(no subject)

[velvetpage]

I'm wondering right now if the old-style, God-punishes-wickedness type reasoning might be true after all.

I took yesterday as a mental health day, enjoyed it thoroughly, and came back with enough energy to finish the week. Then I get to school and discover that my knees are giving me trouble. THey don't hurt, really - I just wonder if they're going to collapse and land me face-first on the linoleum. And there's this odd clicking sound. . . Oh well. What's one more (legitimate) sick day this week?

I can punish my students by getting the same supply teacher in for them. They hated her, but she got work out of them. Trying to get my kids to hand in a math journal is like pulling crocodile teeth - not only is it painful and troublesome for the croc, you're likely to get bitten.

Comments

[pyat.livejournal.com]

Maybe you can get a knee scan, too! :)

[wggthegnoll.livejournal.com]

Well, you could probably ask your doctor about getting your knee diagnosed. If they won't allow it, then I do happen to have access to an MRI (I still love the sound of that) and I could possibly get you scanned. Of course, I wouldn't know the first thing about diagnosing you.

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Well, you do the scan, a doctor friend of ours does the diagnosis (he must know something about it, he's a geriatrician for heaven's sake) and treatment? What treatment? Oh yeah, a friend of the family is a chiropractor - think that would work?

[wggthegnoll.livejournal.com]

Heh, who needs health care!

[wggthegnoll.livejournal.com]

Are these math journals mandatory? And if they are, why not just fail anyone who doesn't hand it in. Isn't the thread of being held back a year enough to scare them into doing the work?

[velvetpage.livejournal.com]

Do you know how much work it takes to fail a student in elementary school? Every report card, including the one in November, must have the "promotion at risk" box checked, or they won't even consider it. No diagnosed learning disabilities ever fail a grade. All the teachers, the parents, and the principal have to agree on it, and usually, the decision is made based on whether the teachers as a group believe we can actually help this kid in one more year.

Then, of course, they go to grade 9 and fail course by course. There's a surpisingly large number of high school dropouts who manage the singular accomplishment of never obtaining a single credit. There are also a lot who manage to drop out in grade nine, because the legislation requiring them to be at school doesn't have much in the way of teeth.

It's a nightmare.

[wggthegnoll.livejournal.com]

Ouch.