Thinking of Thursday...

I usually try to post much earlier, but I was sidetracked by trying to create my own button!!! Geez...I had no idea how to write code or create a button.  I spent about 3 hours trying to figure it out!!  This was AFTER I browsed the blogs for about an hour!  The technology department will never ask for my help...:-)

Today wasn't extraordinarily special.  Since we are preparing for the Reading and Writing STAAR, we did some Bridging to STAAR activities in both subjects.  Essentially, these are test prep materials given to us by the district.  It is what I like to call a "guided testing lesson".  We did review this week's activities, though. 

I am anxious to see if my students will have any improvement on their assessments tomorrow.  I always set the bar high and hope for the best.  A little begging praying doesn't hurt, either!

Some of my students seem to have no internal drive.  I don't mean it in a disparaging way...I honestly think they have not been taught the desire to succeed.  Maybe they don't see it at home.  Maybe they are afraid to succeed at school because, then, their teachers will expect more.  Some see this as if the students just don't care.  I don't think that's the case.  Yes, some are lazy.  Yes, they are babied at home and have everything done for them.  And, quite frankly, if they "just don't care", then how did they get that way??? Home life?  Probably.  School environment? Possibly.  The bottom line is...they are still children.  Don't we owe it to the children in them to figure it out? 

Now, I have no answers, so that's why I am putting this out into the great, intellectual blog-o-sphere.  I have no idea how to create that drive. Prizes, treats, extra homework and detention threats, letters home, phone calls, ...I've tried them all and, with some of my students, it has not made a difference.

Do any of you face these challenges?  Do you have any ideas that I could try?  Is it the generation?  Is it us???? Can I google the answer and come back with only one link???????

If I'm willing to play such a big part in the lives of children, then I do need to remember not to judge them so harshly.  I think, what I'm trying to remember and share is summed up best in a quote by
none other, than the great J.K. Rowling herself in Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire...

It matters not what someone is born, but what they grow to be.--J.K. Rowling.

We are an integral part of "what they grow to be".  What if someone had given up on you?

Always,
Tammy