Friday

The highs and lows of teaching.

My Comp 9 class has pretty much been slaving over their second essay and their first book report (since they have SSR that hour, I have instituted a mandatory book report every three weeks. I'm hoping that will motivate for SSR more). My College Comp class (more on them later) worked diligently editing their rough drafts. I catch myself smiling when I listen to them share their work. "I need help with my introduction," one writer says. "I really like the dialogue at the end, but your final paragraph just sounds thrown in there," another says. Even these comments are doing them justice. Had I not been reading their first themes in a blinding heat to get them done, I would have jotted a couple of their comments down.

But then, as usual, Jackass central, aka my Lit and Language 11 class, rolled around. I don't know if I have to resort to a seating chart to remedy some of their stupid behavior. I don't know if the deficiencies many received will help or not. I think it's just part of life that I have about 10 idiots in there that ruin it for the other 20. That's too bad.

Case in point - we reviewed Jeopardy style for today's monster Crucible test. As part of the review, I have some 'gag' gifts or what I call "Super Duper Prizes." Most went over great. But I gave a former football player of mine, who tends to be a pretty good kid (but after talking with some coaches - I see they are really concerned about the direction he is heading) a bottle of really cheap cologne that had been sitting in a drawer for quite some time. Everyone laughed and seemed to have a good time. Then part way through the discussion, the strong odor of cologne (after repeated warnings to not spray it) began to eminate through the room. That's when I lost it and ripped into them. Of course, both kids involved apologized, but only after I told them how not only was I disappointed in the way they have been acting but so far various members of the coaching staff (I was encouraged to voice this from one of the coaches).

Both kids came in to apologize after school. I should have laid on the guilt really thick, but I was so pissed I could hardly look at them and dismissed them quickly.

Why can't I ever have three really superb classes? I always have that one that drives me nuts. It's a curse, I guess.

******

I will likely have to deal with the fallout from my first round of essays in College Comp. I always have a few who like to dispute their grades. But my mantra from day one has been, "An "A" on an essay means you a writing an excellent freshman college level essay." I'm sure a few were disappointed in their essays. My resposne: write better. Conference with me and take my revisions comments and those of your classmates to heart. Don't write the thing the night before. Don't hesitate to share it with the class and get feedback.

Don't get me wrong. It is not like I had a bad bunch of essays. In fact, they were one of the strongest bunches I have ever read. But there were some little convention errors and formatting issues that dropped their scores. The voice and style were great. But I know that whether it's next year in AP or in college, they need to remedy some of those ticky-tacky issues. Time to fix them now.

But I truly enjoyed every single one.

I guess it is usually like this. Most of these kids have been straight A students and naturally gifted. So now they are asked (or pushed) to work harder than ever before. What got them by in the past with A's is just average now.

That's not always easy for them to learn. Plus, if all I ever do is just tell them their writing is good (and I do plenty of that), what good is that? I need to push them to develop their ideas more, develop a unique style, work to craft a very thoughtful yet discriptive piece, and inject their work with as much voice and personality as possible. That's not easily done.

But it is a helluva a lot better than having to scold some dumbass juniors for spraying cheap cologne when they were told not to. Note to self: quite trying to liven up and really teach that class. Cram them full of knowledge and work until they bend under the work load. I'm not proud of that. But it is how I have to survive. (Don't worry. I can't really teach like that for very long before I bend and buckle under the workload and think screw it, let's try something fun. And it usually bites me in the ass. That is the nature of this profession.)