Overwhelmed

I was doing some grading today at school, and I started thinking about how blessed I was growing up. I had parents that were so involoved that, at the time, I wanted them to get off my back. Now, though, I am so very thankful. I have 27 students. Half of these will never leave the area they are in. Half of these do not stand a chance in the world. They have failing grades or incompletes. This is not because they are stupid. It is because they are waking themselves up, getting ready for school, and taking themselves to the bus stop. They are coming to school, getting back on the bus, and going home to an empty house. They fix their own dinner, maybe attempt homework, maybe...play video games and put themselves to bed. Then they start over.

These children have no parental involvement. I have caught students forging parent signatures on their homework, and wonder whether I should punish them. They may not have any one there to sign. Parents are working the worst shifts possible, going out afterwards, or coming home and going to bed. They cannot afford a babysitter, so their children are staying at the house by themselves. My students are wiser than their years, but cannot read on a first grade level. Their moms are my age, and the kids are 9-11 years old. There is something seriously wrong here. Is there anything we can do? Who knows. I have other teachers tell me that you just can't help them all. I cringed the first time I heard this, and now find myself wondering how I can help half of them.

I adore my students. Even the students that misbehave all the time. They all have something unique and wonderful about them. I only get ten months; ten months to not only teach them but to assist in their raising. I did not go to college to learn how to raise 27 other people's children. Nothing can train you for this. Nothing can teach you how to hold a student in your arms while they cry about their mother that is in jail for selling drugs, or walking a student to the bathroom so they can get some water after they have confessed to you about a past abusive incident. Nothing can prepare you to react when a young boy tells you he is sad today. His brother died in a car accident five days ago.

It is overwhelming.

How was your "raising"?

I have been out of school now for three days with some kind of crazy congestion and head thing. My sub called me yesterday almost in tears because of the way my students acted. Keep in mind that she is used to working with younger kids, but she had some place to be upset. I had two children, yesterday, unwrap a paper clip and proceed to insert it into an electrical outlet. Then they dared the other and so on. One of the students burned her hand pretty bad and then lied and said she burned herself on a pipe in the bathroom. The custodians freaked out because they were worried that there might be something dangerous in the bathrooms that would harm the other students. This child was finally "snitched" on for lying and the truth came out. Sue and Bob is what we will call them. Both have been suspended for two days. Sue's mother came and picked her up and of course, blamed the school. Bob's father researched all the legalities of having the electrical outlets uncovered before he came up there to throw his weight around. He is very good about announcing that he is a former city councilman...like that is so great. He also wanted to know if the students were being supervised. Are you kidding? Well, the electrical outlets do NOT have to be covered because we assume that parents are teaching there children not to play with electrical outlets. Guess we give parents too much credit. There was one teacher in the classroom who was busy working with another child. Oh, sorry, you don't like the ratios...pay us more and vote for someone else. I AM NOT THERE TO RAISE YOUR CHILDREN. I am there to TEACH them Math, Science, Reading, etc. I AM NOT A BABYSITTER. Sounds like the parents might need to grow up a bit themselves. When I am the same age as my students' parents, and my students are 10-12 years old, there is a problem. I think that people should have to take a test before they are allowed to be impregnated. So, what is the difference in the "raisin' "? Why is this generation of parents so completely iresposible and ignorant? When I was in school my friends' parents were the same age as my parents. They were responsible, working adults, and good parents. They made their children take responsibility for their own actions. It was not the school's fault. What happened to the raising of our children?

Birthday Weekend

Well the weekend is coming to an end, and we were busy busy.

Austin spent the weekend with us starting Friday. He and Benji and some other guys went out to celebrate the birthdays on Friday night, and then Saturday Benji and Austin spent the day working on Austin's Jeep.

Mom and Dad Jameson made it to our house about 4:00 and we had a wonderful evening of food and fellowship with them. Sunday we went to the Mom and Dad Frank's for birthday party with the family and were able to catch up with the little ones and those that are getting ready to have little ones. Thank you all for the great gifts.

We are just returning home from a super bowl "party"...really just an excuse to be with some good friends from our Sunday School class. We had a wonderful time, and the whole weekend has made us feel very blessed looking back on all the family and friends we were able to be with. We know there are many that are not able to do that.

Keep us in your prayers as we are without a Sunday School teacher
Also pray for Erin as she is making decisions about where she will teach next year.
We love you, good night.