Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Reprimanding a class is not fun...

I've been frustrated with these kids before, but I reached my limit and tore into them...not fun :/. I told them they needed to finish their worksheet for homework yesterday so we could discuss what mock trial we wanted to do, but of course I casually ask them if they finished the worksheet as they file in and these are the answers "I left it home." "I left it in my locker" "I lost it" "I thought we were going to finish today." That just set me off. These kids want respect and want to be treated like adults, but they act like children. That's exactly what I told them. Unfortunately I had to practically yell at them to get their attention. I told them it was irresponsible and disrespectful to come to class without your work when I told them it needed to be finished. I really want to teach them important info and try to make it interesting, but you can't do that if you don't do your work!!! I never acted this way towards my teachers. It never even crossed my mind. They get all pissy about the way they are treated, but they don't understand that in order to gain respect you have to give it. I tried to explain that it is important to grasp these key historical themes b/c they are going to be old enough to vote in the next presidential election and all I get is, "Why would I vote? I don't care." ARE YOU F'ING KIDDING ME! Additionally, they've got CSTs coming up and I straight told them, "If you can't focus and we can't get through the information I'll just list what you need to study and you can get ready without my help b/c you spent all class messing around." So we got down to the part where we assigned roles for the trial and I made them sign a contract saying that they will come prepared and act appropriately if they want to get their extra credit. I just can't take their bull anymore. I never thought I'd say this but, maybe I'll like middle school better :'(

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