A little relief

There's good news about my class from hell. One student is out, taking a correspondence course for 9th grade English with the guidance of the Learning Center, and if he passes that with a 70%, he'll be eligible for summer school for his grade 10 English credit. If he's successful at that, he'll be in line to enter grade 11 with his class. Do I think he'll accomplish all of this? Highly unlikely. We've given him the last of his chances to succeed, and if he won't do his part, then he's in a tough situation. At least he's not poisoning this class with his vile language, his disrespect of his classmates and teacher, and his refusal to do any assignments that involve reading which, in effect, assures his failing status in the class.

The other yahoo is still in limbo. He and his mother attended a meeting with all of his teachers, his guidance counselor, the vice principal, and his mentor, but the meeting was surreal. His mother vacillated between accusing the school of making him lose his desire to succeed and explaining to us that she's sure he has ADHD and she will have him coded (in reality, something that can only happen after a series of tests administered by professionals) like she was when she was in school because that worked for her. She described a self-contained Special Education room in which students worked alone in cubicles on their assignments while they were supervised by someone walking behind them as though that would work for this boy who craves an audience for his incredibly immature behavior. She just doesn't get it. So while some definitive action waits in the wings, again, he attends classes and checks in with his mentor each day to report to her about his behavior in his classes. I think I'll be giving her my version each day, too, just for a balanced view. I've decided to step things up a bit since he failed three more quizzes and a test, and his juvenile antics are continuing. I'm requesting that he be evaluated for inclusion in Special Education services, and that his claim, "I can read the words but I can't remember anything I read, so what's the use," be investigated. Maybe then someone can get to the root of his reading comprehension problems and he'll be put in a more appropriate English class.

Winter Carnival is upon us. Members of each grade level take part in a variety of competitive activities, they dress according to various themes each day, and they supposedly have fun. Many kids do, and quite a few don't. Lots of kids stay home, either because it's too much noise and confusion for them to handle, or they've chosen not to be part of the events so they don't feel they need to attend school that day. A few kids should stay home but they come in, get jazzed up, roam around, get out of hand, and are sent home. The rest throw themselves into events like crab soccer, geography bowl, volleyball, ultimate frisbee, Wii bowling, Twister, jello slurping, coloring, and snow sculpture competitions. Students say they love Winter Carnival, but if a legitimate survey were taken, I'd be surprised if more than half of the student body said they liked it for any reason other than it gets them out of classroom time for parts of two days and all of one day. At least it's another day we big kids get to wear jeans to school, and we get to take on different roles like running the buzzer system or judging the photography contest. It's a long day, but at its end, we'll be ON VACATION!!!