NoJoMo 15 – Burning Out

Nothing like being at home with a migraine what makes you want to eat a bullet, and getting text reports on just how bad your classes are being.

Well, I should say class.

Fist fight between two kids. Another shooting his mouth off badly enough that I hear 3 days of out of school suspension are being talked about and since I just got the text on what he actually did I do not think he should be allowed back until there is a behavior contract and a letter of apology written to my sub. And another writing an essay on why he needs to stop cheating in every class because he was caught again in mine again today – this is the 4th time in my class, it is daily in other classes.

I have had frustrating days before. Have had classes that just make me crazy, but within those classes there were redeemable qualities.

But this class…

Every day even before they come in I start to get angry. It’s not even dread of having to deal with them again – it is turning into flat out loathing.

I do not like this – it’s just wrong. But working with this class is burning me out to the point I am wondering if I want to keep teaching. Every day it is a fight for a variety of reasons. The largest being is that I have an entire class of kids that have been socially promoted through elementary and middle school, and they all test at the 3rd grade level. In a class of 24, 2 are above grade level, and 3 are at or close to grade level. Everyone else tests at 4th grade and below.

This is fucking ridiculous – how the hell have they made it to high school as “straight A students” when they have never even passed a grade level test? And for this class to earn a high school diploma, not only do they have to pass the required classes, they also have to pass the state Reading, Writing, and Math assessments at grade level. How the hell am I suppose to get them from a 4th grade level to a 9th grade level by January when testing starts?

They fight with me every step of the way. They refuse to do work and refuse to try. They actually get in my face and DEMAND that I give them an A in class. Having kids who are a foot-and-a-half shorter than me try to bully me into giving them a grade they have no earned is just fucking pathetic.

And it is just one class. I teach six throughout the day – that leaves five classes of kids that I look forward to working with every day. 75% of the kids in the school I am okay with. Every other “problem child” is great with me. I do not have a single issue in any other class – just one kid who cannot keep his mouth shut, and one who refuses to do work but is quiet about it and that it it.

But still I am burned out. I cannot fight this every day on top of everything else right now.

I think tomorrow will be a do-over day – and I do not think the kids will like it. I don’t think our detention monitor is going to like having almost the entire freshmen class every day.