Monday, January 09, 2006

Today's News

Good News, Broadly:

My children take their &#$*@# standardized tests next week and then I am free to teach them – gasp – books and poetry. I am excited, but a bit scared to leave the safe confines of multiple choice lesson planning. Also, proctoring tests makes me nervous, so I have that to look forward to.

If you are so inclined, think nice thoughts about my brilliant young things next Tuesday and Wednesday mornings (Jan. 17th and 18th,) and hope that they don’t forget every single thing I’ve taught them so far.

Bad News, Specifically:

On the depressing stories front, one of my eighth graders, a beautiful girl who is struggling with her sudden popularity among the older males at our school, was nearly date raped by her ninth grade boyfriend. Her mother called the cops, and the kid spent a night in jail. Naturally, all of his friends now want to beat her up (violence comes quickly to these kids – the depth of their conflict resolution abilities is much shallower here than in other places.) Her parents kept her out of school for three days and are now having to pick her up right when classes let out. She is shaken, but seems to be O.K.

The Most Depressing Part: My assistant principal told me today, in no uncertain terms, that the incident was “just as much her fault as it was his” because they were skipping after school tutoring when it happened. Humph.

But Back to Good News:

Did I mention that my kids are about to take their tests? On top of that – a three day weekend, a field trip, and a spelling bee are all coming up next week as well. So much to look forward to...

1 Comments:

Blogger Dan-O-Mite said...

Great blog. It's obvious you care about what you're doing and are good at it. Keep up the good work, and good luck.

9:50 AM  

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