I’ve got to tell you, people, this end-of-the-year bullshit is getting really old, really fast.
I’m starting to grow weary of the nonsense, and not just from the kids, either. In fact, something is happening on Friday that I just can’t wrap my brain around. It involves my colleague, who I’m tired of complaining about, so I’m just going to leave it but, really? No; I mean, really?! When someone with a whole month’s worth of experience in the classroom questions the propriety and effectiveness of a lesson, you probably ought to reconsider.
On a positive note (for me, anyway), Jimmy has been taken from my class. Here’s the thing with Jimmy; he thinks I don’t like him and he’s probably blaming me (and his music teacher) for the rotten time he’s been having lately. The fact of the matter is that I do like Jimmy, and that is evidenced by the fact that I’ve been trying desperately to get him to do the things he has to do to pass (and, consequently, to graduate). He continued to make excuses and to hand me completely unacceptable work (despite my practically begging him to do what he’s supposed to do), which told me that there was no way I could ethically attest, by marking him with a passing grade, that he is capable of doing the work to the level that I expected. Since he was past the point of no return, the guidance counselor pulled him from the class and is working on getting him into a credit recovery arrangement.
I’m not going to tell you that I’m not relieved; having him out of the class means the rest of the kids get to focus a bit more (because they don’t have to listen to Jimmy trying to interject something completely off topic, or endure another one of my “you understand that you’re all making choices’ speeches). I wish him well, I really do, but unless he figures out that he is responsible for what happens to him, I don’t foresee good things in his immediate future.
Nineteen more days… nineteen more days….
