I wonder how long it will take for researchers to create a chip that we can insert in our brain that will record our thoughts… I am so tired at the end of every day that I collapse and think to myself…isn’t there something I was going to write down? I say that to say this: every day is full of about fifty blog-able events. And, since I have been a blog-slacker (what’s new), I will run a quick update.
The English department at Holly Springs Jr. High has subsisted in a state of utter despair for the majority of the year; we’ve felt like failures on account of the December Baseline Test results. (The “Baseline Test” is a practice MCT2 that is administered exactly like the test will be in May. It is given and collected and scored according the direction of the office.) All of our students failed. All of them… We took this to equate a lack of interest and seriousness. However, nine weeks later, I discovered that my students did not fail; rather, my students had their test graded with the incorrect answer key via the folly of our administration. The worst part is not the we, the English department, have been under the thumb of the admin, but that our students were given that baseline score as their semester exam grade per the direct of our principal and curriculum coach. What’s been done about this mis-hap? Nothing.
Meanwhile, the newest ingenious idea to come from the front of the school is a sort of round-robin teaching…which would work for a teacher who had their own class. However, I am teaching my students AND the other 8th grade teachers students simultaneously. The result? Management NIGHTMARE! Not only does each objective get a mere 20 minutes of instruction, but other classes are interrupted in the change of groups (four groups total) as they cross the hall, rotate down the hall and decided to dismiss themselves to the bathroom because group instructors are split between the hall and their classroom. Say a prayer.
On a different note, what they say about kids post spring break is true! Warmer weather means warmer blood…five fights last week. However! This has an upside! The faculty is now allowed to wear jeans and t-shirts everyday so that we can move as much or as fast as necessary. …Well, I think it’s a good thing.
Final comment: I really love my kids—seriously. I will be going through withdrawals when I leave in May (or is it June now?)
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