Day 36: Stupid Sophomores
Students will be able to identify Brutus' moral conflict.
Students will be able to revise their research question and write a thesis statement.
First, students in my morning classes start calling each other nasty names. We were "translating" passages of Shakespeare, and some found this easy while others struggled. The former decided the latter were "stupid" or "idiots." Bad way to start the day.
Later in the day, several of my researching sophomores pretty much decided research was beyond them and zeroes were fine in the grade book. Others discovered that when their facts stink, writing a paper is impossible. Unfortunately there are just too many students in my class to track all of them simultaneously, especially when a bunch of students have been absent and are not caught up. I'm trying to figure out where the modifications end and the straight-up hand-holding begins. Some of my students are not able to write a 3-4 page research paper at this time, but they're trying. Others are perfectly capable and just refuse. SO FRUSTRATING. To complete it all, I forgot to put a fork and spoon in my lunch box, along with my yogurt and spaghetti...two lunch items that need their utensil pairs. This lunch conundrum is a metaphor for my day. Earlier today I actually called a kid a moron to his face. I graded their pop quizzes - he failed - and gave them the option to correct them for a passing grade. This young man "corrected" his by whiting-out all my "X's, rewriting them as check marks, and putting the cross through the minus sign to make it +5, which was passing. I had to look at it for a few seconds before I realized what he did...and then called him a moron and told him to correct it for real. Stupid sophomores.
Tomorrow my kiddos take the PSAT and I am in charge of a bunch of freshmen for a 4-hour-long freshman writing camp. This shall be interesting...
Students will be able to revise their research question and write a thesis statement.
First, students in my morning classes start calling each other nasty names. We were "translating" passages of Shakespeare, and some found this easy while others struggled. The former decided the latter were "stupid" or "idiots." Bad way to start the day.
Later in the day, several of my researching sophomores pretty much decided research was beyond them and zeroes were fine in the grade book. Others discovered that when their facts stink, writing a paper is impossible. Unfortunately there are just too many students in my class to track all of them simultaneously, especially when a bunch of students have been absent and are not caught up. I'm trying to figure out where the modifications end and the straight-up hand-holding begins. Some of my students are not able to write a 3-4 page research paper at this time, but they're trying. Others are perfectly capable and just refuse. SO FRUSTRATING. To complete it all, I forgot to put a fork and spoon in my lunch box, along with my yogurt and spaghetti...two lunch items that need their utensil pairs. This lunch conundrum is a metaphor for my day. Earlier today I actually called a kid a moron to his face. I graded their pop quizzes - he failed - and gave them the option to correct them for a passing grade. This young man "corrected" his by whiting-out all my "X's, rewriting them as check marks, and putting the cross through the minus sign to make it +5, which was passing. I had to look at it for a few seconds before I realized what he did...and then called him a moron and told him to correct it for real. Stupid sophomores.
Tomorrow my kiddos take the PSAT and I am in charge of a bunch of freshmen for a 4-hour-long freshman writing camp. This shall be interesting...
yep...lol
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