the last weeks of teaching -- in gifs
There are only two months left of school and I am (finally) finishing an 8th grade unit on Shakespeare. My students just turned in a major project. I gave them lots of options, even giving them rankings of easy work/lower grade to hard work/higher grade possibilities for those who aren't worried about getting top marks in English class.
Some of these projects? Some of them are AMAZEBALLS.
But others are so obviously done without any real effort. They really feel like an insult. My response to those students' projects?
For better or worse, I only have about 8 weeks of teaching left.
Some of my EFL students who've spent the year blowing off my class are now getting ready to take the IELTS and TOEFL (sort of the language equivalent of the SATs or A Levels) and now they're freaking out and wanting to cram. This makes me recycle my old adage: poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine. Oh. You're going to fail the exam I've been trying to prepare you for during the class you considered your official nap time? Let me think about my response for a minute...
But despite trying to not care, I do definitely still have stress. There's a lot of stuff I still need to cover and a mountain of stuff to mark, so I'm a little bit...
Suddenly, a lot of the parents we've been trying to contact all year about their children's poor performance are calling us up desperately trying to make appointments. It's always when I'm not free. And not just "oh, I'm tired" or "yeah, that's after my office hours" but literally when I'm actively teaching their kids and cannot meet them. One of the parents commented that I don't seem worried that I can't meet with them. But...I'm just not. I've made more than a good amount of effort, and I've been blown off for months. Perhaps it's a sign of my weakness as a teacher, but if I've been trying to contact a parent for six months and they only now are trying to contact me in return (and not likely from a true desire to learn how to help their kids, but instead to beg for leniency)...
I'm relieved that I made the decision not to teach here next year. I'm going to be glad to keep in touch with a few students, but in general I'm not stressed about being done and just saying...
and when July 12 comes around and school is out, I will very much be...
Some of these projects? Some of them are AMAZEBALLS.
But others are so obviously done without any real effort. They really feel like an insult. My response to those students' projects?
For better or worse, I only have about 8 weeks of teaching left.
Some of my EFL students who've spent the year blowing off my class are now getting ready to take the IELTS and TOEFL (sort of the language equivalent of the SATs or A Levels) and now they're freaking out and wanting to cram. This makes me recycle my old adage: poor planning on your part does not constitute an emergency on mine. Oh. You're going to fail the exam I've been trying to prepare you for during the class you considered your official nap time? Let me think about my response for a minute...
But despite trying to not care, I do definitely still have stress. There's a lot of stuff I still need to cover and a mountain of stuff to mark, so I'm a little bit...
Suddenly, a lot of the parents we've been trying to contact all year about their children's poor performance are calling us up desperately trying to make appointments. It's always when I'm not free. And not just "oh, I'm tired" or "yeah, that's after my office hours" but literally when I'm actively teaching their kids and cannot meet them. One of the parents commented that I don't seem worried that I can't meet with them. But...I'm just not. I've made more than a good amount of effort, and I've been blown off for months. Perhaps it's a sign of my weakness as a teacher, but if I've been trying to contact a parent for six months and they only now are trying to contact me in return (and not likely from a true desire to learn how to help their kids, but instead to beg for leniency)...
I'm relieved that I made the decision not to teach here next year. I'm going to be glad to keep in touch with a few students, but in general I'm not stressed about being done and just saying...
and when July 12 comes around and school is out, I will very much be...