Needing to relax...

I've been really stressed, lately...so many things that people want done...so little time to do them...

And I think I've been a little edgy with the kids...

Friday, progress reports went out...and I informed the kids, yesterday, that the largest proportion of kids in both classes got F's...

Why?

Because they sat and stared at me or socialized with their neighbors and didn't do or turn in any work...

And by last Friday, I was sick of it...so I let them hang on their F's until something changes...

It gets really annoying working your ass off all of the time, listening to complaints from parents, administrators (though they've been fairly good, this year) and the public (though terrorism has really overshadowed the very complex and difficult policy discussion around public education) about how you're never doing enough...

And, in class, watch students persistently stare at you or their neighbor...and do no work...

This is one of the little intangibles about pressuring for results that so many people don't account for when they decide that their desire to get stuff from other people is more important than their own welfare or their own sense of their lives...

The frenzy for it, these days, is so strong that quite a while ago -- 4 or 5 years ago -- I finally decided that I wasn't playing ball...

Once it becomes clear to you that people who are ordering you around or who are pressuring you for results are not really terribly interested in your welfare...

You learn to blow them off...

I'm sure that's how many kids feel about their teachers...and administrators...and many about their parents, sadly...

And I'm afraid that, lately, though my frustrations have plenty of validity...

That I've become one of those people...

So...

Today, I'm working on a permission slip...to see if maybe we can watch a movie, together, on Friday...

Ever since I saw Glory Road, this summer, I've wanted to show it to the kids...

It's a great movie, if you haven't seen it, about the 1963 Texas Western Miners winning the NCAA championship with the first college basketball team to start 5 black players, many of whom never planned on going to college, who not only defy all of the odds to win the tournament, but who earn college educations to go and contribute much more to their community than they had probably ever planned before graduating college...

We're going to watch the movie or do something to relax together, and not just be all work and no play...

Because I'm tired of being a grumpy teacher always complaining to the kids and to Melissa about how the kids won't do any work...

Before the last 6 years, there were plenty of people that I looked up to for guidance on how to work and live my life...

Now there are very few...

And all I know is right now, this is what I and the kids need, I think...

Have a great week, everyone:)...

Love,
Ben