How many?

Definitely thought it was Monday all day today.  And nearly left my car running in the parking lot.

With sixteen days left of the year, the seniors and juniors have CHECKED. OUT.  Never mind that sixteen days is more than a quarter of the term, and if they fail my class they will not graduate.  Never mind that I ask them about their missing work once a week.  Never mind that there are only eight kids in a class of twenty-eight who have turned in every assignment, which is, oh, wait, REQUIRED TO EARN CREDIT.

Never mind that I got this email today:

"[Child]-You need to speak with this teacher!  You told me you would take care of this last week!  This is completely unacceptable!"  

One must love"reply all," no?

Or this one last week:

"...I have to work nights,so I missed conferences..... I guess I am wondering if effort is considered? [Kiddo] is really anxious every night before and morning of these speeches. She got help for her speech, she got up early and had me iron her new clothes, she had me go over chocolate cookie recipes. As a family we gave suggestions for her bag speech. I want you to know how nervous  she gets for your class. She hates getting up in front of people. I know it's great for her! She just doesn't know that yet! I  Loved speech as a student! I loved to rebuttle anyone! I think you should give [Kiddo] a little more credit when she does do her speeches,she is giving that part her all! She has avxiety attacks before she ocmes in for a speech. It's hard to watch as a parent.She comes iv though. I kvow she has skipped a few days of a speech.I get on her....

[Kiddo] was involved iv gifted and talented summer classes here in [Our Fair City] as a youth. She played [sports], avd she got [X Recognition] of the year at church for being spiritually kivd,good at building and well versed in bible. she has a good family support system. I know my communication isn't great with you,She is 18 and I am on her all the time.Her sisters are doin great at school ! It's a bit of a good thing and hard for [Kiddo]. She isn't quite sure who she is yet.

She was top 3% in math and reading all through k--8th grade. This all changed with age and friends,peer pressure. She is very smart and big hearted. She will do wonderful things out of high school! I just want her to get that diploma !

I have talked with her, she said she has assignnments she will get turned in to you. She said you have a good relationship . I will be fine if she  gets a d iv this class. I know that sounds horrible to a passionate teacher . [Kiddo] is just ready to be done with school and go to work in the family business.... She is a very smart young woman, who is just pulling her weight and lazy at doing her work ! She used to get by with A's on tests and skipping through the pre-work. This was changed to ,no tests unless your homework was done. This is when [Kiddo] started getting bad grades.

I also don't know if your aware she attends night school all year as well to make up for low credits while doing [alternative program] for a year. I let her try that to see if it would help her interest or efforts in school.It didn't.I sent her back to public and it is all she can do to try and get through this year.

She also struggles with [malady]. She is going to be okay as we keep communication open at our house, and have our faith to rely on. I didn't know if you knew or not ,but she has [another issue]. She has a hard time sleeping and then concentrating. She is [receiving care]. I realize she misses school alot . We push and push her in this area. It's really hard for us to see her not use her full potential.

I know she will pull out of this funk once school is out! She is 18, very smart and ready to be done with school. My brother went through same exact thing and is now a multi millionaire avd a pilot,owvs huvdreds of realestate avd is working onan invention...!! I just need her to pass this class!

She has assured me she will finish her work. Will you let me know if it isn't done by this week?

Best, [Kiddo's Papa]
p.s your concern is greatly appreciated!

I know I'm lucky--these kids (for the most part) are not putzes--they're just trying to rollerblade up a hill without trying.  Maybe if I keep pushing, they will skate.  I can do it for fourteen more school days, right?  Twelve for the Seniors.

You say goodbye...

I don't even know what to do with myself, lately.  I've had a few buckle-down, get-it-done sessions where I actually finished sets of things.  Other than those, though, I've been twittering about in large loops, finishing little.  I was feeling guilty because I'd had a set of essay tests for a week.  Then I realized I'd had them for TWO weeks.  What a d-bag!

Giggle for Tuesday

Student: "Rararrr!"


"That's dinosaur for I like whatcher wearing!"

Thursday FTW!

Today was Demonstration Speech day.  Hooray!  I got to eat

• peanut butter cookies,
• puppy chow,
• and Snickers salad.

 Up here in Tornado Alley, today was a state-wide drill.  As a student went to help our student who is blind, he said, "So, Nate, do you want to square dance or walk down on your own?"  If that's not a gracefully way to offer help, I don't know what is.

Tomorrow begins State Speechapalooza and I took the day off for it.  Walking out of school today knowing I wouldn't be back until Monday was positutley delicious.

Break Time

This week I've been on Spring Break, and I've been getting some much needed recuperation.  I've been doing some serious sleeping in, got caught up on laundry, and continued to procrastinate, so my papers are still not graded.

I also saw a nutritionist, so hopefully I will have more energy and be healthier in general.  Tonight I'm going to get the taxes done, and tomorrow I'll spend some time with the Mutti.

Monday is the start of Term 4.  I'll keep my tenth graders and get a new set of Speech/Comm kids.

Saturday was our last regular season Speech meet, and the kids did pretty well.  I'm working on polishing with my kids so that at least rough edges won't keep them out of the running at Sections.  I really want them to do well.  In two weeks we'll invite the community in to see what the kids can do.

I'm ready for a fresh start.

A bright spot

There's been a lot of depressing shit going down lately, and I'm sick.  Rather than talking about it, I'm going to bury it and put on a happy face.  Sounds healthy, right?


We have a student with ASD who is a hoot.  She is very observant in some ways, but a bit off the wall in others.  She frequently starts conversations with people who don't realize she's talking to them.  Yesterday, she leaned over to my colleague during a lull and said, "Did you know there's a geek table at lunch?"  My colleague said that the student shouldn't call people that, to which the student responded, "No, everyone is saying that they're nerds!  I think it's because they wear glasses [gestures to her glasses] and play with calculators [mimes playing Tetris on a calculator]." My colleague told her that it wasn't okay to call people nerds, no matter what other people are saying, and then the young lady responded, "You know, I bet some people think I'm a nerd, because I...[adjusts her glasses] wear glasses.  But I'm not!"

Oh, and by the way...

Today a friend mentioned that I've maintained radio silence for almost a month after posting almost every day last month.  While I was proud of that accomplishment, I also felt like I was spinning my wheels in negativity (yesterday's post, anyone?), and the world and my life do just fine without me wallowing in that feeling.

Anywho, I'm calling in with a bit of an update on the speech season.  Today the kids pretty much got their asses handed to them, but it wasn't all bad.  A few times the kids today talked about being a family, which is totally what we are about as coaches, and what we want for our team.  The kids also got to see what their competition will be when it comes time for sections in a few weeks.  Additionally, I wasn't judging, and I got a ton of grading done in the tab room with the Mozart for the Mind blasting on my iPod.

The season has really been going well.  Our babies have been placing regularly, and my babies in particular have been rocking the house.  I LURV IT.

SO, what's the deal?

Lately I've been thinking a lot about my job in specific and the job in general.  I'm pulling back from "involvement," mostly because I don't feel like I can make a difference.  Why live with the frustration and extra work, when I don't see any good coming of it?  Most recently, I was also pushed out of one of my remaining "public" responsibilities in favor of the leadership clique at my school.  The whole thing is making me feel like it's all pointless.

I thought that stepping up was part of the point of teaching--making things better.  I'm frustrated that all it seems to do is make my life worse.

Weekend Update

Especially at the beginning of the term, I like to do weekend recaps with the kids on Mondays.  It's kind of an easy way to start the week, and we all get to know each other better.  Super cool today was that there was at least one speecher in each class, so I could recognize them without it being totally awkward.  Not only that, but there was a kid who was on stage in every hour.  BOOOOOOOYAAAAAAAAAA!

Feelings, nothing more than feelings

Once in awhile, a student does or says something that just flat-out hurts my feelings. Like this:

The primary concern is that most of my friends have consistently told me how terrible and brutally hard this class was. ..... My other only concern is how my friends who have had you previously haven’t liked you.

This, in a student's introduction letter.  After two days of class in which I assure the kids that yes, my class is hard (what would be the purpose of lying to them?  I think some of my tendency to sugar-coat is what kept kids who didn't feel like doing the work from switching out last quarter), but that I will do my best to help them succeed if they put the work in.

After reading that essay last night, I nearly cried.  Then I felt stupid for letting it get to me.  I finally got to talk to my friend-friend after school today, and she was totally getting how I felt.  And she told me she would have cried, which made me feel less stupid.  All this following some mean-spirited vandalism on the last day of second quarter is making me blue.