Some days are rocks . . . some are boulders

Man. My Lit and Lang class killed me today.

You wouldn’t think assigning a cross word puzzle for Ch. 1 of The Jungle would be too difficult, right?

I bet I had a quarter of the class turn it in. Half didn’t have a single answer on their sheets. Some didn't even bother to bring (or is it take?) the text home.

Now, when I print out grade slips, I’ll have this same half clamoring to know why they have zero credit for this assignment.

Funny how this works, isn’t it?

Is that India and China I hear ready to pummel us on the world stage?

Then, I was going to give a short quiz to check to see if they read the chapter (I pretty much knew the answer).

One of my best students came in saying that they didn’t read the chapter over the weekend. Now that’s a way to begin a class!

And what am I suppose to say to this. Yes, I appreciate the honesty, but it implies (or at least that's how I took it) that the entire class should just wait for them to read it. How millennial!

The quiz was simply tell me what Jurgis vows to do at the end of Ch. 1. I even had them take their cell phones out and text me the response in 30 seconds.

The number one answer (as opposed to ‘work harder’ - the correct answer) . . . "I don’t know'!

Ohhh boy!

The trouble with a significant portion of classes in today’s world is that school is not a means to benefit them. Rather, school is an inconvenience.

This is not a problem with my College Comp classes (which is roughly the top 1/3 of each class). Such apathy or ignorance doesn't happen with that class.

It’s not my expectations either. It’s just work ethic and interest. Now, the College Comp class has days when school is an inconvenience, but that’s not their attitude for the entire year!

That’s why pay for performance scares the hell out of me. I can’t make 90 percent of my Lit and Lang class learn. Most - to be completely honest - look at me with that familiar look that I recognize when my father owned sheep. They just want to be told what to think. Better yet, they want to be told what to do so they don't have to think.

I want to scream.

I’m working my ass off to make The Jungle relevant to them (text quizzes, showing 30 Days episodes, discussing their ideas of the American Dream, watching Food, Inc.), but it’s going down like the proverbial lead balloon.

The same 30 Days episode that we watched today - and had mostly apathetic looks when I asked them what they thought - resulted in a nice 45 minute discussion in my College Comp classes.

Is it a little effort and interest too much to ask?

But I did rebound - sort of - I was not home to RLF when the texts started rolling in from my College Comp classes asking questions about "Young Goodman Brown" and their essay they're writing.

And to be completely fair to my beleaguered Lit and Lang 11 class, I did just receive two questions from students in that class. Plus, one even emailed me the assignment due tomorrow.