Advertisement
Published: December 9th 2005
Today served as yet another reminder why I do NOT love teaching and why I DO love Olympians. The day started with a blast: cussed out by the sewing teacher because the posters I made to advertise the training center's open house said "Fabrics & Textiles" instead of "Clothing & Textiles." Apparently, this is the ninth deadly sin. You know, right behind Greed, Lust, and Bypassing-The-Cheese-Aisle-At-The Supermarket. As if anyone would notice the different between Fabric and Clothing on a silly poster. I mean, a) who takes the time to read posters, anyway, other than the geeks who design them? And b) isn't clothing made of fabric, so what's the big deal? Punk teacher. In my own defense, I was not supposed to make the posters in the first place and I DID ask two different people for the official name of the sewing class and both people told me it was "Fabrics & Textiles", so I think that should be enough to clear my good name.
So, after the glorious start to the morning -- courtesy of mean Mrs. MacDonald -- the course of events for the remainder of the day followed suit. I was cussed out in class because most of the students weren't pleased with their term 1 grades. That is, of course, because out of 35 students, only 9 are actually passing the class. So Nancy and I were called "unchristian" for daring to give people bad grades. But what is a girl to do? I mean, they try to hand in work with someone else's handwriting and expect me to give them full credit? Cheaters.....they're lucky I give them any credit at all! I not only had to contend with a classful of angry students this morning, but one student was kind enough to bring her 15-month-old son, who proceeded to cry through half the class. Since when do babies come to school???? And Horace.
Oh Horace. He's 36 years old, and he brings his daughter to class because she doesn't go to school until the afternoon session. Sure, I'm okay with that. But then he neglects to come to class and, instead, sends his 13-year-old daughter as his representative, who not only collects the class work for him, but sits there in class, completes it, writes his name at the top, and tries to hand it in before leaving!!! THE GALL!!! What, do I have incompetent stapled across my forehead? I don't know what's so difficult to understand: if you miss more than 50%!o(MISSING)f the classes and don't turn in 50%!o(MISSING)f the work, you're not going to pass the class. And for the love of Jehovah, don't complain to me when that happens, because I spent the entire term warning you it would happen!!
(I used to be so patient.)
I wanted to go to the cosmetology class to get my hair done in cornrows, but I was afraid they'd still be angry about the grades and would try to behead me with a dull pair of hair-cutting scissors.
The day did look up when I got a surprise visit from Ricky, the gym teacher, aka - A REAL, TRUE, LIVE, IN-THE-FLESH JAMAICAN OLYMPIC BOBSLEDDER. Nancy and I have been harassing him for weeks now to wear his Olympic uniform to school so we can get a picture, but he claims to keep forgetting because his head's "mashed up." I think it's just because he's modest about his athletic figure being exposed in all of that spandex. And who could blame him? But anyway, turns out Ricky took a few massage therapy classes at university, so I served as practice for his massage skills this afternoon. And that was all I needed to erase the stress from earlier events of the day.
I'm getting psyched - BOB MARLEY MUSEUM TOMORROW!!!! I've been anxiously awaiting this day for a while. I wanted to take Mache, the Rasta gardner, but Sr. Sophia's afraid his ganja will stink up the car. It's probably a justified concern....he does smell a lot like ganja, mostly on account of the fact that he takes smoke breaks once every hour. Hah....only in Jamaica....
Advertisement
Tot: 0.161s; Tpl: 0.011s; cc: 8; qc: 65; dbt: 0.0937s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.2mb
Amy McCarthy
non-member comment
The Joys of Teaching
Hey Woogie! I had to laugh because your tale of teaching sounds incredibly familiar!!!!! We are half way through our third grading term here in TX and I have students that have not passed anything yet! And then they complain "Ms. McCarthy, how you do me like that?" Two weeks ago, one of my students showed up with her 6 month old. He was adorable the class went crazy over him, so I got nothing accomplished! Its funny to see how a TX classroom compares to one in Jamaica.... Love you and miss you!