grow up.
Sincerely,
Bragger
Welcome to the world of grown-ups. Welcome to a world that doesn't revolve entirely around YOU and where actions have consequences. Negative actions have negative consequences, even if they hurt your feelings.
When you and 23 of your closest friends chose to vandalize your high school campus, in full view of video cameras (just how DID you get to be in the running to be valedictorian, anyway?), did you not think there might be some fallout? You might consider spray painting school property as a "harmless prank" (quotations marks my own), but did you ever consider that SOMEONE (it ought to be you, truthfully) has to clean up your mess? Did it ever cross your mind that administrators and other officials might not WANT the words "SENIORS 2012" indelibly displayed on signs, streets, and other government property? (Nice choice, by the way, turning your prank into a felony.)
Did you think being class president, maybe-valedictorian, and an honors student taking AP courses would give you immunity from punishment?
And now your feelings are hurt. “It just really hurts. The school board – you’d think they want the best for the kids, but this is the exact opposite,” you said on television. I heard the words come out of your mouth, and I was floored. What do you think WOULD be best for the kids in this case? A slap on the wrist? A pat on the head because the damage wasn't any worse than it was? (Yeah, a cop-killer about 60 miles from you is trying that defense too. He claims he isn't a cop-killer because he had the opportunity to kill even MORE cops, and he didn't. Let's give him an award.)
The quote from you that really got my goat, though, was when you said, "They are ruining my life."
THEY are ruining your life? Where is your personal accountability in this case? Have you even said you're sorry for participating in such a stupid act? (Yeah, yeah, I know, you left when it got out of hand. Great show of leadership.) THEY have put your goal of being valedictorian in jeopardy. (Ya think? Since you can't even participate in graduation ceremonies?)
THEY are allowing you to finish out your senior year in an alternative school, thereby giving you the opportunity to get your diploma. THEY could have expelled you for the remainder of the year, meaning you wouldn't even get to FINISH your courses.
Personally, I think THEY are teaching you a valuable life lesson. That you can't just commit random acts of vandalism (whether or not there's a "tradition" of such...whatever) and not pay a price. That lawyering up and getting on television in a suit and tie doesn't erase what you have done. That you need to think beyond the next 15 minutes in your life.
I know whereof I speak. I was suspended from high school too, for something equally stupid. A friend and I left school without permission, and we had an accident. Sure, we did it all the time, and sure, everybody else did it too, but because the girl who was driving was foolish enough to pull out in front of another car, we didn't get away with it that time. I remember the principal (whom I neither liked nor respected, but that's beside the point) looking at us and saying that he KNEW everybody did it all the time, but he was going to make an example of us, two honors students. We didn't go get lawyers, we accepted that what we did was wrong and we paid the penalty. Our parents didn't stand by our sides, either. They pinned their arms to their sides to keep from throttling us. We weren't suspended for the rest of the year, but we were suspended for the last two days before prom. And if THEY had wanted to, they could have denied us the right to attend the prom. If they had, it wouldn't have meant THEY had ruined our lives; it would still have meant that we made poor choices, we got caught, and there were consequences to be suffered.
Get off the television and take your medicine. Take your diploma (and be grateful you get it) and get on with the rest of your life. Take this painful lesson (that YOU created, by the way) and use it to become a better person. Learn to take responsibility. Do something good for society instead of focusing on yourself.
And remember that your children will turn into teenagers too. If they make foolish choices and you stand beside them and support them because what they did might have been (in your eyes) "harmless," you're doing them a tremendous disservice.
Grow up.
Sincerely,
Bragger
Thursday, March 29, 2012
No Surgery Required, She's Got 'Em Already......
We have referred to our school many times as the "Island of Misfit Toys" and several variations thereof. It's not that we're surprised that our students are ... different. We were, after all, created to meet the needs of students who are/were at risk of dropping out, and goodness knows there are a gazillion reasons out there for dropping out. It's the extremeness of some of their misfitness that continues to surprise us.
One of our students this year is a young ... lady ... who is extremely smart, almost to her detriment. She's passive aggressive, doesn't see the point of following rules that she thinks are stupid, and will sacrifice her grade rather than try to get along with a teacher with whom she doesn't get along. She spent a day out of school yesterday, suspended because she refused to A) go to her math class; and B) take off her hood. (And no, she isn't making a statement about her support for Travon Martin.)
Because our students can progress at their own pace, because this student has never failed a course before, and because she IS so smart, she has already earned enough credits to graduate this year, even though she is in the class of 2013. We've had that happen before, and our school system administrators have a policy that those students must appeal for early graduation by writing a letter to the superintendent. It's not that they are AGAINST students getting out of school early, necessarily. Education is a business, after all, and schools receive money per student from the state school folks. (I wish I could come up with a better noun than "folks," but it is what it is.) If we started allowing mass early graduation, it might ultimately cost the school district money. Personally, I think they would be balanced out by the ones who are on the 5- or 6-year plan, but whatever.
I haven't been able to convince this particular student that she needs to go ahead and go to college. It's not that she doesn't see the need for education; she's just not in a hurry. She seems to be quite a paradox, wanting to exit high school early and get on with her life, but not to go ahead and start college.
Our principal informed our early graduates that they would have to write a letter to the superintendent stating their cases. (I can't imagine any situation in which the student would be DENIED the opportunity to graduate early; I think it's a matter of making them jump through the hoops.) The student I'm writing about has procrastinated and procrastinated writing the letter, and I was on the verge of weighing in AGAINST approving her for early graduation just based on her penchant for being perverse.
She finally came to me today and asked me to read over her letter to the superintendent. I fully expected her letter to be full of falsehoods about her desire to get out of high school and start college. It would be just like her to say what she thought the superintendent wanted to hear. After reading her letter, I looked up at her and said, "No one in his or her right mind would dare deny your appeal."
She explained in her letter that while she understood early admission to college SHOULD be her goal, her ambitions were quite different. She described herself as transgender (a term she had already used in earlier conversations with me, so that part wasn't surprising) and said she needed to save money for the surgeries and treatments that she will have to have. She mentioned her job as a grocery bagger, how much she makes per hour, and how much money she has already managed to save (impressive). She explained how much each operation would potentially cost and how much she would have to pay for hormone treatment. In short, this isn't a passing phase. The girl (?) has done her research.
Her best friend (a guy at our school) refers to her with masculine pronouns, but I just can't retrain myself at this point. She told me she prefers masculine pronouns, but she isn't offended by feminine ones. From the beginning of the school year she requested use of a staff member's private bathroom because using the student ones made her feel "awkward." Yet she didn't feel awkward about asking for special treatment. She's a tiny little thing (she was extremely premature and says she was a "crack baby," not joking), and she's easily mistaken for a boy. I have rushed to (tactfully) correct anyone who referred to her as "he" upon first meeting her. My bad. She already has a name (both first and middle - did her parents know?) that can be either feminine or masculine, so she won't have to deal with a name change.
I'm not offering this story for the purposes of judgment or debate. I can't help but admire her spunk.
One of our students this year is a young ... lady ... who is extremely smart, almost to her detriment. She's passive aggressive, doesn't see the point of following rules that she thinks are stupid, and will sacrifice her grade rather than try to get along with a teacher with whom she doesn't get along. She spent a day out of school yesterday, suspended because she refused to A) go to her math class; and B) take off her hood. (And no, she isn't making a statement about her support for Travon Martin.)
Because our students can progress at their own pace, because this student has never failed a course before, and because she IS so smart, she has already earned enough credits to graduate this year, even though she is in the class of 2013. We've had that happen before, and our school system administrators have a policy that those students must appeal for early graduation by writing a letter to the superintendent. It's not that they are AGAINST students getting out of school early, necessarily. Education is a business, after all, and schools receive money per student from the state school folks. (I wish I could come up with a better noun than "folks," but it is what it is.) If we started allowing mass early graduation, it might ultimately cost the school district money. Personally, I think they would be balanced out by the ones who are on the 5- or 6-year plan, but whatever.
I haven't been able to convince this particular student that she needs to go ahead and go to college. It's not that she doesn't see the need for education; she's just not in a hurry. She seems to be quite a paradox, wanting to exit high school early and get on with her life, but not to go ahead and start college.
Our principal informed our early graduates that they would have to write a letter to the superintendent stating their cases. (I can't imagine any situation in which the student would be DENIED the opportunity to graduate early; I think it's a matter of making them jump through the hoops.) The student I'm writing about has procrastinated and procrastinated writing the letter, and I was on the verge of weighing in AGAINST approving her for early graduation just based on her penchant for being perverse.
She finally came to me today and asked me to read over her letter to the superintendent. I fully expected her letter to be full of falsehoods about her desire to get out of high school and start college. It would be just like her to say what she thought the superintendent wanted to hear. After reading her letter, I looked up at her and said, "No one in his or her right mind would dare deny your appeal."
She explained in her letter that while she understood early admission to college SHOULD be her goal, her ambitions were quite different. She described herself as transgender (a term she had already used in earlier conversations with me, so that part wasn't surprising) and said she needed to save money for the surgeries and treatments that she will have to have. She mentioned her job as a grocery bagger, how much she makes per hour, and how much money she has already managed to save (impressive). She explained how much each operation would potentially cost and how much she would have to pay for hormone treatment. In short, this isn't a passing phase. The girl (?) has done her research.
Her best friend (a guy at our school) refers to her with masculine pronouns, but I just can't retrain myself at this point. She told me she prefers masculine pronouns, but she isn't offended by feminine ones. From the beginning of the school year she requested use of a staff member's private bathroom because using the student ones made her feel "awkward." Yet she didn't feel awkward about asking for special treatment. She's a tiny little thing (she was extremely premature and says she was a "crack baby," not joking), and she's easily mistaken for a boy. I have rushed to (tactfully) correct anyone who referred to her as "he" upon first meeting her. My bad. She already has a name (both first and middle - did her parents know?) that can be either feminine or masculine, so she won't have to deal with a name change.
I'm not offering this story for the purposes of judgment or debate. I can't help but admire her spunk.
Monday, February 27, 2012
Signs of the Apocalypse..... Parts One Through Until Whenever I Get Sick of It......
We had several incidents at school today that prompted me to use the phrase "Signs of the Apocalypse." (By the way, I have YET to type the word "apocalypse" correctly the first time, so it is with a great deal of aggravation that I continue along this theme.) I'm not sure I'm covering them in the order in which they occurred chronologically, but you won't really know the difference, will you?
Sign of the Apocalypse #1 - We had a parent conference scheduled for this afternoon with the parents of a young lady who has missed 8 or 9 out of the last 17 school days. She's very smart, but school isn't her top priority. Her absences tend to coincide with those of her boyfriend. Hmmmmm.... I'm sure that's just happenstance. Anyway, one of our team members called the father to schedule the conference, and the young woman protested that we had no business contacting her parents (with whom she still lives and who, I'm guessing, still provide most of her upkeep, not the least of which must be an astronomical clothing and shoe bill) because she is 18 years old. Had she told me that, I would have laughed RIGHT. IN. HER. FACE. Turns out, due to the new FRPA law (Families' Right to Privacy Act), she is correct. Word came from our superintendent that we may be in violation of the law if we reveal anything to her parents without her consent. WHAT??? Are you KIDDING me? What has our society descended to? (You don't have to answer those rhetorical questions. I'm speechless myself.)
By the way, that's probably the best of the bunch, and I know enough about writing that I'm not supposed to start off with my strongest point, but if you're just tired of my belly-aching about students, don't feel obligated to read any more. Carry on.
Sign of the Apocalypse #2 - One of my students is a young lady who is very diligent about writing down all her quiz questions and thoughtfully highlighting the ones she would like for me to give her the answer to. Since she's already TAKEN the quiz twice at the point she does this, I don't have a huge problem with it. It's more than some of our students are willing to do. Some of them want us to show them the ones they missed and then give a passing grade based on the fact that's what they would like to have. The young lady in question this morning caught me in the middle of a Monday morning bout of grumpiness, however. The first question she had highlighted was about "Gulliver's Travels," something about it means when the prince of Brobdingnag asks Gulliver something blah blah blah blah.
In order to prompt her into coming up with the correct answer herself, I asked, "Well, what DID the prince say when Gulliver brought him the ships?"
Blank stare. I narrowed my eyes at her. "Did you even READ the story?"
"Well, not ALL of it," she retorted indignantly. "Have you SEEN how LONG it is?"
Sign of the Apocalypse #3 - We have a young man who is a sad case. At least if one is inclined to believe ALL of his sad stories, which I am not. SOME PEOPLE are more easily fooled than I and have bent over backward to accommodate him. Need to leave at 2:00 every day to pick up a brother/nephew/cousin from school on time because you're the only one available to do it? No problem. Need to leave in the middle of standardized testing because you've had YET ANOTHER family member die suddenly? (This one burned me up....reportedly a 4-year-old, and he called her a niece one time and a cousin another.) Need to arrive at school every day around 10:00 because our schedule simply doesn't match yours? Hey, just come in when you can!
We had a meeting with this student today regarding his progress (none) in most of his classes. The ones he hasn't officially abandoned, that is. One of our team members felt obligated to point out that things posted on Facebook often become public, and the day he had the emergency during testing, he had posted something along the lines of, "Woo hoo! I'm free! Happy birthday to me!" We were trying to make the point that his FB post did NOT sound like someone who was so overcome by grief that he sobbed and had to leave during testing. His response when we confronted him with the discrepancy? He snorted. HE SNORTED!!! And he said, "Well OF COURSE I'm not coming to school on my birthday." That's when I threw up my hands and said, "I'm done here" and left before I could do something that would cause me to be arrested or lose my job.
And I promise, there's only one more.
Sign of the Apocalypse #4 - Another young man has been to school 4 days this semester. Four. Since January 5th. He is trying to graduate a whole year early (but his trying only comes in spurts), and I believe there really is a hardship in his situation. I don't know his entire background, but he has lots of support personnel both at his home school and with us. We have gone above and beyond to help him. I'm not complaining about that; that's what we're there for, the students at risk for dropping out. It's hard not to like him. He's very polite and well-mannered, and he has a habit of asking for test and quiz retakes if he makes a 90. (For some reason I find that slightly annoying, but I swallow my irritation and try not to let it show.) He showed up today and waited politely while I finished a personal conversation with a co-worker (hey, it WAS still before school, and we DON'T have planning periods) and asked, "Is this still my first period?" I responded, "Yes, if you're still on roll." It was mean, but I couldn't help myself. He just waltzes in without a word of explanation and wants to pick up where he left off?
We had a meeting with him later to address his attendance/graduation situation. He is down needing only about 3 classes, and his response was something along the lines that he knew he could show up in March and finish if he needed to. That kind of irked me. We're flexible, but we like for our students at least to PRETEND to follow a prescribed schedule. We were trying to determine the cause of his lackadaisical (isn't THAT a cool word?) attitude toward school, and someone asked if he had a job. He responded, "I did, but I lost my job. That's why I came back to school." And he chuckled. CHUCKLED! That irked me too! I realize he has a true hardship and more than likely needs that job badly, but he made it sound like he was DOING US A FAVOR by coming back to school. (Forgive me for yelling...I get carried away.) He said he couldn't come to school for a while because "a bunch of things happened." His "bunch of things" included losing a friend, another friend "getting married" (can't figure out why that's tragic and what it has to do with him, but whatever), getting his first car, and needing insurance.
And y'all, this wasn't even a BAD day. Just a somewhat NORMAL day.
Forget Fridays off. Perhaps I need to start taking Mondays off.
Too.
Sign of the Apocalypse #1 - We had a parent conference scheduled for this afternoon with the parents of a young lady who has missed 8 or 9 out of the last 17 school days. She's very smart, but school isn't her top priority. Her absences tend to coincide with those of her boyfriend. Hmmmmm.... I'm sure that's just happenstance. Anyway, one of our team members called the father to schedule the conference, and the young woman protested that we had no business contacting her parents (with whom she still lives and who, I'm guessing, still provide most of her upkeep, not the least of which must be an astronomical clothing and shoe bill) because she is 18 years old. Had she told me that, I would have laughed RIGHT. IN. HER. FACE. Turns out, due to the new FRPA law (Families' Right to Privacy Act), she is correct. Word came from our superintendent that we may be in violation of the law if we reveal anything to her parents without her consent. WHAT??? Are you KIDDING me? What has our society descended to? (You don't have to answer those rhetorical questions. I'm speechless myself.)
By the way, that's probably the best of the bunch, and I know enough about writing that I'm not supposed to start off with my strongest point, but if you're just tired of my belly-aching about students, don't feel obligated to read any more. Carry on.
Sign of the Apocalypse #2 - One of my students is a young lady who is very diligent about writing down all her quiz questions and thoughtfully highlighting the ones she would like for me to give her the answer to. Since she's already TAKEN the quiz twice at the point she does this, I don't have a huge problem with it. It's more than some of our students are willing to do. Some of them want us to show them the ones they missed and then give a passing grade based on the fact that's what they would like to have. The young lady in question this morning caught me in the middle of a Monday morning bout of grumpiness, however. The first question she had highlighted was about "Gulliver's Travels," something about it means when the prince of Brobdingnag asks Gulliver something blah blah blah blah.
In order to prompt her into coming up with the correct answer herself, I asked, "Well, what DID the prince say when Gulliver brought him the ships?"
Blank stare. I narrowed my eyes at her. "Did you even READ the story?"
"Well, not ALL of it," she retorted indignantly. "Have you SEEN how LONG it is?"
Sign of the Apocalypse #3 - We have a young man who is a sad case. At least if one is inclined to believe ALL of his sad stories, which I am not. SOME PEOPLE are more easily fooled than I and have bent over backward to accommodate him. Need to leave at 2:00 every day to pick up a brother/nephew/cousin from school on time because you're the only one available to do it? No problem. Need to leave in the middle of standardized testing because you've had YET ANOTHER family member die suddenly? (This one burned me up....reportedly a 4-year-old, and he called her a niece one time and a cousin another.) Need to arrive at school every day around 10:00 because our schedule simply doesn't match yours? Hey, just come in when you can!
We had a meeting with this student today regarding his progress (none) in most of his classes. The ones he hasn't officially abandoned, that is. One of our team members felt obligated to point out that things posted on Facebook often become public, and the day he had the emergency during testing, he had posted something along the lines of, "Woo hoo! I'm free! Happy birthday to me!" We were trying to make the point that his FB post did NOT sound like someone who was so overcome by grief that he sobbed and had to leave during testing. His response when we confronted him with the discrepancy? He snorted. HE SNORTED!!! And he said, "Well OF COURSE I'm not coming to school on my birthday." That's when I threw up my hands and said, "I'm done here" and left before I could do something that would cause me to be arrested or lose my job.
And I promise, there's only one more.
Sign of the Apocalypse #4 - Another young man has been to school 4 days this semester. Four. Since January 5th. He is trying to graduate a whole year early (but his trying only comes in spurts), and I believe there really is a hardship in his situation. I don't know his entire background, but he has lots of support personnel both at his home school and with us. We have gone above and beyond to help him. I'm not complaining about that; that's what we're there for, the students at risk for dropping out. It's hard not to like him. He's very polite and well-mannered, and he has a habit of asking for test and quiz retakes if he makes a 90. (For some reason I find that slightly annoying, but I swallow my irritation and try not to let it show.) He showed up today and waited politely while I finished a personal conversation with a co-worker (hey, it WAS still before school, and we DON'T have planning periods) and asked, "Is this still my first period?" I responded, "Yes, if you're still on roll." It was mean, but I couldn't help myself. He just waltzes in without a word of explanation and wants to pick up where he left off?
We had a meeting with him later to address his attendance/graduation situation. He is down needing only about 3 classes, and his response was something along the lines that he knew he could show up in March and finish if he needed to. That kind of irked me. We're flexible, but we like for our students at least to PRETEND to follow a prescribed schedule. We were trying to determine the cause of his lackadaisical (isn't THAT a cool word?) attitude toward school, and someone asked if he had a job. He responded, "I did, but I lost my job. That's why I came back to school." And he chuckled. CHUCKLED! That irked me too! I realize he has a true hardship and more than likely needs that job badly, but he made it sound like he was DOING US A FAVOR by coming back to school. (Forgive me for yelling...I get carried away.) He said he couldn't come to school for a while because "a bunch of things happened." His "bunch of things" included losing a friend, another friend "getting married" (can't figure out why that's tragic and what it has to do with him, but whatever), getting his first car, and needing insurance.
And y'all, this wasn't even a BAD day. Just a somewhat NORMAL day.
Forget Fridays off. Perhaps I need to start taking Mondays off.
Too.
Tuesday, February 7, 2012
My Sympathy Tank is Running Low....
Part 1
We have a student at our school who shows up rather infrequently. She lives with a boyfriend and has no other family here, having followed said boyfriend from some distant state. When she does show up, she chooses a corner computer and puts her head down immediately, often sleeping through two or three class changes. Sometimes when she returns from an absence of several days, she wants to "talk to someone about my absences." The only talk I'm really interested in is seeing her make some progress on her courses. Oh yeah, that.
She showed up this morning and appeared to be ticked off that our math teacher wasn't there. (I'm sorry, Little Miss Sunshine, that she has breast cancer and has thereby inconvenienced you.) She said, "Well what do I do if I need to talk to a counselor?"
I had several responses for that, but I bit most of them back. We DO have a part-time counselor, and it just so happened today was one of the days she was there. So I directed Little Miss Sunshine to her office. By this time we are too far apart for normal conversation, so she shouts down the hall, "I've been getting clean! And I have an IEP that says I can leave the classroom anytime I want."
First of all, LMS, you do NOT have an IEP, because those are reserved for students being served by special education. You MAY (but probably don't) have a 504 Plan, a document that allows schools to make accommodations based upon medical conditions. I'm pretty sure drug addiction isn't one of those conditions, but that's not my area of expertise.
Second of all, why make this kind of announcement down the hallway of a high school? There weren't THAT many students present yet, but still. It's like she wanted me to pat her on the head, congratulate her, tell her I'm proud of her.
And I'm not.
I mean, it's all well and good if she is truly turning herself around, but she's the one who put herself in that position in the first place. But I didn't get the sense it was even genuine. It sounded more like the latest in a long string of excuses for why she hasn't been at school. And I can't speak for everyone else, but I've stopped caring.
I don't mean I've stopped caring about ANY of them. I am there to help, support, teach, counsel, scold, advise, and love all the ones who are there to learn and succeed. I'm not going to spend my waning energies on the ones who have a sense of entitlement and don't want to work for anything. Ours is a self-paced, computer-based learning environment. If you want to put your head down and go to sleep, you can't make progress. You don't make progress, you can't graduate. You don't graduate, I'm not going to feel sorry for you. It isn't like you didn't have opportunities.
Part 2 (I know you were hoping I was only kidding about there being more than one part to this rant.)
A young lady came to me today to ask about senior dues and the deadline and all sorts of other information that I painstakingly typed up and posted on the school website so they could ACCESS IT EASILY. She said she couldn't possibly pay all that money by the end of February. I know where this is coming from, too. The teacher at her home high school who is in charge of graduation came to our school last week, and she told them if there were hardship cases, they should talk to Dr. Bragger and she would relay the information. And I truly believe there are some situations that are actual hardships, and I would willingly buy some of them caps and gowns myself in those cases. This girl, though, stood at my desk with that look of entitlement written all over her face, and her body language clearly said she was waiting for me to jump up and do something to fix her problem. Then she justified herself by saying, "I can't afford that. I have a car payment. And a cell phone bill."
Excuse me? You have a cell phone, but paying for your own cap and gown for your high school graduation is a HARDSHIP?
Correction: My sympathy tank is running on fumes.
We have a student at our school who shows up rather infrequently. She lives with a boyfriend and has no other family here, having followed said boyfriend from some distant state. When she does show up, she chooses a corner computer and puts her head down immediately, often sleeping through two or three class changes. Sometimes when she returns from an absence of several days, she wants to "talk to someone about my absences." The only talk I'm really interested in is seeing her make some progress on her courses. Oh yeah, that.
She showed up this morning and appeared to be ticked off that our math teacher wasn't there. (I'm sorry, Little Miss Sunshine, that she has breast cancer and has thereby inconvenienced you.) She said, "Well what do I do if I need to talk to a counselor?"
I had several responses for that, but I bit most of them back. We DO have a part-time counselor, and it just so happened today was one of the days she was there. So I directed Little Miss Sunshine to her office. By this time we are too far apart for normal conversation, so she shouts down the hall, "I've been getting clean! And I have an IEP that says I can leave the classroom anytime I want."
First of all, LMS, you do NOT have an IEP, because those are reserved for students being served by special education. You MAY (but probably don't) have a 504 Plan, a document that allows schools to make accommodations based upon medical conditions. I'm pretty sure drug addiction isn't one of those conditions, but that's not my area of expertise.
Second of all, why make this kind of announcement down the hallway of a high school? There weren't THAT many students present yet, but still. It's like she wanted me to pat her on the head, congratulate her, tell her I'm proud of her.
And I'm not.
I mean, it's all well and good if she is truly turning herself around, but she's the one who put herself in that position in the first place. But I didn't get the sense it was even genuine. It sounded more like the latest in a long string of excuses for why she hasn't been at school. And I can't speak for everyone else, but I've stopped caring.
I don't mean I've stopped caring about ANY of them. I am there to help, support, teach, counsel, scold, advise, and love all the ones who are there to learn and succeed. I'm not going to spend my waning energies on the ones who have a sense of entitlement and don't want to work for anything. Ours is a self-paced, computer-based learning environment. If you want to put your head down and go to sleep, you can't make progress. You don't make progress, you can't graduate. You don't graduate, I'm not going to feel sorry for you. It isn't like you didn't have opportunities.
Part 2 (I know you were hoping I was only kidding about there being more than one part to this rant.)
A young lady came to me today to ask about senior dues and the deadline and all sorts of other information that I painstakingly typed up and posted on the school website so they could ACCESS IT EASILY. She said she couldn't possibly pay all that money by the end of February. I know where this is coming from, too. The teacher at her home high school who is in charge of graduation came to our school last week, and she told them if there were hardship cases, they should talk to Dr. Bragger and she would relay the information. And I truly believe there are some situations that are actual hardships, and I would willingly buy some of them caps and gowns myself in those cases. This girl, though, stood at my desk with that look of entitlement written all over her face, and her body language clearly said she was waiting for me to jump up and do something to fix her problem. Then she justified herself by saying, "I can't afford that. I have a car payment. And a cell phone bill."
Excuse me? You have a cell phone, but paying for your own cap and gown for your high school graduation is a HARDSHIP?
Correction: My sympathy tank is running on fumes.
Wednesday, January 18, 2012
The Doctor is In....Wait....Not....
One of my students came to me yesterday, obviously distressed. She is participating in a weight loss/healthy choices challenge at our school, and she was apparently dismayed to learn that she weighs FIFTY-THREE more pounds than she thought she did.
Of particular concern, though, was her blood pressure, which she said was 146/100. I agreed that was alarming, particularly the bottom number. We discussed some changes she could make, small ones that she could actually put into practice, both to treat the blood pressure and to help her lose weight. I encouraged her to pick very specific things (walk 30 minutes a day rather than "exercise more") and not try to cut out every single bad food all at once.
We talked for a few minutes, and I think I succeeded in making her feel better. As we were wrapping up the conversation, she thanked me and said, "I couldn't even concentrate on my work. I told myself I had to go talk to Dr. [Bragger]."
Holy mother of all that's good.
I hope she doesn't think I'm THAT kind of doctor.
Of particular concern, though, was her blood pressure, which she said was 146/100. I agreed that was alarming, particularly the bottom number. We discussed some changes she could make, small ones that she could actually put into practice, both to treat the blood pressure and to help her lose weight. I encouraged her to pick very specific things (walk 30 minutes a day rather than "exercise more") and not try to cut out every single bad food all at once.
We talked for a few minutes, and I think I succeeded in making her feel better. As we were wrapping up the conversation, she thanked me and said, "I couldn't even concentrate on my work. I told myself I had to go talk to Dr. [Bragger]."
Holy mother of all that's good.
I hope she doesn't think I'm THAT kind of doctor.
Tuesday, October 18, 2011
And THAT'S What Is Wrong with Teenagers Today....
Our county seems to have a higher than average number of teen pregnancies, and a lot of the moms and moms-to-be wind up coming to our school, either for the flexibility our school allows or just to get away from the regular high school environment. (My "favorite" was the girl and her mom, whom I wrote about before, who wanted to come to our school only for the pregnancy, then return to the regular high school to have a "normal" senior year, including cheerleading.)
I've written before about how conflicted I feel about these girls. We want to support them and help them get finished with high school so they can (we hope we hope we hope we hope) continue their education and provide for their babies. I worry that we send the wrong message, though. The girls show up with their babies, we ooh and aah over them, and the rest of the school population sees them getting all this attention.
(My next-to-favorite was from THIS school year, when a girl gave birth to a baby on Friday and then showed up with him at school on MONDAY, as if it were freakin' SHOW AND TELL or something. Sheesh.)
I said all that to point out that it isn't at all unusual for several of our students to be expecting babies at any given moment. Smart, dumb, white, black, gorgeous, homely, there is a LOT of teen sex going on in our county. Unprotected teen sex at that.
One of our girls (who I am convinced is as cray-cray as they get and has already been suspended twice, once for fighting and once for asking a teacher "who the f*** do you think you are?") is pregnant, and like many of our population (I guess like many of this generation period), she lives with her grandmother.
I heard her discussing her unborn child with some of her friends while they were going to lunch one day last week. (At least one of the friends is pregnant too, and I'm afraid that's part of the unending cycle, a competition of sorts.) This cray-cray pregger girl was saying that if HER child got pregnant as a teenager, she would "put her out." In other words, kick her out of the house.
Huh?
I was drawn into the conversation, and her friends asked if I agreed with them that the girl in question was practicing a double standard. (That's my term, not theirs.) I asked her if that meant she thought her grandmother should have put HER out.
"No," she said, "parenting is different for me."
Huh?
Wow. Even for a cray-cray, I was amazed. She wan't being funny either.
That's just the way she rolls. Sadly, she isn't the only one.
I've written before about how conflicted I feel about these girls. We want to support them and help them get finished with high school so they can (we hope we hope we hope we hope) continue their education and provide for their babies. I worry that we send the wrong message, though. The girls show up with their babies, we ooh and aah over them, and the rest of the school population sees them getting all this attention.
(My next-to-favorite was from THIS school year, when a girl gave birth to a baby on Friday and then showed up with him at school on MONDAY, as if it were freakin' SHOW AND TELL or something. Sheesh.)
I said all that to point out that it isn't at all unusual for several of our students to be expecting babies at any given moment. Smart, dumb, white, black, gorgeous, homely, there is a LOT of teen sex going on in our county. Unprotected teen sex at that.
One of our girls (who I am convinced is as cray-cray as they get and has already been suspended twice, once for fighting and once for asking a teacher "who the f*** do you think you are?") is pregnant, and like many of our population (I guess like many of this generation period), she lives with her grandmother.
I heard her discussing her unborn child with some of her friends while they were going to lunch one day last week. (At least one of the friends is pregnant too, and I'm afraid that's part of the unending cycle, a competition of sorts.) This cray-cray pregger girl was saying that if HER child got pregnant as a teenager, she would "put her out." In other words, kick her out of the house.
Huh?
I was drawn into the conversation, and her friends asked if I agreed with them that the girl in question was practicing a double standard. (That's my term, not theirs.) I asked her if that meant she thought her grandmother should have put HER out.
"No," she said, "parenting is different for me."
Huh?
Wow. Even for a cray-cray, I was amazed. She wan't being funny either.
That's just the way she rolls. Sadly, she isn't the only one.
Wednesday, February 16, 2011
I Think I Can Give You a Diagnosis......
***Warning - This post may offend any of you diagnosed with or acquainted with anyone who has been diagnosed with bi-polar disorder, ADD, ADHD, panic attacks, or anxiety.***
If I have to sit through ONE MORE INTERVIEW with a teenager who wants to come to our school because he or she cannot deal with the "stress" of high school or experiences "panic attacks" in the lunchroom or needs to be away from the distractions of the traditional high school because he or she has ADD or ADHD or some other combination of those letters, I may. just. go. ballistic.
But I'll call it a panic attack, so it will be okay.
Please don't get me wrong. It's not that I am trivializing any of these disorders, nor do I think they don't exist. This
And the parents?
They buy into it, because it's much easier to blame a disorder than it is to do the hard work called parenting.
I sat and listened to a parent today who said her son needed to come to our school with its smaller environment because, "I had to go pick him up at school one day because he had a panic attack."
I tried to picture that happening when I was in school. I can just imagine them calling my mother AT WORK to come get me at school because I was having a PANIC ATTACK. When she got to the school, there would definitely be a panic attack going on. I would be in a panic to see just how fast I could get my ass back in that school rather than let Mama get her hands on me.
I take issue with teenagers being diagnosed with bipolar disorder, because the symptoms of bipolar disorder are "shifts in mood, energy, thinking, and behavior."
What a big old bag of duh. Those are the exact same symptoms of being a TEENAGER. I will again apologize in the event I am offending anyone who suffers from one of these disorders. It's teenagers and their parents' use of these labels to EXCUSE them that gets my goat.
What ever happened to "suck it up and go to school"?
My mother's favorite expression? "I'll give you something to be depressed ABOUT." (She doesn't believe in depression as an adult disorder, either.) I'm sensitive to people who suffer from depression, but I also realize that most of them find a way to be productive. Sitting in a corner and sucking their thumbs isn't an option, but a lot of the teens we deal with haven't been told that.
ADD? In my youth, Mama had a very effective way of making SURE we could devote our attention to tasks like chores and schoolwork. It was called a backhand, and she was ambidextrous when it came to employing it.
Hyperactive? By the time you get through scrubbing that floor, you won't have the energy to be hyper anymore. And if you do, I've got a long list of OTHER things you can do.
Anxiety? Try not having that house cleaned when I get home from work, and you will get to experience an entirely new level of anxiety.
I think I'll stop now before I offend every single person who stops by here. I apologize for my negative attitude. It was a long day in the School of Misfit Toys today.
Wednesday, December 8, 2010
If Only I Had a Whole Bunch of Money........
Even in our little bitty school (population 75 or so), we hear heart-breaking stories far too often from kids who have been "kicked out" of their houses by their parents.
Every time I hear a student say he or she has been "kicked out" of the house, I put that phrase in quotation marks even in my mind. Because as a parent, I simply cannot conceive of the idea of telling my child, no matter how horrid (and my child was FAR from horrid, thank you God again today), to hit the streets.
I realize we are talking about different cultures, so to speak. Family values (or lack thereof) these days are foreign to those I grew up with. With which I grew up. Whatever. I didn't have a white picket fence upbringing, and I rode the school bus to visit my brother in jail after school some days, but I was certain I would always have a home to return to at the end of the day. I could count on my mother coming home from her job, even if she DID happen to be in a bad mood. (I learned over the years that the lipstick was the telltale sign. If her lipstick was gone, I should give her a wide berth, and the house had BETTER be cleaned up. If she had on fresh lipstick, it was safe to approach.) I knew my mother wasn't on drugs and wouldn't be in jail when I needed money for a prom dress. She might raise hell when I asked for the money, but I don't remember ever going without something I needed. Or a lot I wanted. In fact, she made me a dress for one particular prom, and I had been SUSPENDED FROM SCHOOL for two days that week. Maybe she SHOULD have kicked me to the curb. Too late now, Mom.
One of our students this year is a bright girl, other than the fact that she has a baby. I don't hold that against her; that's another difference in the culture. She is trying to do right by her baby, and she has had a mountain of things stacked against her. According to our school social worker, the doctors messed this girl up BADLY when she gave birth. In her words, she doesn't "even know if anything is in the right place." We're talking anatomy here folks. Anyway, "Autumn," we'll call her, has been a joy to have in our school. She's hard-working, and she truly wants to LEARN, as opposed to those who just want to GET IT DONE.
Autumn disappeared about midway through the semester. Apparently there were child care issues. We made the decision to allow her to work from home, as long as she progressed, and she vowed to continue working on childcare for her baby girl. She HAS worked, and she has mostly stayed in touch with her advisor. Then we heard from another student that she had been "kicked out" of her house, and she had also had surgery. We contacted the social worker, who called the mother, and the mother verified that she had indeed kicked her daughter -- and granddaughter -- out of the house. A daughter who is not yet 18 years old, and a baby girl who is 13 months old. How do you DO that? I realize there are problems of which I am blissfully ignorant, and I don't know how much hell this daughter has likely put her mother through. I only know the sweet side of the girl. But still. I keep picturing that 13-month-old baby girl, bouncing with her mother between the homes of two friends, either of whom could decide on a whim that it isn't convenient for Autumn to stay there either.
The mother then went and brought her daughter and granddaughter home yesterday. Perhaps she was shamed by the social worker's call? I know I would have been.
Finally, I'm getting around to the point of this post.
If I had a whole bunch of money, I would buy a house just for students like these. The girls with babies who don't have anywhere to go. The ones who have been kicked out of their houses but still want to pursue their educations. Even the young men who are trying to work full-time jobs and earn those last few units toward their diplomas. I would buy a house with four or five bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. The requirements to live in the house would be that they had to assist with the upkeep of the house by doing chores, and they would have to attend school unless they were genuinely sick. I might have someone live there and act as a house mother, perhaps even someone qualified to keep the babies while the mamas go to school. Students who graduated and moved on to a job, college, or the military could return and serve as mentors for new crops of students. Any activities involving drugs or alcohol would result in removal from the house (I guess I would "kick them out" too?), as would any criminal activity. I wouldn't want to be a parent to them, though. I would want them to live independently, and I would hope they would take pride in their living quarters and take care of them. I would help them learn how to manage a household (they could learn right along with me, I guess) and other life skills that school doesn't really teach that well.
That's my pipe dream for today.
Every time I hear a student say he or she has been "kicked out" of the house, I put that phrase in quotation marks even in my mind. Because as a parent, I simply cannot conceive of the idea of telling my child, no matter how horrid (and my child was FAR from horrid, thank you God again today), to hit the streets.
I realize we are talking about different cultures, so to speak. Family values (or lack thereof) these days are foreign to those I grew up with. With which I grew up. Whatever. I didn't have a white picket fence upbringing, and I rode the school bus to visit my brother in jail after school some days, but I was certain I would always have a home to return to at the end of the day. I could count on my mother coming home from her job, even if she DID happen to be in a bad mood. (I learned over the years that the lipstick was the telltale sign. If her lipstick was gone, I should give her a wide berth, and the house had BETTER be cleaned up. If she had on fresh lipstick, it was safe to approach.) I knew my mother wasn't on drugs and wouldn't be in jail when I needed money for a prom dress. She might raise hell when I asked for the money, but I don't remember ever going without something I needed. Or a lot I wanted. In fact, she made me a dress for one particular prom, and I had been SUSPENDED FROM SCHOOL for two days that week. Maybe she SHOULD have kicked me to the curb. Too late now, Mom.
One of our students this year is a bright girl, other than the fact that she has a baby. I don't hold that against her; that's another difference in the culture. She is trying to do right by her baby, and she has had a mountain of things stacked against her. According to our school social worker, the doctors messed this girl up BADLY when she gave birth. In her words, she doesn't "even know if anything is in the right place." We're talking anatomy here folks. Anyway, "Autumn," we'll call her, has been a joy to have in our school. She's hard-working, and she truly wants to LEARN, as opposed to those who just want to GET IT DONE.
Autumn disappeared about midway through the semester. Apparently there were child care issues. We made the decision to allow her to work from home, as long as she progressed, and she vowed to continue working on childcare for her baby girl. She HAS worked, and she has mostly stayed in touch with her advisor. Then we heard from another student that she had been "kicked out" of her house, and she had also had surgery. We contacted the social worker, who called the mother, and the mother verified that she had indeed kicked her daughter -- and granddaughter -- out of the house. A daughter who is not yet 18 years old, and a baby girl who is 13 months old. How do you DO that? I realize there are problems of which I am blissfully ignorant, and I don't know how much hell this daughter has likely put her mother through. I only know the sweet side of the girl. But still. I keep picturing that 13-month-old baby girl, bouncing with her mother between the homes of two friends, either of whom could decide on a whim that it isn't convenient for Autumn to stay there either.
The mother then went and brought her daughter and granddaughter home yesterday. Perhaps she was shamed by the social worker's call? I know I would have been.
Finally, I'm getting around to the point of this post.
If I had a whole bunch of money, I would buy a house just for students like these. The girls with babies who don't have anywhere to go. The ones who have been kicked out of their houses but still want to pursue their educations. Even the young men who are trying to work full-time jobs and earn those last few units toward their diplomas. I would buy a house with four or five bedrooms, each with its own bathroom. The requirements to live in the house would be that they had to assist with the upkeep of the house by doing chores, and they would have to attend school unless they were genuinely sick. I might have someone live there and act as a house mother, perhaps even someone qualified to keep the babies while the mamas go to school. Students who graduated and moved on to a job, college, or the military could return and serve as mentors for new crops of students. Any activities involving drugs or alcohol would result in removal from the house (I guess I would "kick them out" too?), as would any criminal activity. I wouldn't want to be a parent to them, though. I would want them to live independently, and I would hope they would take pride in their living quarters and take care of them. I would help them learn how to manage a household (they could learn right along with me, I guess) and other life skills that school doesn't really teach that well.
That's my pipe dream for today.
Tuesday, November 30, 2010
Excuses, Excuses......
As a teacher, naturally I've heard some doozies as far as excuses go. We had one earlier this school year that made me laugh out loud. When our students check in to school tardy, they pick up a tardy slip in the front office, fill it out, and (theoretically) have someone in the front office sign it. There's a line on there where students are supposed to indicate the reason for their tardiness. You would be amazed at how many of them put "Late" as their reason. That drives me crazy.
One of our precious girls came in late one morning, and under "Reason for Tardy" she had written "Cow got out." She is a member of FFA, and she has a cow that she takes to shows. She went by to feed the cow on her way to school, and it was out of its pen. Naturally it was pouring rain that morning too. How can you not excuse her, when clearly she had to retrieve the wayward cow?
One girl who rarely bothers to write anything on her tardy slip because she knows that "sorriness" won't be excused anyway handed me a slip one morning, and she had uncharacteristically written a reason for her tardiness. "My mom is crazy," she had written. I thought to myself, "Hello, Pot. Have you met Mr. Kettle?" But I didn't say it out loud, because she DOES have the cray-cray going on, and she missed several days because she was incarcerated. She would have no problem at all jacking me up.
This week we had what may be the most jaw-dropping ever, though. This guy came to our school later in the year, when he realized that he couldn't possibly get all the credits he needed at the home school. Actually, we had to point that out to him. He wanted to wait and come to us next semester, when he would need 8 credits. Eight. As in a whole year's worth. Whatever. We should have known something about him when we asked in the interview if he could start the next day. He hesitated, looked a little uncertain, and then said, "Can we make it the day after? I need to say goodbye to all my friends." He is charming but lazy, and he disappeared not long after he started. He stayed gone a week, then showed back up, looking sheepish. He was apologetic and honest about how he had screwed up, but it was still early enough that he could get his credits. His attendance has been spotty, and he missed another entire week. His sister is his main custodian, and I think she's got more than she can handle. Anyway, he showed up yesterday after a lengthy absence, and we cornered him immediately because we needed to handle a disciplinary referral regarding his leaving campus without permission. (We suspended him for a day. What kind of punishment is that for a kid who doesn't want to come anyway? We're sort of at our wits' ends.) When we gathered in the office, we asked him where he had been for the week before Thanksgiving.
Are you sure you're ready for this?
"My blackheads. My face was all scabbed over." (It couldn't possibly have been.)
Seriously? I know adolescence is a tough time, but are you seriously going to stay out of school for an entire week because of some blackheads?
These damn kids.
One of our precious girls came in late one morning, and under "Reason for Tardy" she had written "Cow got out." She is a member of FFA, and she has a cow that she takes to shows. She went by to feed the cow on her way to school, and it was out of its pen. Naturally it was pouring rain that morning too. How can you not excuse her, when clearly she had to retrieve the wayward cow?
One girl who rarely bothers to write anything on her tardy slip because she knows that "sorriness" won't be excused anyway handed me a slip one morning, and she had uncharacteristically written a reason for her tardiness. "My mom is crazy," she had written. I thought to myself, "Hello, Pot. Have you met Mr. Kettle?" But I didn't say it out loud, because she DOES have the cray-cray going on, and she missed several days because she was incarcerated. She would have no problem at all jacking me up.
This week we had what may be the most jaw-dropping ever, though. This guy came to our school later in the year, when he realized that he couldn't possibly get all the credits he needed at the home school. Actually, we had to point that out to him. He wanted to wait and come to us next semester, when he would need 8 credits. Eight. As in a whole year's worth. Whatever. We should have known something about him when we asked in the interview if he could start the next day. He hesitated, looked a little uncertain, and then said, "Can we make it the day after? I need to say goodbye to all my friends." He is charming but lazy, and he disappeared not long after he started. He stayed gone a week, then showed back up, looking sheepish. He was apologetic and honest about how he had screwed up, but it was still early enough that he could get his credits. His attendance has been spotty, and he missed another entire week. His sister is his main custodian, and I think she's got more than she can handle. Anyway, he showed up yesterday after a lengthy absence, and we cornered him immediately because we needed to handle a disciplinary referral regarding his leaving campus without permission. (We suspended him for a day. What kind of punishment is that for a kid who doesn't want to come anyway? We're sort of at our wits' ends.) When we gathered in the office, we asked him where he had been for the week before Thanksgiving.
Are you sure you're ready for this?
"My blackheads. My face was all scabbed over." (It couldn't possibly have been.)
Seriously? I know adolescence is a tough time, but are you seriously going to stay out of school for an entire week because of some blackheads?
These damn kids.
Tuesday, October 12, 2010
Sleep Deprivation......
I have been sleep deprived three out of the last four nights, all because of baseball. On Friday night I stayed up until 1:45 AM to watch the Braves-Giants game, which went into extra innings. I reasoned that I didn't have to get up Saturday morning, so I could stay up as late as I wanted.
When I went to bed, I was too excited to sleep because of the thrilling way the game ended.
Bear with me here, particularly you non-sports fans. It gets worse.
Sunday's game actually ended at a reasonable time, around 7:30 or 8:00, but I was so disappointed with the way it ended that I. Could. Not. Go. To. Sleep. I would doze off and then jerk awake with the knowledge that the Braves had lost, and then I would start grieving all over again. This went on for several hours. It was well after 11:00 PM before I went to sleep, and I had to get up at 5:00 AM yesterday to go back to school. Eleven o'clock is extreme for a girl who is used to going to bed at 8:00.
Oddly enough, I wasn't as upset when last night's game ended, although it decided the series with the Giants and ended the Braves' season. I had come to grips with the fact that our team is plagued with injuries, we have committed numerous errors over the course of the past few games, and I didn't think we could beat the Phillies in the NLCS anyway. The game was over around 10:30, still late for me, and I snapped the tv off just as soon as the last out was recorded. I couldn't stand to watch the Giants players celebrate. On our home field.
But I still couldn't sleep. I didn't grieve over the loss, trying to see the positives in Bobby Cox's last season, but I couldn't let it go. I would just about doze off and then I would find myself thinking, "If only he had....." "If only this had happened...." "If only (fill in the blank) weren't injured..."
LET IT GO, BRAGGER. IT'S OVER!!!!!!
I finally got out of bed and took two nighttime pain capsules sometime after midnight. I just had to get some sleep. I knew it was a bad idea to take those only four and a half hours before I had to get up, but I HAD TO GET SOME SLEEP.
When I am sleep deprived and have to go to school, I don't react the way that would seem natural. I don't get irritable or grouchy. In fact, I sort of go into an exaggerated calmness, showing a lot more patience than usual. I speak more slowly, I take time to explain things to my students. Today I found myself joking and kidding around with a girl in my class whom I. CANNOT. STAND. I know that those of you who know me find that hard to believe. I function almost as normal, but then I crash and burn. I taught all day with extra students in my room due to the absence of one of our staff members (subs are difficult to find for our school), I sat through a meeting this afternoon and actually tried to participate, I came home and insisted that Hubby and I go walk in the park, I cooked dinner, I cleaned the kitchen, and I taught my online class.
I can feel the crash and burn coming.
And I'm not taking any chances either. I have already taken my nighttime capsules and have allowed them plenty of time to kick in before I go to bed.
One effect that I have noticed of being sleep deprived, however, is that I tend to be more emotional. Emotional as in tender-hearted, not emotional as in I'm-going-to-cut-your-head-off-and-pour-salt-down-your-neck. I know those of you who know me find that hard to believe too.
First thing this morning one of our students wanted to meet with the teachers. He is one of those very hard-to-like students who has already been suspended twice for playing on the internet when he should be working. He looks a little grimy, he smells a little bad, and almost none of the adults can stand him. For some reason I have a soft spot in my heart for him. It could be that he has the same first name as Hubby. This is the very same student who pulled up next to me in his car when I was riding my bike last Friday. But I liked him before that. Anyway, he hates school, school is difficult for him, paying attention is a struggle, and he isn't motivated. He wants to quit and get his GED (he's 18 years old with only 5 units, which is what a high school freshman should have), but he can't even afford the fees to take the GED tests. He would like to go to a home-school type school in our area that allows students to complete packets of work at home and get their credits that way, but they charge around $45 per week for each class. He can't afford that either. He can't afford his ADHD medication. His dad has been to Savannah to dry out. He needs to get a job, but jobs for young people are scarce to non-existent in our area at the moment, as they are all over the country. He wanted to tell us what he was thinking, but he wasn't expecting us to fix anything for him. I admired him for wanting to talk to us. Some kids just drop out and then drop out of sight. He cried while he was talking to us, and that always makes ME cry. Even when I'm NOT sleep-deprived. He asked to be allowed to go home and think about things, and of course we couldn't say no.
Then I got an email from a girl who is in my advisement group who has also had a tough time. Her mother died when she was very young, and she's never had a good relationship with her father. She has lived with her grandmother most of her life, but now the grandmother has "kicked her out." (I am always a little skeptical of that phrase, because sometimes it means that the adult has said "If you can't follow my rules....." and the teen doesn't want to follow ANYONE'S rules.) She is living with her boyfriend in an apartment, but she doesn't have a car. Her grandmother and aunts have refused to take her back and forth to school. She is THREE STINKING CREDITS away from graduation, and she has finished most of TWO OF THOSE. All she has to do in one of them is a project, take a state-mandated end-of-course test in the other, and she has to suffer through the rest of English Literature. But she's talking about dropping out. She has passed all our state-mandated graduation tests, which is more than a lot of kids can say who get to walk across the stage but don't get a diploma. Don't even get me started on that topic. But this girl has jumped through almost all the hoops, the odds are stacked incredibly against her, and she is so close to that diploma that she can smell it. I have offered to go get her a couple of days a week if she can get a ride home, a blatant violation of our school board policy (but my principal tacitly agreed that I could do it), and she said she would let me know if that will work.
These kids are breaking my heart. More later......
When I went to bed, I was too excited to sleep because of the thrilling way the game ended.
Bear with me here, particularly you non-sports fans. It gets worse.
Sunday's game actually ended at a reasonable time, around 7:30 or 8:00, but I was so disappointed with the way it ended that I. Could. Not. Go. To. Sleep. I would doze off and then jerk awake with the knowledge that the Braves had lost, and then I would start grieving all over again. This went on for several hours. It was well after 11:00 PM before I went to sleep, and I had to get up at 5:00 AM yesterday to go back to school. Eleven o'clock is extreme for a girl who is used to going to bed at 8:00.
Oddly enough, I wasn't as upset when last night's game ended, although it decided the series with the Giants and ended the Braves' season. I had come to grips with the fact that our team is plagued with injuries, we have committed numerous errors over the course of the past few games, and I didn't think we could beat the Phillies in the NLCS anyway. The game was over around 10:30, still late for me, and I snapped the tv off just as soon as the last out was recorded. I couldn't stand to watch the Giants players celebrate. On our home field.
But I still couldn't sleep. I didn't grieve over the loss, trying to see the positives in Bobby Cox's last season, but I couldn't let it go. I would just about doze off and then I would find myself thinking, "If only he had....." "If only this had happened...." "If only (fill in the blank) weren't injured..."
LET IT GO, BRAGGER. IT'S OVER!!!!!!
I finally got out of bed and took two nighttime pain capsules sometime after midnight. I just had to get some sleep. I knew it was a bad idea to take those only four and a half hours before I had to get up, but I HAD TO GET SOME SLEEP.
When I am sleep deprived and have to go to school, I don't react the way that would seem natural. I don't get irritable or grouchy. In fact, I sort of go into an exaggerated calmness, showing a lot more patience than usual. I speak more slowly, I take time to explain things to my students. Today I found myself joking and kidding around with a girl in my class whom I. CANNOT. STAND. I know that those of you who know me find that hard to believe. I function almost as normal, but then I crash and burn. I taught all day with extra students in my room due to the absence of one of our staff members (subs are difficult to find for our school), I sat through a meeting this afternoon and actually tried to participate, I came home and insisted that Hubby and I go walk in the park, I cooked dinner, I cleaned the kitchen, and I taught my online class.
I can feel the crash and burn coming.
And I'm not taking any chances either. I have already taken my nighttime capsules and have allowed them plenty of time to kick in before I go to bed.
One effect that I have noticed of being sleep deprived, however, is that I tend to be more emotional. Emotional as in tender-hearted, not emotional as in I'm-going-to-cut-your-head-off-and-pour-salt-down-your-neck. I know those of you who know me find that hard to believe too.
First thing this morning one of our students wanted to meet with the teachers. He is one of those very hard-to-like students who has already been suspended twice for playing on the internet when he should be working. He looks a little grimy, he smells a little bad, and almost none of the adults can stand him. For some reason I have a soft spot in my heart for him. It could be that he has the same first name as Hubby. This is the very same student who pulled up next to me in his car when I was riding my bike last Friday. But I liked him before that. Anyway, he hates school, school is difficult for him, paying attention is a struggle, and he isn't motivated. He wants to quit and get his GED (he's 18 years old with only 5 units, which is what a high school freshman should have), but he can't even afford the fees to take the GED tests. He would like to go to a home-school type school in our area that allows students to complete packets of work at home and get their credits that way, but they charge around $45 per week for each class. He can't afford that either. He can't afford his ADHD medication. His dad has been to Savannah to dry out. He needs to get a job, but jobs for young people are scarce to non-existent in our area at the moment, as they are all over the country. He wanted to tell us what he was thinking, but he wasn't expecting us to fix anything for him. I admired him for wanting to talk to us. Some kids just drop out and then drop out of sight. He cried while he was talking to us, and that always makes ME cry. Even when I'm NOT sleep-deprived. He asked to be allowed to go home and think about things, and of course we couldn't say no.
Then I got an email from a girl who is in my advisement group who has also had a tough time. Her mother died when she was very young, and she's never had a good relationship with her father. She has lived with her grandmother most of her life, but now the grandmother has "kicked her out." (I am always a little skeptical of that phrase, because sometimes it means that the adult has said "If you can't follow my rules....." and the teen doesn't want to follow ANYONE'S rules.) She is living with her boyfriend in an apartment, but she doesn't have a car. Her grandmother and aunts have refused to take her back and forth to school. She is THREE STINKING CREDITS away from graduation, and she has finished most of TWO OF THOSE. All she has to do in one of them is a project, take a state-mandated end-of-course test in the other, and she has to suffer through the rest of English Literature. But she's talking about dropping out. She has passed all our state-mandated graduation tests, which is more than a lot of kids can say who get to walk across the stage but don't get a diploma. Don't even get me started on that topic. But this girl has jumped through almost all the hoops, the odds are stacked incredibly against her, and she is so close to that diploma that she can smell it. I have offered to go get her a couple of days a week if she can get a ride home, a blatant violation of our school board policy (but my principal tacitly agreed that I could do it), and she said she would let me know if that will work.
These kids are breaking my heart. More later......
Sunday, May 16, 2010
No Sense of Urgency......
Tomorrow starts our last week of school for this year.
Pause for applause. Perhaps a happy dance. And a margarita or two.
Some of our students are still in limbo as far as graduation is concerned. They have until Wednesday to finish their coursework, because that's when grades are due for seniors.
One of them went with us on a recruiting visit Friday and THEN SKIPPED THE REST OF THE DAY.
One went outside for our picnic/nature center dedication and had to be dragged back inside KICKING AND SCREAMING to do her coursework. We had just met with her the day before, when she said she really needed to buckle down and work really hard. We had to wake her up to have the meeting.
One emailed us for the umpteenth time on Friday to let us know she would be late because step-mom just had a baby and had a Caesarean and can't drive and she had to take her and blah blah blah blah blah blah. She never showed. Then she emailed me for a test retake. She became irate at my response that she did not have permission to work from home instead of coming to school.
Then there is one girl who was pitifully behind last week. Attendance has been deplorable, excuses have been abundant. She turned to me on Thursday and said, "I need you to give me my cumulative exam, please."
"Sure, no prob...." Wait. Wasn't she just at like 43% of her course a couple of days ago? I was suspicious.
Then I checked her online attendance log.
On Tuesday of last week, she worked on her computer curriculum for 19 hours. On Wednesday she spent 13 hours and 53 minutes. On Thursday she was down to a measly 11 hours and 41 minutes. Her total usage for last week was 68 hours and 29 minutes.
Apparently her mother was dismayed at the news that she would probably not graduate, and she (perhaps theoretically, perhaps literally) chained her to her computer.
I told her I was impressed, but I had no sympathy.
"I know," she said, "I did it to myself."
Still, at least SHE has a sense of urgency.
Some of the others?
Not so much.
Pause for applause. Perhaps a happy dance. And a margarita or two.
Some of our students are still in limbo as far as graduation is concerned. They have until Wednesday to finish their coursework, because that's when grades are due for seniors.
One of them went with us on a recruiting visit Friday and THEN SKIPPED THE REST OF THE DAY.
One went outside for our picnic/nature center dedication and had to be dragged back inside KICKING AND SCREAMING to do her coursework. We had just met with her the day before, when she said she really needed to buckle down and work really hard. We had to wake her up to have the meeting.
One emailed us for the umpteenth time on Friday to let us know she would be late because step-mom just had a baby and had a Caesarean and can't drive and she had to take her and blah blah blah blah blah blah. She never showed. Then she emailed me for a test retake. She became irate at my response that she did not have permission to work from home instead of coming to school.
Then there is one girl who was pitifully behind last week. Attendance has been deplorable, excuses have been abundant. She turned to me on Thursday and said, "I need you to give me my cumulative exam, please."
"Sure, no prob...." Wait. Wasn't she just at like 43% of her course a couple of days ago? I was suspicious.
Then I checked her online attendance log.
On Tuesday of last week, she worked on her computer curriculum for 19 hours. On Wednesday she spent 13 hours and 53 minutes. On Thursday she was down to a measly 11 hours and 41 minutes. Her total usage for last week was 68 hours and 29 minutes.
Apparently her mother was dismayed at the news that she would probably not graduate, and she (perhaps theoretically, perhaps literally) chained her to her computer.
I told her I was impressed, but I had no sympathy.
"I know," she said, "I did it to myself."
Still, at least SHE has a sense of urgency.
Some of the others?
Not so much.
Thursday, April 1, 2010
Another Sign of the Apocalypse.......
Or perhaps just another sign that our students are losing their collective mind.
(If it's collective, is it one mind? Or should it be plural?) Hmmmmm.....
This incident is from one of the students from whom we never hear a peep. Sometimes literally, because he can't seem to come to school all that often. When he is there, he works steadily, behind his curtain of hair, and rarely says a word. He's not a problem student.
Today I saw him when he checked in around 10:00 or so. I knew he was there.
When 11:00 came and it was time for him to be in my class, he wasn't there. I gave it a few minutes, because sometimes students are finishing up things in other classes and neglect to come tell me they'll be a couple of minutes late. It's no biggie.
He didn't come to class, and he didn't come to class, so finally I emailed my co-workers.
"He was just in my 2nd period," came the reply.
"Not here now," I emailed back.
About 30 minutes later, he walked in my room.
Here is the conversation that ensued:
Me: Billy Bob? [That's not his real name. Names have been changed to protect the stupid.] Where were you?
Billy Bob: I was going to play hooky, but I changed my mind. [This would be perfectly normal coming from some of our students. Billy Bob, however, is not one to joke around. He wouldn't waste the energy.]
Me: No, really.
Billy Bob: Really. I was all the way at the BP station on 211, but I turned around and came back.
I can't decide whether it was an April Fools' joke or not.
(If it's collective, is it one mind? Or should it be plural?) Hmmmmm.....
This incident is from one of the students from whom we never hear a peep. Sometimes literally, because he can't seem to come to school all that often. When he is there, he works steadily, behind his curtain of hair, and rarely says a word. He's not a problem student.
Today I saw him when he checked in around 10:00 or so. I knew he was there.
When 11:00 came and it was time for him to be in my class, he wasn't there. I gave it a few minutes, because sometimes students are finishing up things in other classes and neglect to come tell me they'll be a couple of minutes late. It's no biggie.
He didn't come to class, and he didn't come to class, so finally I emailed my co-workers.
"He was just in my 2nd period," came the reply.
"Not here now," I emailed back.
About 30 minutes later, he walked in my room.
Here is the conversation that ensued:
Me: Billy Bob? [That's not his real name. Names have been changed to protect the stupid.] Where were you?
Billy Bob: I was going to play hooky, but I changed my mind. [This would be perfectly normal coming from some of our students. Billy Bob, however, is not one to joke around. He wouldn't waste the energy.]
Me: No, really.
Billy Bob: Really. I was all the way at the BP station on 211, but I turned around and came back.
I can't decide whether it was an April Fools' joke or not.
Friday, March 5, 2010
Full Moon was LAST Week....
I don't know if it's the spring-like weather or what, but our kids have been a little harder to manage than usual this week. First, when we took them on a field trip, some of them acted like it was their first time off the farm. Second, they have been sillier than usual, slapping and hitting at each other like they're in third grade.
Might I remind you that I teach high school? And mostly juniors and seniors? Well, at least the age juniors and seniors should be.
Third, they don't yet feel the pressure of time passing them by.
We had a little assembly today (we call it Morning Motivation), and we gave them the speech about needing to work seriously, seniors needing to graduate, 50 school days left, yada yada yada. A couple of them looked panic-stricken, but mostly they just looked like we might be talking to the people sitting next to them.
On a positive note, I had Hubby take me and my bicycle to school this morning, so riding it was the only way I could get home. How's THAT for incentive? It was only an 8.5 mile ride home, but I figure if I do that a couple of times a week, at least I can get SOME miles in. I'm not really helping the environment, since Hubby has to drive me over there, but what the hey.....
At least it's the weekend. And 50 school days left sounds pretty darn good about now.
Ten more Mondays.
Forty more days to decide what to wear. (Ten Fridays means ten blue jeans days.)
If I subtract the two personal days I already KNOW I'm going to take.....
Summer break will be here before we know it. I feel better already.
Might I remind you that I teach high school? And mostly juniors and seniors? Well, at least the age juniors and seniors should be.
Third, they don't yet feel the pressure of time passing them by.
We had a little assembly today (we call it Morning Motivation), and we gave them the speech about needing to work seriously, seniors needing to graduate, 50 school days left, yada yada yada. A couple of them looked panic-stricken, but mostly they just looked like we might be talking to the people sitting next to them.
On a positive note, I had Hubby take me and my bicycle to school this morning, so riding it was the only way I could get home. How's THAT for incentive? It was only an 8.5 mile ride home, but I figure if I do that a couple of times a week, at least I can get SOME miles in. I'm not really helping the environment, since Hubby has to drive me over there, but what the hey.....
At least it's the weekend. And 50 school days left sounds pretty darn good about now.
Ten more Mondays.
Forty more days to decide what to wear. (Ten Fridays means ten blue jeans days.)
If I subtract the two personal days I already KNOW I'm going to take.....
Summer break will be here before we know it. I feel better already.
Saturday, November 21, 2009
What Was I Thinking?.......
I'm such a sucker. I have a hard time saying no. I've also been accused of not thinking before I agree to something.
One day before class started, I casually mentioned that crocheting is one of my hobbies. Or perhaps I was showing my co-workers something I had made. At any rate, one of my students asked me, "Could you make me a beanie?"
I said I had never made one, but it should be simple to do. He said, "Would you make me one?"
It seemed harmless, so I said I would.
Then I heard, "Will you make me one? Will you make me one? Will you make me one?" That was from other students in the class.
I couldn't very well tell any of them no when I had so readily agreed to make one for the first student. And I couldn't take back my offer to him.
So I started making a list, in the order the students asked for their beanies. While I was at it, I asked them what color they wanted. That put me in the custom-order business.
So far I have made one for Anthony (gray), two for Tiffani (off-white and multicolored), one for Shanique (purple), one for Brandon (red and black -- he's a UGA fan too), one for Mercedes #1 (neon multicolored), one for Porsha (rainbow multicolored), one for Courtney (camouflage -- I didn't even know they MADE that kind of yarn), one for Madison (navy blue), one for KeAnthony (black), and one for Barbara (purple).
I think there are still 18 more to go.
It isn't really that bad, and it doesn't take long to make a beanie. I can make one while I watch a football game. Lucky for them, there's a lot of football this weekend and next.
And I have a whole week out of school.
I'm glad there are only 75 students in our school.
One day before class started, I casually mentioned that crocheting is one of my hobbies. Or perhaps I was showing my co-workers something I had made. At any rate, one of my students asked me, "Could you make me a beanie?"
I said I had never made one, but it should be simple to do. He said, "Would you make me one?"
It seemed harmless, so I said I would.
Then I heard, "Will you make me one? Will you make me one? Will you make me one?" That was from other students in the class.
I couldn't very well tell any of them no when I had so readily agreed to make one for the first student. And I couldn't take back my offer to him.
So I started making a list, in the order the students asked for their beanies. While I was at it, I asked them what color they wanted. That put me in the custom-order business.
So far I have made one for Anthony (gray), two for Tiffani (off-white and multicolored), one for Shanique (purple), one for Brandon (red and black -- he's a UGA fan too), one for Mercedes #1 (neon multicolored), one for Porsha (rainbow multicolored), one for Courtney (camouflage -- I didn't even know they MADE that kind of yarn), one for Madison (navy blue), one for KeAnthony (black), and one for Barbara (purple).
I think there are still 18 more to go.
It isn't really that bad, and it doesn't take long to make a beanie. I can make one while I watch a football game. Lucky for them, there's a lot of football this weekend and next.
And I have a whole week out of school.
I'm glad there are only 75 students in our school.
Friday, September 4, 2009
Hell is Not a Place.......
......it's a train ride.
......with two middle school students.
Thank you to my friend Maggie for jogging my memory with her post about a train trip this weekend and giving me something to blog about tonight. Sometimes coming up with a topic is the hardest part.
I taught middle school for three years. This is the period in my life that I refer to as "the-closest-to-hell-that-I-ever-want-to-come" years. One year a colleague of mine organized a trip to New York City for the fledgling middle school newspaper staff. That was back in the years when you didn't have to make an academic connection in order to take students on a field trip. You just had to make the money connection and you were good to go.
There were two students in this little group of ten whose parents would not allow them to fly. One was because he was allegedly "claustrophobic," and I don't forget the rationale of the other one. The principal said if those two couldn't go, no one could go, and the trip organizer began looking for someone who would agree to accompany those two on the train.
Because I was young and stupid and couldn't say no to anyone, much less anyone named Cay (her last name was Kelly, and I thought it was a shame to spell her first name with a "C", considering the alliteration thing they apparently had going on and all), I agreed to take those two students on the train. How bad could it be?
How bad CAN eighteen hours on a train be when you can't even go to the club car? Do you know how many times an Amtrak train stops between Georgia and the Big Apple? Twenty-three. Twenty-three times this bad boy stopped, no more than 45 minutes between any two stops. It was like trying to sleep in a hospital. Without the drugs.
It was nighttime when we got on the train, so things were relatively quiet. We settled down in our seats and I advised the students to sleep as much as they could. None of us could sleep very much, forever, for watching the couple in the front of our car.
They were young and obviously in love. And it's possible they had spent a great deal of time in the club car. They made out heavily, sometimes sitting in the same seat. They couldn't keep their hands off each other, and I thought my little sixth-grade girl and eighth-grade boy's eyes would bug out of their heads. I thought to myself, "How sweet. They must be on their honeymoon. But they really, really should tone it down."
This went on throughout the night, until sometime in the wee hours when we pulled into a station somewhere in Virginia. And SHE got off the train. There was a young man waiting for her on the platform, and they walked away arm-in-arm as the train pulled out of the station. If I could have opened that window, I seriously would have yelled, "Do you know what she's been DOING all night?" He got off the train in some other state, looking what I thought was smug and self-satisfied. Satisfied. Heh heh. I made a funny.
We had left Georgia around 9:00 PM, and we chugged into Penn Station in NYC sometime around 3:00 the next afternoon. We had been instructed to take a cab from the station to our hotel, which was easy to do even considering the fact that I had never been in a cab in my life. We didn't have those out in the country. The cab ride itself, however, was a gut-wrenching experience. It was wilder than any roller coaster I had ever been on, and the two students were scared to death.
Some other highlights of that trip included dinner at Sardi's, where we fully expected to see some famous people but were disappointed, and the students, being middle schoolers, counted their money down to the exact penny when we paid for dinner. It took longer to settle the bill than it did to be served. It was pretty close to the length of the train ride. I was embarrassed that we looked like country bumpkins off the farm for the first time.
We took a bus tour of the city and got to see the Statue of Liberty up close and personal. But the line to WALK up the steps was about four hours long, so we didn't get to do that. Our tour bus got stuck somewhere in Harlem for a while when it tried to go down a narrow street, where cars were parked on both sides.
We went to the Empire State Building, but many of the students refused to spend their money to go to the observation platform when there was a McDonald's right across the street. We bought cheap t-shirts, and even I was puzzled when they came out of the wash the first time looking like trapezoids.
You would think I would learn about volunteering to accompany students on trips out of the state. But fast forward fourteen years, when I found myself as a chaperon on Sweet Girl's high school band's trip to . . . you guessed it . . . New York City.
This time Hell was not a place . . . it was a bus ride.
......with two middle school students.
Thank you to my friend Maggie for jogging my memory with her post about a train trip this weekend and giving me something to blog about tonight. Sometimes coming up with a topic is the hardest part.
I taught middle school for three years. This is the period in my life that I refer to as "the-closest-to-hell-that-I-ever-want-to-come" years. One year a colleague of mine organized a trip to New York City for the fledgling middle school newspaper staff. That was back in the years when you didn't have to make an academic connection in order to take students on a field trip. You just had to make the money connection and you were good to go.
There were two students in this little group of ten whose parents would not allow them to fly. One was because he was allegedly "claustrophobic," and I don't forget the rationale of the other one. The principal said if those two couldn't go, no one could go, and the trip organizer began looking for someone who would agree to accompany those two on the train.
Because I was young and stupid and couldn't say no to anyone, much less anyone named Cay (her last name was Kelly, and I thought it was a shame to spell her first name with a "C", considering the alliteration thing they apparently had going on and all), I agreed to take those two students on the train. How bad could it be?
How bad CAN eighteen hours on a train be when you can't even go to the club car? Do you know how many times an Amtrak train stops between Georgia and the Big Apple? Twenty-three. Twenty-three times this bad boy stopped, no more than 45 minutes between any two stops. It was like trying to sleep in a hospital. Without the drugs.
It was nighttime when we got on the train, so things were relatively quiet. We settled down in our seats and I advised the students to sleep as much as they could. None of us could sleep very much, forever, for watching the couple in the front of our car.
They were young and obviously in love. And it's possible they had spent a great deal of time in the club car. They made out heavily, sometimes sitting in the same seat. They couldn't keep their hands off each other, and I thought my little sixth-grade girl and eighth-grade boy's eyes would bug out of their heads. I thought to myself, "How sweet. They must be on their honeymoon. But they really, really should tone it down."
This went on throughout the night, until sometime in the wee hours when we pulled into a station somewhere in Virginia. And SHE got off the train. There was a young man waiting for her on the platform, and they walked away arm-in-arm as the train pulled out of the station. If I could have opened that window, I seriously would have yelled, "Do you know what she's been DOING all night?" He got off the train in some other state, looking what I thought was smug and self-satisfied. Satisfied. Heh heh. I made a funny.
We had left Georgia around 9:00 PM, and we chugged into Penn Station in NYC sometime around 3:00 the next afternoon. We had been instructed to take a cab from the station to our hotel, which was easy to do even considering the fact that I had never been in a cab in my life. We didn't have those out in the country. The cab ride itself, however, was a gut-wrenching experience. It was wilder than any roller coaster I had ever been on, and the two students were scared to death.
Some other highlights of that trip included dinner at Sardi's, where we fully expected to see some famous people but were disappointed, and the students, being middle schoolers, counted their money down to the exact penny when we paid for dinner. It took longer to settle the bill than it did to be served. It was pretty close to the length of the train ride. I was embarrassed that we looked like country bumpkins off the farm for the first time.
We took a bus tour of the city and got to see the Statue of Liberty up close and personal. But the line to WALK up the steps was about four hours long, so we didn't get to do that. Our tour bus got stuck somewhere in Harlem for a while when it tried to go down a narrow street, where cars were parked on both sides.
We went to the Empire State Building, but many of the students refused to spend their money to go to the observation platform when there was a McDonald's right across the street. We bought cheap t-shirts, and even I was puzzled when they came out of the wash the first time looking like trapezoids.
You would think I would learn about volunteering to accompany students on trips out of the state. But fast forward fourteen years, when I found myself as a chaperon on Sweet Girl's high school band's trip to . . . you guessed it . . . New York City.
This time Hell was not a place . . . it was a bus ride.
Friday, May 8, 2009
End of the Year Awards.......
I'll preface this post with an apology. I'm always cynical and sarcastic, and never more so than at the end of a long school year.
I try to remain upbeat about students and focus on the ones that make us proud and remind us that we are doing something worthwhile.
On a Friday night when I'm so tired I could cry, however, my natural sarcasm and cynicism are the rule.
Here, then, are my suggestions for end-of-the-year awards for our students.
Most Likely to Have a Baby -- MA, AA, DB, JS, CB with several potential runners-up
Most Likely to Father a Baby -- PO (but he also gets the Most Likely to Succeed award), ER
Most Likely to Check Out Early Because Your Mother is Having a Crisis -- LW, SB
Most Likely to Check Out Early Because You are Having a Crisis -- CU, KK
Most Likely to Check Out Early for No Apparent Reason -- LL, AL, JX
Most Likely to Leave School without Bothering to Check Out -- CW, SJ
Most Likely to Have a Friend Call School to Check You Out -- JC
Most Likely to Violate the Dress Code -- SH, MK, MM, SB, JM, KK
Most Likely to Stare at the Monitor for Hours without Actually Doing Any Work -- SB
Most Likely to Type on the Computer for Hours without Actually Doing Any Work -- AH
Most Likely to Sleep in an Upright Position -- RH, LM
Most Likely to Miss 2 Weeks in a Row and Then Call in with Flu-Like Symptoms -- AX
Most Likely to Miss 2 Weeks in a Row and Then Show Up with No Explanation -- KB, AT
Most Likely to Pretend to Be Smarter than You Really Are -- NK
Most Likely to Write Inane Crap and Give it to Teachers Instead of Doing Your Work -- HB
Most Likely to Think You're Going to Graduate with Three Weeks Left in the Year and Three Courses Not Even Started Yet -- BP
Most Likely to Remind Teachers Every Single Day that You Have a Class at the Home High School and Therefore Need to Leave Early -- BM
Most Likely to Still be Looking for a Senior Project Topic with Three Weeks left Before Graduation -- SS, HB
Most Likely to Appear to Be Under the Influence of Controlled Substances -- HB, BS, TY, MM, BM, MT
Most Likely to Hang Out in the Parking Lot with a Known Drug Dealer -- NR
Most Likely to Wear Pajama Pants to School Which I Can Overlook Because it's Basically Harmless -- TS
Most Likely to Stop Coming to School with Three Weeks Left Before Graduation -- DS
Most Likely to Make it Only Halfway Through Any Course -- TC
Most Likely to Make Us Wish We Had More Students Like You -- QR, JM, AD
I try to remain upbeat about students and focus on the ones that make us proud and remind us that we are doing something worthwhile.
On a Friday night when I'm so tired I could cry, however, my natural sarcasm and cynicism are the rule.
Here, then, are my suggestions for end-of-the-year awards for our students.
Most Likely to Have a Baby -- MA, AA, DB, JS, CB with several potential runners-up
Most Likely to Father a Baby -- PO (but he also gets the Most Likely to Succeed award), ER
Most Likely to Check Out Early Because Your Mother is Having a Crisis -- LW, SB
Most Likely to Check Out Early Because You are Having a Crisis -- CU, KK
Most Likely to Check Out Early for No Apparent Reason -- LL, AL, JX
Most Likely to Leave School without Bothering to Check Out -- CW, SJ
Most Likely to Have a Friend Call School to Check You Out -- JC
Most Likely to Violate the Dress Code -- SH, MK, MM, SB, JM, KK
Most Likely to Stare at the Monitor for Hours without Actually Doing Any Work -- SB
Most Likely to Type on the Computer for Hours without Actually Doing Any Work -- AH
Most Likely to Sleep in an Upright Position -- RH, LM
Most Likely to Miss 2 Weeks in a Row and Then Call in with Flu-Like Symptoms -- AX
Most Likely to Miss 2 Weeks in a Row and Then Show Up with No Explanation -- KB, AT
Most Likely to Pretend to Be Smarter than You Really Are -- NK
Most Likely to Write Inane Crap and Give it to Teachers Instead of Doing Your Work -- HB
Most Likely to Think You're Going to Graduate with Three Weeks Left in the Year and Three Courses Not Even Started Yet -- BP
Most Likely to Remind Teachers Every Single Day that You Have a Class at the Home High School and Therefore Need to Leave Early -- BM
Most Likely to Still be Looking for a Senior Project Topic with Three Weeks left Before Graduation -- SS, HB
Most Likely to Appear to Be Under the Influence of Controlled Substances -- HB, BS, TY, MM, BM, MT
Most Likely to Hang Out in the Parking Lot with a Known Drug Dealer -- NR
Most Likely to Wear Pajama Pants to School Which I Can Overlook Because it's Basically Harmless -- TS
Most Likely to Stop Coming to School with Three Weeks Left Before Graduation -- DS
Most Likely to Make it Only Halfway Through Any Course -- TC
Most Likely to Make Us Wish We Had More Students Like You -- QR, JM, AD
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