August is the cruelest Month...

T.S. Eliot's poem spoke of April being the cruelest month... but if he had been a school teacher here with teachergirl in my part of the world, he would have realized that August is truly the cruelest month. I am down to days left of vacation. I have turned the page of my calendar and have found that I have meetings and deadlines and Meet and Greet and... oh yes, that little science project I have put off all summer long. PrepGirl and BrownBear are scrambling to finish summer reading; BrownBear got her back to school wardrobe yesterday... PrepGirl gets her high school uniforms today.

Wednesday puts me in the principal's office with a mother of a child who failed the state test a second time. Joy, joy, joy. What will my recommendation be? Can't tell yet. Been pondering that one since I heard he failed again. I love him but what good will it do him if we push him up to the sixth grade if he can't perform at the fifth grade level? The new math standards are going to catch him in the sixth grade and he can't do the basics. The entire team worked with him this year, and it was almost to no avail.

Now, you tell me, when the state tells us that in 2010 we will have to have 100% passage rate for our students in order for us to make adequate yearly progress, what are we going to do with those kids who just don't get it? Those kids who don't have the support that I can't give if they don't live with me? BrownBear missed about 4 questions on the state test; principal said that maybe my class should move in with me. I said that I had had BrownBear with me in the house since she WAS BORN!!!!!! We eat dinner together at the table and have conversations about whatever and talk about PrepGirl's Civics classes and let LawyerBoy chime in about politics. Education just doesn't happen in a classroom!!!! Education isn't just measured on a standardized test!!!!! Anyone listening? Hey Oprah???

Got to get this day started. Lots to do. Hey, it's August and while the Virginia teachers are still on the beach, this teachergirl has a classroom to set up.