Okay - not really "mad" - although sometimes it sure feels like it. And other times it feels great.
I teach math at a magnet high school. It's a great school, with great kids, and a great faculty. What could be better, right? Well, if you're a teacher you know that it doesn't get much better than that. But you also know that there are some days that you want to wring somebody's neck. Some days it can be anybody - specificity doesn't matter. And other days it may be a particular student, parent, co-worker, administrator, yadda, yadda, yadda. Some days, maybe it's even your own neck that could use a good wringing!
I thought it might be fun (granted, in a perverse sort of way) and therapeutic to keep a log of those special days - "special" at both ends of the spectrum - to share, to reflect on , just to use as a place to unload. So this is my first entry. And I'll just say that I had a frustrating conference with a student and his parents at the end of the day on Friday. Now, you have to get the picture here. The student cheated on a take-home test. I don't mean sharing answers with friends, or using notes and books - I expected all of that and really had no problem with it. But apparently the little darlings found the answer key to the test online - and this kid copied the answers almost word for word! So you'd imagine the conference was about that, right? Wrong! The parents were horrified that their son would be accused of cheating - with "no proof." When I read his answers and the key's answers out loud to them there was no comment, and on we went as if those few moments had not transpired. Incredible!!!! So what do they want? They want me to know how discouraged he is, and how he has lost hope of getting good grades because of the 23 that he got on the test that I gave in class after the take home debacle. And they want that 23 to be expunged. he'll keep the 92 on the take-home test, thank you very much. Oh, there's more gory details, but really the whole thing is insignificant - at least in my life. So we rage for a day or so inside, dust ourselves off, and head back to the trenches - right?
