Boiling Point

I'm boiling over this week. I know I shouldn't be. I know I should take everything with a grain of salt and just move on, but there are so many little things that I cannot fix that make me wish that I was in control of more things.

I cannot be in control of some of these students. F's don't scare them. Not at all. In School Suspension doesn't scare them. They actually try for Out of School Suspension so they don't even have to come.

And the whole thing behind my eyes, as I seethe and ferment in my own anger, is why they bother coming at all.

I know it is public education. But what happened to wanting to better yourself? What happened to earning a high school diploma?

I don't know what to do about it.

I kicked out two kids in my troublsome seventh period yesterday. They have been a continual problem all year, even after specific parent-teacher meetings with all the teachers. There's simply no answer. One does well enough to get a D- every quarter, turning in bare minimal work, and the other one doesn't care at all. Getting them to REVISE anything in a writing class, making them rewrite anything is like asking them to build the Great Wall of China. But I tell ya, once I kicked them out, the rest of my class was golden. I got through that hard lesson on turning information into MLA bibliographic format. Worked very well, even through a tough lesson. They apparently got into trouble disturbing another class in the library. But should I care? Are they my charge after that? I was teaching about ten kids that wanted to do something. Shouldn't my primary focus be on those that are learning? Yeah, it should.

I might get into trouble too because I called them losers under my breath as they were leaving and I think they heard me. Oops.