It seems like all the area schools have delayed openings....  Some are closed.  It stopped snowing well after dinner.  I think it stopped by me around 8 or 9.  How many people were going out to shovel that late?  Not me.  I had "Downton Abbey" festivities.  However, as hubby put it, given the way the year has gone, it would be wise to shovel during the snow since it would be too tough to shovel in the morning before work since I would most likely not get even a delay.  And so we shoveled way before it stopped.

So here I am at 7.12 am and I have been here since 6.12 as usual.  No delay.  OK, the roads by me were fine.  But I live in the San Francisco of New Jersey.  They always do a great job with the roads.  The sending districts here?  Well, we are lucky the kids make it to school in one piece.  No bus crashes yet this year.  Sure, the PARCC starts today.  But how smart is it to not have a delay due to state testing if all your kids can't make it on time to start the test at 8.04?  I can watch the line of parents dropping kids off from my dungeon.  Not a soul yet.  Will kids stay home?  If the other snowy days are any indication, attendance will be low today.  Snow day?  No, over doing it.  Delayed opening?  Most schools got it right.

So, I have been looking at the photo collages the P1 students completed last week.  Sometimes I need a day or two to take in the work before I grade it.  I need to absorb the results, mull over things, make sure I don't grade too harshly or too softly.  In period 1, many kids have yet to finish.  They had a month for this assignment.  In period 8, over half the class finished.  The senioritis is appalling.  I have been flexible with pushing due dates back when the work cannot feasibly done well in time.  This is a case of students just not working.  Laziness rules supreme.

I can hear a certain person's voice right now.  "Write 'em up!"  Oh, dear man, easy for you to say.  When was the last time you were in the classroom?  What does repeatedly writing misconducts do for the dynamic of the classroom?  How will that affect the relationship I have carefully cultivated with that person?  Nothing but negativity.  Some students don't even care if they are written up.  Hell, if the misconducts are planned right, the student might earn a free vacation, I mean a suspension.  And you are a fool if you think that doesn't happen.  I also get the more challenging students.  They are given to me because I do not judge them.  Is my classroom seen as a holding place for the more problematic ones?  I think so.  I talk to them, show them respect, urge them to try the projects, get them to stay out of trouble for at least 45 minutes.  Damn, some even do homework for me!  I get pissed when I put so much effort into them and they return the favour with laziness.  But to tell me to "write 'em up!" defeats the purpose of giving them to me to work with.

So I blew up on Thursday.  I know they are kids and I keep that in mind.  But I also think they need to see me get angry with them occasionally.  They need to see real results of their actions in a way that is not punishing (like taking away parking privileges) or hurtful or too sappy.  And now I have to look at the mess that is this last project.  Do I move this assignment to another point in the year?  Impossible.   Analogue needs to follow in an orderly fashion.  I cannot jump around the curriculum  It would be like asking them to do the motion Photoshop assignment before teaching them selections and layers.  Ugh.  Do I save the creative applications for the end of the year, after digital?  Is that too disruptive?  Things to think about.