{{{Laura}}}

Happy Giving Birth Day, anyhow.

Ben is getting into the minimalist crap homework phase. It's driving me nuts.

{{{Laura}}} You're a good mom.

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.

Amen. Amen. Amen.

Gris, I'm so sorry, and so humbled by the difficulties you face as a teacher. I couldn't do it and I can't support you enough in finding ways to take care of yourself so that you CAN do it with less wear and tear on yourself.

Recently, I borrowed the audiobook of Frank McCourt's Teacher Man, read by the author. I highly recommend it. Rather than a stirring To Sir With Love sort of vibe, he speaks bluntly about what it was like to teach in the NYC schools for 30 years. The occasional wins, the losses and all the ordinary in between.

Much peace ~ma to you as you navigate this difficult day.

You know, I honestly think most boys could use a Wanderjahr around age 14. They're too restless from the hormone cocktail in their system to pay attention in school or even have the desire to be there. Let them take a year off, work in two or three different places as interns, see how their high school and college education can make a difference. Get them to understand that a slacker attitude does nothing for them in the real world and then send them back to school, perhaps with a little more incentive to succeed.

That's an awesome idea Sail.

tensions were very high, and two of our more crazy girls nearly had a fight in the hallway after one of them accused friends of the other one

er...you either need to watch this last season of the Wire as soon as possible or avoid it at all costs.

I wish I had some good (or any) advice, Gris. My dad was a public school teacher for for 30 years and I knew I'd never have the fortitude to do what he did. I know it's frustrating and depressing as hell now but your kids are lucky to have someone who cares so much. I hope you're able to stick with it.

{{Gris}} Ditto what everyone else said. I'm so sorry this is so hard on you, and I admire you so much for even wanting to do this, and for trying so hard. Caring so much, that makes you a good teacher, right there.

Sail, that's a good idea. Girls could use one around age 16, too, I think.

{{{Gris}}} You are doing a very difficult and yet important thing. Thank you. You may not be teaching either of my children and I probably don't say it enough to any of their teachers, though I do try, but seriously, thank you.

In meme news, when my alarm went off this morning I was absolutely certain it was Saturday morning and I was upset that I had forgotten to turn off my alarm. And then I realized my mistake. sigh

Sail, that's brilliant.

{{{{Gris}}}} A couple of weeks ago I had lunch with a friend who's on his second year of teaching (middle-school science). We talked a bit about Emily's frustrations in San Francisco and about teaching in general, and he said he doesn't know one single teacher (except possibly K-3rd grade) for whom the first year isn't completely brutal. The constant riding herd on the kids, the discipline issues, the total indifference to homework, the cheating, the largely fruitless calls to parents -- the whole nightmarish mess of it is just what the first year is like, unless you're incredibly lucky or you're Sidney Poitier.

FWIW, he did also say that the second year truly is easier. Still brutal, but manageable. And that at the end of his first year he felt hopeless and incompetent, and so did all the other first-years he knew, and that now they're all feeling somewhat less so, and that he feels almost, barely, confident about next fall and a new crop of kids. It's just a shitstorm that there's no way through except through. But it doesn't mean you're a bad teacher, not at all.

Oh, my. I just got the sweetest note from my cousin's son (who is in 2nd or 3rd grade, I think). He colored one of those felt pictures for me, and wrote "To Valerie. From Luke. I pray for you. Always remember God loves you."

Apparently, he prays for me every night. I'm so touched. I just... Kids. I tell ya.