{{{Gris}}} Hang in there.

{{Gris}}so sorry - between your year and Emily's year I'm really surprised at how many teachers make it past the first year. I wish I had real words of advice.

There is snow on the ground, and I have to admit it does look quite pretty. Plus, it is not enough to cause any real trouble right now.

It's snowing, and I had Chai. I should feel better. But... I don't.

I still have no idea what I'm going to do in my classes. We're having a town meeting with all the students at the beginning of the day, discussing yesterday, and how the year is going, and what's good and what's bad with the environment. And I know I'm going to cry, because I'm crying right now, and I don't know if that will humanize me or make me appear weak. And then i have to teach three 40-minute classes. I think maybe I'll just give them the quiz again, with me there to proctor it, but I just know that most of them will fail, and we have 2 weeks left to the end of the semester, and I can't fail them all because then they risk being held back, and statistics show that most NYC high school kids that fail a year end up dropping out, and I want them to succeed and go to college, not drop out because they can't pass math.

Oh, ugh. I hope the day goes better than expected, Gris. Can you do the quiz as an open book kind of thing, maybe, and hopefully get them to ask questions or at least, you know, try?

I think maybe I'll just give them the quiz again, with me there to proctor it, but I just know that most of them will fail, and we have 2 weeks left to the end of the semester, and I can't fail them all because then they risk being held back, and statistics show that most NYC high school kids that fail a year end up dropping out, and I want them to succeed and go to college, not drop out because they can't pass math.

Gris, I'm sorry this is so heartbreaking for you. I know this may not make you feel any better (and I'm sure you already know this) but you're NOT a bad teacher. You just can't be responsible for the outcome of some of your students, no matter how badly you want them to succeed. There's only so much you can do in a 40 minute class and I'm sure there are deeper issues at work. You do the best you can and get through to as many students as you can. That in itself is a measure of success.

Giving them the quiz again is being generous. But at least you can let them know that you KNOW they cheated and that they can't always get away with it.

Giving them the quiz again is being generous. But at least you can let them know that you KNOW they cheated and that they can't always get away with it.

I completely agree. I think this is important.

In smiley news, Toto being a total goof: [link]

I agree with Cashmere and vw.

I'd also lay it on thick about how I already have my degrees, and can go teach somewhere else, where the students at least have an inkling of the idea that an education is important, even if they don't get why.

I'd mention those degrees make me employable in a whole bunch of different, good professional jobs that come with vacations, salaries and benefits -- and that I wasn't obligated to be a teacher for the rest of my life.

And I'd tell them that if they throw away high school, they're basically taking a sledge hammer to the unskippable step at a chance to have a decent life. I'd say something about how they're going to end up working somehow, somewhere, in some fashion, and that those of them who get an education will be spending half of their waking life in much better conditions than those who don't.

That's just me. I suspect we're really different, and I don't expect you to do any of that. I'm just sharing, in case you get ideas (even if your ideas come from seeing how little I understand about your students -- which is probably true).

What Cash said, Gris. So much of the students' attitude comes from the home and their peers. There's only so much you can do. The fact is, you are trying and trying hard. You know, too, that you can make changes and that means you will. We've seen you, we know you will do it, because that's you.

It's a fine line to walk with students who are on the edge. Any sort of hard lessons you try comes across as preaching. You can tell a 16 year old that they will regret dropping out of high school but they won't really understand it until they get their themselves, unfortunately. I tried to save my 15 year old nephew. He lived with me for a while and got good grades at a good school. But he went back home and dropped out of school the following year. Now he's a low-paid factory worker. His brother quit school at 16, too--only he at least got his GED in juvenile detention. Of course that's not doing him a lot of good in prison right now. *shrugs* I always say that education is the magic bullet. But it takes a lot more than one teacher to educate a child.

I don't think I could teach because of the agony of realizing that somehow, teachers are becoming responsible for the performance of kids who they're lucky to see an hour a day (in the case of high school students).

I'd like to see No Child Left Behind applied to families and communities, rather than skewering teachers for so much that is beyond their control.

Ooooh! We're finally getting some snow! Of course this means I need to try to find our snow boots.