Happy Halfweek

Good evening readers! Today is a wonderful Wednesday as the week is now more than half over. Today I spent my day working through the novel "The Outsiders" however, I did spend my morning juggling 2 novels so that my students could have a choice in what they read. I did everything but get on my hands and knees to plead with my students to continue working through their novel so that they can get a good grade on their assignments as the end of the marking period is looming closer and closer. For some students if they fail this marking period they will fail Language Arts, and possibly the year. Some days I honestly believe that I care more about their education and their success than they do. The end of my day consisted of wrangling a classroom in which half of the students have disabilities of some sort and many of them have attention disorders. While having attention problems may seem to be something that is over diagnosed it can be a real problem for a student who tries to focus. For example, today I had to try and help students focus on reading silently while one was banging on his desk and another continuously would read, get up and walk around the room, read, get up, etc. Oh, did I mention I also have students in the room who are on the Autism spectrum? Those with attention disorders make it extra difficult for these students to accomplish their tasks.

Aside from the actual teaching portion of my day I had conference with a student about their troubles at home and the impact that their personal concerns are having on their learning. I also discovered that I have a student with a parent who's cancer is spreading. No matter what these students have going on it is my job to put that aside and make sure they comprehend their reading and understand the lesson. My heart goes out to these students but with so many other students with so many other needs there sometimes seems so little that I can do.

I once read in a book (for the graduate classes I take in my spare time) that people do not expect doctors to see and treat 30 patients in the same room at the same time and neither do they expect lawyers to juggle 30 cases at once, but everyday we ask teachers to diagnosis the needs of 30-150 or more students, determine a method of treatment, and then carry out that treatment all while maintaining a level of control, engagement, and rigor. Where in the old statement "those who can, do and those who can't, teach" does the ability to do all of those things fit?