Parent Teacher Conferences

Anarchy. There was anarchy in the 7th grade today.

It started when one girl announced that she thought the video we were in the middle of watching was boring (about how DNA works). Then she said it was pointless and why did we even have to learn this stuff, unless we were going to be a biologist or something. Another 7th grader chimed in 'yeah, why can't we pick the classes we want to learn about?' So that led to a discussion about laws about education in our country and state, and how even in high school and college, you still have to meet certain requirements/qualifications before they'll let you graduate. That being said, I don't think I got through to them. Sometimes it feels like I'm teaching a brick wall. Thankfully the 8th graders are a little more on board with life science.

One of the 5th graders was off the wall today; he could not focus to save his life. It was so bad, he couldn't even write. His letters were all over the place, barely legible. What's worse is that he didn't have his handwriting done. None of it.

Since they have all week to do it, our rule is that handwriting has to be done before lunch the last day of the week (which was today since we don't have school tomorrow). That means if it's not done, you work on it until it's finished, then you get to eat. It's usually a pretty good incentive for those pokey little puppies who just don't want to do it.

But this poor kid was so out of focus, he couldn't do it. The rest of the class (aside from two other pokeys) had gone off to get lunch. By the time everyone had made it through the line, including me, he had only written a few words. He burst into tears yelling, "I can't even write on the lines! This is why I'm getting Bs and Fs! I'm worthless!" Oh boy. So I went over to talk to him. He wasn't ready to listen. I started eating my lunch. When he came back to his desk, I made a deal with him. If he could get day 3 finished, he could get lunch and work on the border sheet while he ate. He took me up on it. It was only after he finished lunch that I discovered he hadn't done day 1 or 2 at all. At afternoon recess he finished writing his border sheet and colored it. His writing was much neater (and so was his coloring). He still didn't get it done.

Sigh. All the kids acting up on the day of Parent Teacher Conferences.

My conferences went well. A lot of them were very short; not much to talk about. We went over FAST test scores and how to study with the new spelling curriculum. Now I'm wrapping up in my room and I'm heading out, Fulda-bound tomorrow for the long weekend. No school tomorrow!