"No! He's not here?"
Today was one of those last minute, unplanned call outs. If it wasn't a teacher I subbed for several times, I might have been worried. But, I know where he keeps his lesson plans, so if he had not prepared ahead on Friday, I would have been able to give the class the assignment he intended.
There was one thing I couldn't do, however.
Jane is ready to graduate. (That was her quote at the top.) She spent Saturday doing enough homework to finish her science credits. At least, that's what she told me as she pulled out said work and organized it so that she could turn it in.
The continuation high school works a little differently than a traditional high school. Credits are earned when a student completes a set number of assignments. A student who sits in class and does no work earns no credits. A student who does all the work and asks for more earns credits faster.
To graduate, a student must complete 220 credits. 40 must be in English, 20 in math, 20 in science, etc. Once the student has earned all 220 credits, she graduates, whether it be June, October, or February.
(The graduation ceremony is next week.)
Until Jane's work is corrected and recorded, she doesn't get those credits. And until she gets those credits, she can't graduate. She still has to attend school until those final credits are recorded, but once she graduates, she no longer has to show up.
Understandably, Jane was upset. She had science for two periods. During that time, she finished her last two credits (in a different subject), turned them in, and got those credits recorded. Now she just has to wait for the science teacher to return. (Jane asked an administrator if she could correct the final assignments, but Jane was told she would have to wait.)
There was only one thing I could do. I wrote in my note to the teacher: "Jane finished her homework and is anxious to graduate. She's waiting on you. Her work is on top."
Hopefully, by this time tomorrow Jane will be a high school graduate.
Monday, June 6, 2011
3 comments:
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I'd be upset, too! She put in all that work and was snagged up by an absent teacher. There's not much you can do about that. I hope she's a graduate tomorrow, too.
ReplyDeleteThat wasn't a great position for you to be in. I can see her point of view, but there wasn't anything else you could've done.
ReplyDeleteGuess she won't be at the school the next time you sub there.
A crisis on her part means a crisis on your part. For whatever reason, she fell behind on school and thus couldn't graduate at the same time as other kids. So now comes continuation high school and is upset because she has to wait now to get the degree.
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