Reflections on my current brood

Begin here: My students are...

It's frightening how many ways I could finish that statement this time around. This year's bunch is the most recalcitrant group of smart pseudo-scholars I've met yet. That's saying not much really as this is only the second bunch of tenth graders I've taught, but I am surprised at the amount of cajoling, threatening, and pushing that it's taken to get this bunch moving. And still, as we approach the week in which we conference and counsel students and parents about entrance into the oh-so prestigious IB program, I have qualms about many of them. I don't like this part. I try to back up, knowing that I have little at stake and the family we're talking with feels like it's life-changing. For many, I expect it is. Even if a kid has done poorly in my class, I won't be the one to say he or she can't be a part of the program. I'll report the student's performance as objectively as I can; the grades tell most of the story, but I won't make a recommendation. I act like a politician and say something vague; I vote present. Who am I to say they won't get their heads together in the next six months? It could happen. I recall how incensed I was (two angry letters and a phone call) when a counselor looked at my genius son's pitiful GPA in the beginning of the ninth grade and said, "Well, you know college is out of the question." Maybe I needed a son like that to make me fully aware that grades don't tell the whole story.

And thank heaven that I don't have to measure my teaching by the FCAT! As grateful as I am that my students do extremely well on standardized tests, it makes seeing growth even more difficult. Just now I am seeing some progress with these kids, but before the test they were all just playing the game. To me, playing the school game means doing every assignment with little engagement or enthusiasm and then anxiously tending your grade in each class. These kids say things out of the blue like, "You wouldn't happen to remember my grade in your class, would you?" Nearly every assignment discussion is focused on quantity, how many words, how many sources, how many points. Of course, they focus mostly on the points. AAUUUURRGGH!

The progress that I'm seeing coincides with our long journey westward with the Joads. Yes, I lead/push/bribe/drag them through The Grapes of Wrath. Many are reading with interest, many are reading out of duty, but it seems even the few who have not been reading may be doing so now. On the discussion board I've asked them to find their own connection to the novel and it's great to finally see them encouraging each other to read and to begin seeing the novel with different eyes. And we're not even to California yet.

Grades are due Monday. As usual I have more to grade than I can do, but that is because I make them write so much. Aren't they lucky? I wish I had had a teacher like me.