Vacation Blues

The first week of summer school is blissfully over; I quietly countdown the minutes as they tick away every day. I know that isn't a good thing to do as a teacher, but I'm not your ordinary teacher, I am a summer school teacher.

One huge concern in my room is the presence of a 13 1/2 year old 5th grader who is trying to pass the Super Big State Test. He is living in a homeless shelter. WTH has been my battle cry all week. Is anybody listening? Not until Thursday did someone really hear me and start to look into what has happened to this young man. Because really, if you are almost 14, you aren't a child anymore.


Another big concern in my room: several of the kids told me that they had just fallen asleep during the test. Again, WTH? I was told that I had to circulate, make sure everyone was on task, make sure everyone was on the right section. How do you let children fail by sleeping through the test? Uncaring and unprofessional. That's all. A few of my kids are smart; too smart to be where I am teaching.


BrownBear returned from a week at camp and slept for 14 hours upon her return. No, that isn't a typo - 14 hours. She appeared to PrepGirl and I yesterday at 2:00 PM. She said she wouldn't have gotten up at all if she hadn't had to go to the bathroom. I had been home from school for an hour and a half and I expected to be greated with shouts and cheers and "Let's go to the pool!" Instead, I got to find out what the evil Stefano was up to in the town of Salem.

So, five days of summer school down, 12 more teaching days until the big test.