Mamacita says: It’s absolutely POURING down rain, and I’m really glad because I love to lie in bed and listen to the rain as I drift off to sleep.
However, tomorrow is an early-to-work day, and a hard rain as I drive northward on the interstate isn’t nearly as pleasant.
The semester is over in only three weeks, and while I used to count down the remaining days on a calendar look rather forward to summer vacation back in the public school, I now love my teaching gig so much, I can’t wait for another semester to begin. I hope my summer sessions “make.”
I also have an excellent student population this semester, and I will miss them. I’ll have a few of them back again next fall, but that’s another story. I even like THOSE students! Some of them might not like me when they get their grades, but those who are keeping track already know the bad news. Anyway, a teacher’s goal is not to be “liked;” a teacher’s goal is to help students gain the knowledge that will enable them to live productive lives, to take care of themselves and others, to desire to obtain MORE knowledge, and to know how to do it. I hope no one is surprised to hear that a teacher’s goal should not now nor should it EVER be anything to do with a standardized test score. You really don’t want to get me started on that topic, though.
I have no opinion about the handful of “students” who haven’t shown up since the second week of the semester, but I don’t count them as part of the student population. Those who believe they can pass a college course based on nothing but a midterm and final will have a sad surprise coming. Plus, they obviously haven’t read their syllabus carefully.
Actually, I do have an opinion about those “students,” but everybody knows what it is anyway, so there’s no need for me to say it again. 🙂
Everything’s all ready for the next three weeks, and by the end of class NEXT week, we’ll have gone over every single thing that will show up on the final exam. I will have another surprise for my students next week, also: Any student who took notes may use them during the final exam.
Of course, any student who regularly checks our class Blackboard website already knows that, anyway; a lot of them have been taking copious notes all along.
I hope they all bring their notes, but, sadly, I know there will be many who will never hear nor will they read that little piece of information. I have students who didn’t even show up for the mid-term, but every year they show up for the final, look around at all the students with notes, and call “Unfair!” I really hope that, right on cue, my students who came to class regularly and checked out the website weekly, will answer with “Loser!”
Because, you know, that’s what they are. And the other students are winners. Absolute, solid-gold, wonderful, fantastic, awesome winners.
I love my students. It will be hard to give them up and let another professor have them.
By the way, at the college level, a student’s personal fashion/lifestyle/hair/makeup/tattoos/personality, etc, don’t necessarily “stand out” as these things so often do in the public schools. Good colleges encourage a diverse mix of people, and good colleges will not tolerate any bullying or abuse. In the public schools, I saw bullies and creeps and cheaters being excused and entitled, and their victims unprotected and kept vulnerable, and even punished when they fought back. In the college, I’ve seen the VERY few students who tried anything like this kicked out the door faster than their parents could even make excuses for them, which, of course, there ARE none. Please tell your kids that things WILL get better, if they can just stick it out for a little while longer. Many of my best students were the most miserable in high school.
Most of the time, I love them best of all.
My offbeat, different son attempted suicide in high school, convinced that there was no place for him in this very buttoned-down community. A miracle saved his life, and now he’s nearly thirty and a happy musician/composer, pinching pennies, with year-old twins and a lovely, artistic, equally off-beat wife who adores him. They live in a stone house with purple walls and a cat named Here. His life changed almost overnight when he went away to college, and I wish all kids could be told that being ‘different’ is oh so often a wondrous thing, not a tragedy. Sadly, our public schools stress conformity and standardization not only with test scores, but also with appearance, interests, and aptitudes. I thank you for being brave enough to say it: that so often the colleges value what the public schools are happy to throw away.
I’ve often read comments here from your readers who beg you to write a book. I now add my name to the list of people who would definitely buy any book by you. I’d buy several, and give them away to friends with “different” children. I am of the firm belief that an instructor like you would be the saving of our children. It appears that you genuinely understand what’s going on.
My offbeat, different son attempted suicide in high school, convinced that there was no place for him in this very buttoned-down community. A miracle saved his life, and now he’s nearly thirty and a happy musician/composer, pinching pennies, with year-old twins and a lovely, artistic, equally off-beat wife who adores him. They live in a stone house with purple walls and a cat named Here. His life changed almost overnight when he went away to college, and I wish all kids could be told that being ‘different’ is oh so often a wondrous thing, not a tragedy. Sadly, our public schools stress conformity and standardization not only with test scores, but also with appearance, interests, and aptitudes. I thank you for being brave enough to say it: that so often the colleges value what the public schools are happy to throw away.
I’ve often read comments here from your readers who beg you to write a book. I now add my name to the list of people who would definitely buy any book by you. I’d buy several, and give them away to friends with “different” children. I am of the firm belief that an instructor like you would be the saving of our children. It appears that you genuinely understand what’s going on.
What Lucy up there said. Double-time.
What Lucy up there said. Double-time.
Jane, the more I read, the more I learn about you, the more convinced I am that you are what all teachers should be. It’s obvious that you care deeply about your students, that your heart aches when they make poor choices, and that if you had your way you’d probably put a few kids in your purse and take them home, every day. I wish I’d had teachers/professors like you, and I would almost pack up my family and move to your area just so my children could have you in their classrooms. I’m serious. And I bet a lot of other people think the same way. You’re also absolutely hilarious, even when you’re breaking our hearts. How fortunate is the internet to have you with us here!
Jane, the more I read, the more I learn about you, the more convinced I am that you are what all teachers should be. It’s obvious that you care deeply about your students, that your heart aches when they make poor choices, and that if you had your way you’d probably put a few kids in your purse and take them home, every day. I wish I’d had teachers/professors like you, and I would almost pack up my family and move to your area just so my children could have you in their classrooms. I’m serious. And I bet a lot of other people think the same way. You’re also absolutely hilarious, even when you’re breaking our hearts. How fortunate is the internet to have you with us here!