How To Mend A Broken Heart

Well today I was not feeling too well but naturally I still went to work. My boss jokingly said the only way I could miss school was if I was going to a funeral....and i were in the casket lol. Today went fairly well in comparison to the other days I had this week. Its amazing how much these kids do not know to be in the 9th grade. It frustrates me to no end to know that someone's administration or teacher let these students progress without knowing content. I still push on and try to cram in as much as possible. I am still struggling with their studying and am planning to spend our homeroom time learning study skills. The lack of prior instruction or not knowing how to study will not be their excuse. The learned the definition of excuses today and have to recite it everyday (lol). We can't let the past be a crutch on our abilities. I am also working on varying instruction as much as possible and reteaching using different methods. We have been doing partner work, group work, drawing, making collages, and today they created math review worksheets to help them teach themselves the material. Tomorrow is our re-retest and I am hoping we have significant changes in performance as a result of the reteaching and student created worksheets. There is also talk of yet another staff change due to our inability to find good teachers or teachers that desire to teach this age and demographic. I'm ready for consistency and I am sure the kids are too.

Now for the title of this post. Today one of my favorite students had his heartbroken. Now I know I am not supposed to have favorites but you naturally tend to gravitate to some more than others. He works hard in class and even though he aggravates me at times, I recognize his potential and acknowledge his determination. He apparently wrote a girl a song today. She took his song, threw it on the floor, and stepped on it in his face. He was so angry and would not do work in my class. At the end of the day, my patience is typically non existent for such behavior but it was very out of character for the kid who likes to hurry to get my work done to not engage at all. So his friends explain to me what happened and he and I talk outside. He really liked her and she just crushed his little feelings. I told him that he was young and had lots of opportunities to find a nice young lady who would appreciate him and what he has to offer. I mean, the kid wants to be a doctor. He'll have no problem then. He seemed to appreciate the talk because afterwards he came back into class and got on task. Being a teacher requires you to wear many hats.