But I made the kid do a three page paper instead of the normal two page paper for extra credit. And he got 5 points instead of the normal 20 points. I told him he could get the A- (which he needed only 3.5 points for) but there was NO way he was going to get a solid A. Piece of hud paper. Rambled for the first two pages, restating the same thing without getting to anything significant. Then the third page was full of incomplete sentence. The sentences would have made sense, you know, if he wasn't putting random periods in the middle of the phrase. Every prepositional phrase was preceded by a period...how annoying to read.
Ok, while I am ripping apart one kid's writing, let me share my current pet peeve. EVERY student this year seems to think that the contraction for should have, "should've" is spelled "should of." SERIOUSLY? Ugh. Talking to another teacher at lunch today about this, she said, "Oh yeah, we had a grammar test with that question. One student said, 'Teacher, both of these answers are correct.'" She responded, "Maybe it sounds like that when you say it, but when you write it, only one is correct." "No, teacher, they are BOTH correct." 'Should've' and 'should of' were the two choices on the multiple choice test.
There is a committee made up of parents and teachers, where parents can communicate, voice concerns, and make requests, etc. It was this committee of parents that decided that Social Studies teachers should be the ones to teach Sex Ed instead of Health. Yeah. We are supposed to find ways to bring it up naturally...because social studies is the 'dumping ground of the school' as one teacher put it. So, when we did our Mock Congress final project on health care, I assigned one group the topic of AIDS screening and prevention. I had the chance to tell the students what the difference between HIV and AIDS is, and how you contract it...in a natural way. One bright student asked, "What is AIDS?" We had a good conversation in that class. My most immature class - the one that is 80% male - "This isn't health class teacher, why are we talking about this, this is dumb...." Anyway, I walked into a coversation today at work. I guess parents were complaining about the things their kids are struggling with at this committee, and the teacher in this conversation was saying, "Yeah, we know. We've noticed the same problems. What do you want us to do?" For example, high schoolers who still can't read - and I'm not talking about students with disabilities. Some of our kids are in homes with NO books. Their families never go to the library. And the parents want to know why they can't read. I mentioned to these teachers that I have had more than one student ask me seriously, "Why do we even need books anymore? We have the internet." It's like in the Time Machine, where the people have an archive of information, but no one knows how to read or cares to find out what's in the archive. There is so much information, most of it fluff, that we get overwhelmed and distracted from things that have substance. Sorry that this was such a rant. The first week of the semester was only 4 days long, but it felt really long and left me exhausted.
6 years ago
3 comments:
You're a nice teacher. Hopefully they'll appreciate you! How sad for the kids who don't appreciate books and don't even have them in their homes! Before we had officially decided to homeschool, I taught T.J. to read - he was ready and I was his mom, it was only natural to me. You wouldn't believe the flak I got from some of my friends! They said I was putting him at a disadvantage because he wouldn't have anything to learn in kindergarten! Seriously, one lady told me that and that she didn't bother to teach her kids ANYTHING no colors, numbers or shapes or letters or anything on purpose because that was the teachers' job! I really feel bad for teachers who have such a hard job! I have 3 (well 4) students all at different levels, but I'm teaching them different things. I couldn't imagine trying to teach 20-40 students at differring levels the same thing! Good luck with all of that and HUGS! We miss you!
No don't cave! Especially if the extra credit was junk!! Come on, I know I taught you to be meaner than that, maybe it's time for me to visit and remind you how to be mean... I have those spelling problems with my kids but they are 8, 7 & 4. That is really sad about those other kids. And not needing books, yikes! Good luck out there.
My three year old can read and you have 18 year old's who can not? That is sad. Sad that they do not know the importance of reading. Sad that those students are not trying to learn (they must have given up years ago). Sad that the parents do not know that you teach a child to read you must read to the child and read with the child. Now if any of you wonder why I am not teaching school. I cant stand it! Zanne thanks for the reminders of why I am not teaching. :)
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