Ai Haz a Hedake

If only the LOLcats ruled the world. Oh, it's not as if I haven't seen their telltale spelling on any number of student projects recently. It's just that I long for a simpler world. A world in which my place of work does not give me continual headaches.

I did write today's debacle all out for you, but I decided to spare you the gory details after I spilled them all to my sister. I felt better then, although in truth, today did not stress me out, it just pissed me off. First, I was "observed" by someone who may actually be a moron in the technical, traditional sense; his best moment of the day was after I had explained to him that I felt I was not being treated respectfully and he asked me several times to explain why, he said "I'm hearing you, but I don't understand you" and I said "Then you're not hearing me." Oy. An idiot.

So I took a bit of time later in the afternoon and wrote out my entire retirement speech. Yes, I have three years to go; sue me, it was very cathartic. I read it to my sister after school and she said I could read it to her every single day until I retire, if I want, but I shouldn't make the speech when the time comes because it will scare young teachers. Hmm.

Anyway, right after school there were five or six kids who came in to discuss the grades I gave them on their projects. Those who had technical problems have until Friday to fix them. Those who didn't do it right? I don't think so. If, in a class of 30 bright kids, one chose not to do it, three got B's or B+'s, 25 got something in the A range (A- to A+, and even a couple of A++'s for doing the extra credit), what can the one kid who got a D really say? Clearly, the instructions made sense to most people in the room. She didn't listen, she didn't read the rubric, she just didn't do it right. I am sad for her -- she was at the edge of tears as she sat at my desk listening to me explain the grade to her -- but I also think that in the future she will listen and do things closer to right. As for the few in some of the other classes who understood the assignment but chose to do it in some never-before-imagined way, I just don't know. I am not clairvoyant; I have no idea where their work is unless they uploaded it to the folder I told them to upload it to. (Yesterday at lunch, one of the science teachers was telling us that in response to some boy's comment, she said to him "Oh, are you clairvoyant?" and he said "Who's she?" Nice to know that everyone else in the class laughed. Advanced level juniors should have some SAT vocabulary under the belts, I think.) Anyway, I asked one boy who swore that he turned the project in where exactly he had uploaded it to, and he said he didn't know. I told him that I was flattered that he thought I could find it no matter where he had put it on the school network, but I can't do that. He has until tomorrow to bring it to me on a flash drive.

Okay, so I'm watching CNN, wondering if they're putting Hillary on live, but they say they're putting Obama on live. As I type, he has four delegates to get to clinch the nomination, down from six about twenty minutes ago. Looks like tonight's the night. I'll have to go to his website tomorrow and order my bumper stickers.

WATCHING CNN :: ENTRY #1770