The Worst Part

Probably the worst part about my job of being a ninth grade English teacher is keeping kids caught up. I'm really talking about those that never do assignments, always need new copies of handouts and never turn them in, and then they still wonder why they are getting 35% in class.

I have a website--Mr. Butcher's Schoolnotes page--that can keep students and parents up to date. I clearly write the agenda every day on the board and those with planners add the information to it (those with planners--I know I'm stretching it here because I don't think I've seen a planner for months). For those absent, I also do up a sheet everyday called "What Did I Miss?" that details the class period and any valuable information they need to know. I keep on giving little slips of paper that details what assignments they are still missing. This is a lot of fucking work and I still am not getting results. I have just one thing to say: Next year, I am doing it all for them.

If anyone has read Green Lantern from DC Comics, they know of a character called Sinestro. He was a Green Lantern that took it too far. He so ordered his world that the citizens had no choices of their own. Well, let it be that way with me.

This also works into my Professional Teaching Certificate stuff that I have been doing for this year, which I am sure I will go into a tirade about in another post. I am going to so structure their lives that they will have no choice in the matter of their education. This seems counter-productive to what I am really supposed to be achieving and actually contrary to my beliefs, but I have to do it. I have to show results. The results don't just affect the students anymore--they reflect me.

I will not be responsible for Stephen, who sits there and refuses to think. If they think, they will only do better with these steps. If they don't think, they won't be bothered by it anyway.

This is what I am going to do:
Everyday copy the daily agenda and work into their planner. If they don't have their planner, they call home right then and there. I will do this and after one or two embarrassments, I bet it won't happen again.
Every single homework assignment (and there are only a handful) I hand out will require a parent's signature. This will be so the parents know there is actually some homework, if they don't finish it in class, that is.
Procedures will be expressly told and reiterated everyday for at least the first month. I must be an absolute bitch about it.
I am going to make them fill out their own grade charts and keep track, with parent signatures. I will check these weekly.

What else should I do?