Wednesday, March 22, 2006

kids these days...

the primary/secondary source fight...
they don't understand when they get a magazine off a database it's considered a "secondary source." i've attempted to explain it several different ways, but they still didn't quite get how getting the article off a database is different from holding the actual magazine with the article in their hot, sweaty, little hands.
the l.r.c. is supposedly set up as a "research library," but really, that just means there's a computer lab and quite a few searchable databases. so, that really doesn't help my crusade for the primary source. that, and i kind of think the librarian doesn't even understand the difference between primary and secondary sources or why i'd want the students to have at least one actual magazine or newspaper article for their essays.

c's get degrees
my little delinquents will settle for c's. i don't understand where this mentality comes from, but i actually had one of them tell me today, "miss anonymous, why go for the a when c's get degrees?" i tried to explain the concept of taking pride in what you do and boosting the g.p.a. for college, but that made no impact at all.
i suppose it's better than the beginning of the semester when all the students felt that way. now i've got about half the class working for the a and half on the c mentality. i'm trying to go the "they don't think you can get a's route," and so far, like i said, it's working with about half the class.

the clothes...or lack thereof...
now that spring's coming, the girls are wearing these tiny skirts. when they bend over, i'm sure you can see their bums. and the boys and their pants down at their ankles...i swear, they're spreading hepatitis c. you've got the girls wearing these tiny skirts and thongs...they sit on the chairs, and you know all their "stuff" is on the chair. then you've got the boys with only a thin layer of cotton between themselves and yea...
i think i've taken this too far, but i'm a slight germ-a-phobe...and i'm disgusted with some of the clothes i've seen around school lately. i almost want it to be winter again.

selective hearing...
i know i didn't always listen to my teachers when i was in high school, but jesus pete, i have to write every tiny thing down...and even then they don't always get it. i refuse to be a mother to high school students. i'll remind them, but i'm not going to baby...i feel at some point they have to take responsibility for themselves.


i'm not that much older than my students, but the difference between me and my friends in high school and my students now is so dramatic. it makes me feel so old.
i mentioned that i'd been in the mall the other day, and i commented on the volume of the music in one of the stores...my kids all laughed at me and called me old. i don't even know what it's going to be like when i'm actually old.

4 comments:

Ms. Springer said...

I can feel your pain! I am a Special Education teacher, and I really enjoy reading your blogs. I am new to this blog stuff, as I'm on Spring Break and got sucked into this stuff via a friend of mine. Anyway, I know exactly what you're saying. Hang in there, Summer is around the corner!
Shortone

the anonymous teacher said...

i just can't believe how much of a difference there is between me and my students...and like i said, i'm not that much older than they are--it is my first year.
we still haven't had our springbreak yet, so i can count down to that. it'll be a nice break.

Ms. H said...

I was SO trying to live in denial about my kids' clothing habits. But nooooo, you had to go and give me the biochemical breakdown...I'll never be the same! hehehehe I tell the girls at the beginning of the year that I desperately need their help. My job is made even more impossible when they wear minimal clothing. I tell them scientists have documented the inverse relationship between the amount of skin a girl shows...and the mental capabilties of the teenage male brain. I finish with, "Ladies, please..please...help me not have to work so hard!" ha!

the anonymous teacher said...

i might have to try that. i have to do something because their clothing--or lack thereof--is getting ridiculous. i find it distracting...not like the boys do, but in the "i can't believe your parent/guardian let you wear that out of the house."