Respect, TAKS and 4/20

Things I have learned this week:

1) my kids like me. well, one does. i have them writing their culminating Caesar papers and one of the topics is qualities of a good leader. After fighting with one student, leaving him alone, coming back, etc, etc. I finally relented and let him use me as the good leader. a lot of the students tried to pull that they were going to use me, but i talked all but this one out of it. I let him write. . .came back and read it. one thing stood out. he said that I respected my students. now this is big for teenagers and for the students at my school particularly. they don't dish that out lightly. i was pleased. this kid made like a 10 in my class first semester and is passing for the spring. he is one of my sucesses, be it ever so slim.

2) TAKS is tiring, very hard for regular kids and apparently a breeze for the bright, culturally neutral students. for teachers it is just a worry and an incredible pressure. will they pass? if they don't will the state really come in and take us over? will it make a difference? we are on probation with the federal government's no child left behind annual yearly progress. we didn't make standard last year. this year if we don't the state has someone on campus every day then the next year we all reapply for our jobs and start over. . . or wait, maybe we reapply in the fall. who knows. it is bad. but we have prepped, yelled at the kids, tried to make them take it seriously and now we have to just wait.

3) 10 points extra credit for anyone who knows the significance of 4-20 day. :) My birthday sits smack between it and Earth day. what does that say about me?