Friday, October 14, 2022

Petty Vengance

When I talked to Mrs. B before she went on leave, she told me she intended to do the grading while she was out. But the previous Friday, in a completely unsurprising move, Mrs. B asked if I could take it over. (She said mommy brain and teacher brain weren't compatible.) 

Last Friday was the end of the quarter. Grades were due. And that meant I was in charge of getting them done. 

These aren't semester grades. They're more of a progress report, but in a more official capacity. 

One of the things that the school wants on these quarter grades are comments. Comments for each student. 

The comments we can use come from a specific list. I can put in a code for the comment I want to use. But I have a limited list of things I can say. 

The last couple times I've done this, I kept it simple. I only used things like "in danger of failing" or "a pleasure to have in class". There's also an "excessive absences". If I saw that their grade went up, I can use "showing improvement". 

But this time I had a much better idea of who these students are. 

I had caught up on the grading. I input the letter grades they had earned. And it was fifth period when I could start inputting the comments. 

(The class had a make up work day. They worked. I worked. I got way more done than them.) 

I sat in the front of the room in a corner. I looked at the student name. I looked up at the student. I pondered...

At the beginning of the period, three boys refused to sit in their assigned seats. They'd been difficult off and on for the two weeks I've been covering the class. Eventually, they complied, but I had to insist. 

It turns out there's an "uncooperative attitude" comment. Hmmm. 

I also found the "disruptive behavior" comment. (That one was more useful for period eight, but I used it elsewhere as well.) 

I mean, I did use some "pleasure to have in class". Not all the students were terrible. But I got a perverse pleasure in naming some students as difficult. 

It was especially fun to do it when the kiddos were right there. (Does that make me evil? I think I'm okay with that.) 

22 comments:

  1. Tell it like it is. Doesn't help them if you don't. I would have done the same thing.

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    1. I just hope their parents are paying attention.

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  2. Evil? Nope..having some fun, yes! I am sure that when I was in school, there was some with uncooperative attitude...but reading your post I am pretty sure that kids today have more of that to go around than we did.

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    1. I maintain that they were more segregated from us in the past. Plus, I see all the different populations, whereas when I was in school, I only saw the students who were like me.

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  3. It sounds perfectly acceptable and good for you!

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  4. I bet progress report can be difficult.
    Coffee is on and stay safe

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  5. It's a shame you have to pick standard comments for each and can't be a bit more descriptive for each kid, but it's also good that they have some easy go-to templates to use for speed in filling in the reports!

    Hope you are having a great weekend :)

    Away From The Blue

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    1. Oh no. If I had to write an original comment on each... I haven't been with them long enough to do that.

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  6. Evil, no. Someone needs to tell the truth. I hope someone (i.e. parent or guardian) is in their lives to listen.

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    1. I hope so too. It just depends. Sometimes they're this way because they don't have a stable adult in their lives.

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  7. You must be a very sweet person, if you call it "petty vengeance" to call a kid out for being a distraction in class! We just finished the first round of progress reports for our English students. Teachers can comment whatever they want, though. We don't have a reporting system online yet.

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    1. It's way harder to write specific comments on each kid. I had to do that for summer school, and eek.

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  8. No good comes from hiding, its always nice to take people in confidence and find a solution

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    1. I tried to do it the nice way, but they're fighting me on that.

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  9. Hi Liz ... tell the truth ... it's necessary for everyone - kids and teachers. It does sound an interesting report writing time - cheers Hilary

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  10. I'd prefer the truth.. sugar coating doesn't help anyone.

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  11. I agree with Hena. Nothing like the truth.

    Happy Monday, Liz 💐

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