Report card time=sad children

It's been awhile since I've posted.  I know y'all have missed me.  Honestly there hasn't been much action going on in Room 300.  Report cards went out Thursday and boy were there some sad sad children.  One thing that 9th graders coming from the middle school have to learn is that they are no longer in middle school.  They come in and laugh and joke and play the 1st 9 weeks and swear they're going to pass.  I constantly remind them that this in fact is high school and they have to actually work.  They just didn't believe me.  Until now.  They've been rather quiet since they got their report cards.  They didn't understand how they failed.  It was foreign to them.  A few kids thought I made up their Fs.  Uuhh no.  I had to go back and show them all their grades before they believed me.  Why would I purposely fail a kid?  Don't they realize that I teach the repeaters as well?  That means I'll have to see them again NEXT year as a 9th grader.  Why would I torture myself like that?  I'm not crazy!  I might lose it periodically throughout the year but I'm not certifiable crazy.  But don't tell my kids that.  I like for them to think that so they'll leave me alone. LOL

Speaking of my repeaters, they were really on my nerves today.  They want to complain about us doing the same thing we did last year this year.  Uh, this is a REPEATER class.  That means we repeat things.  I've tried to come up with different things for them to do but they don't appreciate it.  Because of that, I've decided to quit.  They're going to be working on their own.  They don't want my help so I'll keep it.  We'll see how long it takes before they beg me to come back.

Since reports have gone out I've had 3 phone conferences and I have 3 face to face conferences this week.  I've been practicing my lines for the conference.  "Johnny is smart, he just doesn't apply himself."  "Johnny can learn, he just has to want to."  "Johnny just needs some extra tutoring and he'll get it."  I talked to a repeater mom today and it was the 1st time that I've talked to her.  This is her son's 2nd time in my class and he's STILL failing.  She was all concerned and worried that he wasn't getting the material.  I told her straight up that he's just lazy.  She didn't like it but she knew it was true.  My question is, where were you last October when he was failing?  Where were you at progress report time when he was failing?  Why are you stressing me now?  Parents, be involved in your child's life.  Contact the teacher frequently.  Yes we hate it but at least we know you care and you'll be taken more seriously when you call inquiring about your child and wanting a conference.  Most teachers don't mind an email once or twice a week as long as it's a valid email.  Email us and ask us what we're doing in class, are there things that you should know about, when is the next test.  Those things are things you as a parent has the right to know.  Stopping a teacher in Wal-Mart to ask how your child is doing is most likely going to get you a lie.  I teach 180 kids. Unless your child is really terrible or really spectacular I don't really remember exactly what's going on in class.  After 3:45 I try to lose Miss Griffin and find Kristin especially on Fridays.  Now, please don't think that I don't care about your child because I do, more than you'll ever know.  However, like I said I teach about 180 a week.  I can't remember everything about everyone of them, sometimes I forget their names.  I try really to remember the important stuff though.  Maybe I should dedicate a blog to the parents, giving them tips on how to deal with teachers and stuff.  A lot of parents go about it the wrong way and it causes the teacher to be on the defense all the time.  It's just not good for anybody.

Enough about that, we've been practicing our response to literature and writing in class.  They're really good at this.  I've added another challenge to it.  They have to teach the class.  We're doing Literature Circles.  They take a story that we've read and basically dissect it.  They get in groups of 5 and each kid has a role.  One kid comes up with open ended discussion questions and they lead the class in a discussion.  Another connects the story to a real life event.  Another connects the story to another story they've heard or seen, usually a book, movie, or television show.  Another finds words in the story that they didn't know or that their classmates may not know and teach them those words.  And the last kid is the summarizer.  They just sum up the story.  Tomorrow they'll present what they've come up with.  I'm interested to see how they did, especially my 7th period. 

This week we're reading a story dealing with revenge by Edgar A. Poe.  Naturally, their journal entry for this week has to do with revenge.  We're going to discuss whether it's right or wrong, can revenge sometimes be too harsh, what could someone possibly do to make you want to harm them, things like that.  We'll see what we get.  Next week... sacrifices.  Not like animal sacrifices, that's just too much, but sacrificing something to help others.  Hopefully they're learning how to connect literature to real life and gaining a love for reading. 

Don't forget about the book drive!  We're collecting books, cds, and DVDs to help raise money for the football and basketball facilities.  If you have any books, cds, and DVDs you want to get rid of please contact me.  You can leave a comment here, call me, text me, Facebook me, tweet me, email me, whatever.  I'll come pick up the stuff or I can meet you somewhere.  Since I coach volleyball and we play in the gym I want to help as much as possible.  It costs you nothing but maybe a little gas.  You'll be getting rid of some clutter!  Thanks!

Also the volleyball team is selling tickets to the Belk charity sale for $5.  Let me know if you want to buy 1 or 10.  You can ask me or a volleyball girl.  Thanks!