Day 7

Today was a trial on my patience. I spent about 6 hours grading papers over the weekend and returned all the papers to my students today. I was surprised at the lack of effort the majority of my students put in to their homework. So, I decided that when I return the homework back to them, they can have the option of correcting their mistakes and re-submitting their corrected work on the day of the test in a portfolio packet I am having them create.

I had one male student in my 7th period class rip up a paper after I handed it to him. He got a 3/15 on the assignment due to lack of effort and inaccurate responses. This was just after I finished explaining for the 5th time they could resubmit their incorrect work. I politely told him he needed to use the tape and tape his work back together in order to fix it and get additional credit for the work. He proceeded to roll his paper in a ball, and tape the ball of homework shut.

Moment of truth.......

I picked up the ball and took it over to my desk. I wrote his name on the outside of the ball and filed it in my desk drawer. I will be using that for the parent/teacher conference I fear is coming soon......

I am so tired. Tired of feeling like I am running in a circle. A teacher's job is never over. Spent an hour doing dishes because I forgot to have my last period clean up after a lab. Ended up scrubbing out beakers and petri dishes after my kids left. I am tired of forgetting to tell my 8th period class to stack their chairs on the tables at the end of the day, so I have to do it for all 32 chairs. Tired of being told I am doing stuff wrong. Tired of getting papers with no names on them, then having to explain to students why they got points taken off because there was no name on the paper.

I better get some good sleep or it is going to be a long year.