Monday, November 13, 2006

How do You Kick a Kid out of School?

The seventh grade teachers had to meet today with B.B.'s aunt to discuss her future in the school.
Her aunt was very defensive and refused to hear of anything that would mean B.B. had to leave school.
We did discuss a million different options, but there is no money to send her to special schools. We are going to look into the Ichud program for her even though they have no seventh grade; we are thinking of putting her into the 6th.
My co and I kept glancing at each other every time Hebco opened her mouth. I was worried about getting my point across without seeming like I was miss-know-it-all. It didn't seem like Hebco worried about that at all. She spoke to B.B.'s aunt as if she were a baby and she just dumped the info on her stone cold.
I was slightly taken aback as Hebco described her as being like a wall in the classroom.
I needed to help B.B. a lot in class today with her persuasive essay and all I kept thinking about was how to get her into a program that would really benefit her. Seems like she'll be taking up a lot of my time this year.
S.G. and C.S.S. and S.S. and C.K. all needed my help with their essays. I'm pretty shocked that I have so many girls who need help. The rules are simple enough, but they all kept messing them up. I'm starting to feel like I have no idea how to teach writing. It's a little depressing.
I am under pressure to get these writings in because report card rating sheets are due in Thursday. I told the 8th grade to hand in the first two parts of their "Letters to Self" so that I could give them an average mark on grammar and spelling and writing for this term. I spent all night on them.
I also spent all Sunday writing up comments for each kid in 8th and averaging out their marks. This year I put everything on an excel spreadsheet so that in case the principal needed things averaged over (like last year), it wouldn't be a big deal. The entire averaging took about 4 seconds this year.
I'm so pressured to get the marks in, but I have no real writing rubrics for marking and I think a lot of the marks on the report cards are baloney. How am I supposed to mark a kid on "Oral Communication" or "Accuracy in Class Discussions?"
I gave a maps quiz in both classes today because I needed a Geography mark on the report card. 8th grade all passed with flying colors. In 7th, I didn't even collect their answer sheets. I collected their question sheets instead and told them to study like hell for tomorrow. I don't know why, but I'm giving them another chance.
Tomorrow is going to be a day devoted to report cards. I am giving that quiz in maps again, plus a quiz on literature in 8th, and I have to cram in one last chapter and test in the 8th grade before report cards are due. Help!
By the way, I got some index cards today that I could only get in this school: Two girls asked me when my birthday was. One girl asked me what color my hair was under my wig. N.N. told me girls are bullying her. And B.B. told me that F.E. and S.G. are teasing her.
B.B. so needs to get out of here.
Another by the way, this post is the 201th post on this blog. Last post was number 200!

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