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2002-02-12 - 8:16 p.m. Well I think I'm going to change this back to yellow since I had two votes for it. But right now I am too lazy to do that so for now it is pinkish-purple. I am still really, really sick. I am starting to think that I need to go to the doctor. I had about four major coughing fits this morning. Luckily it got better but later on in the day I had one while I was trying to read something to the class and it was quite embarrassing. I never cough this badly so I am starting to worry about myself. I did find out that those tongue bumps are natural, however. I wasn't going to post today but I figured everyone would be worried about me after the entry yesterday about how I might die of a weird tongue disease, so I figured I'd better type something to ease your fears. I am back into my grading plan again. I got sidetracked last week since I missed some days, but luckily there isn't too much work to grade so I will be caught up soon. I was very disappointed. Remember what I said about first period yesterday? How they never do work? Only two were prepared for their speeches today. There are nineteen in that class. Isn't that the most pathetic thing? I think I might have to start calling parents and maybe that will get some of them into gear. I had sort of a problem like this last year with one of my all-on-IEP classes, but they sort of turned it around when I did these daily progress grades. I really don't want to have to do that and I don't think it will work with these kids. Part of the problem with them last year was constant socialization. That is not the problem with these guys (except the five popular girls in the back). They just seem to completely lack energy. There is also no sense of community as a class. No one ever says anything in front of the entire class. We read a story today, in lieu of speeches, since no one was prepared. I asked, "What do you think of that story?" I sat. I waited. No one answered. They stared at me blankly. Finally I moved on and gave them their assignment. But really! I have never asked a class a question like that before where I was met with nothing. Usually at least one kid will yell, "IT SUCKED!" and we can all laugh. Not that that's fun either, but at least it's normal. I swear first period is an alien life form in the place of children. I mean, I can fine tune my questions so that they are more specific and more easy for them to figure in their heads what I want to hear, but what's that? That's not learning either, and that's not discussion. That's answering questions the way the teacher wants it. Here's what my teaching program would tell me to do with this class: ask for their input. Tell them how I see the class is going and ask them what they think is wrong and what we can do as a whole to fix it. I really don't want to do that, either. You know how you just know if something like that will work? It would work with seventh period. It won't work with first. So what do I do? I don't know. As far as the speeches and projects went, I was sadly disappointed in the sophomore work. My second period usually can be counted on for good quality work. Most of them did crappy jobs. I now can think of some ways to have showed them how to have done a better job, but I don't think I did a terrible job at it. I had an example for them so they knew what I expected for the project part. Some of the kids had magazine pictures in their project that weren't even CUT out, they were TORN out. Hello, can you say zero effort? I couldn't believe it. I graded them very harshly, when normally I am a pretty lenient grader. The seniors did a nice job, on the other hand. They had unrehearsed speeches and they were much better than the sophomore's rehearsed ones. Of course they are seniors, not sophomores, but there was a bigger contrast than I would have expected. I thought it was a really good episode of Gilmore Girls tonight. I thought it was really funny, a lot funnier than usual. My favorite part was when that guy, Michelle, was in the jogging suit. I thought Shelly was really annoying and I can't believe Lorelai or Rory could even stand being around her. Oh, I have a Gilmore Girls bit of trivia for you! I was watching my new Dirty Dancing DVD the other night and realized that the mother on there is none other than the grandma on Gilmore Girls! How funny is that? Anyway, I planned to go to bed early so I better get going. P.S. It was pointed out to me that my dates are screwy. I have no idea why this is. I manually changed this one, but am not sure what's going on. Must be a Diaryland thing.
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