skool's out!

skool's out for the summer. this is such a very good thing. i had a great sense of relief as i walked out the doors having turned everything in: keys etc! this feeling has been cosmically messed with by 2 things:

1. i'm really annoyed that a good portion of my students cheated on the final. i suspected one student, but hashed it out with him and erred on his side. it was obvious when i saw the test scores though, that dude passed it along. he didn't wind up graduating though, and i'm kind of glad. i know people have cheated in life, but come on man.

2. i am 95% confident that my digital camera was stolen from my desk. i know that it makes me sound like a pretty shallow person to be upset about this, but it's just rediculous. i must have forgotten it over the weekend, which would either put it on a student who came in when i was out of the room, or maintence personell. either way, it's just kind of like, "come on dude. stealing from a teacher? you know we don't get paid nothing, and we're on the same team here." apparently we're not.

aside from the painful irony of the camera getting zoinked the last week before school was out, and the fact that it was a loving gift from ma and pa carter for baby s' college graduation, i guess it will be fun to get a new camera after i scrimp in some areas to cough up the dough. i am extremely optimistic about the summer, and already cleaned up a bunch of my teacher stuff to double check that my camera wasn't just lost in a messy room.

favorite quote from a survey i gave my kids:

One peice of advice I would like to share with Ms. Carter is:
"cuss these bad students out." yeah dude, yeah!

the children are learning!

bought a nylon today from the walgreens. while reading it i became alarmed that i hadn't heard of any of the bands in it. before i fell down a "i'mtoooldanddon'tknowwhat'scoolanymore" hole, i had a listen and realized i didn't like most of them anyway. somehow this made me feel better. did like beth jeans houghton's golden, and blue roses. b.r. reminds me of twin peaks!

alas, i was listening while grading my last set of essays for the year. my girlfriend at work was saying i should be able to tell how much they learned this year based on these, and she was so right (as usual). there's some solid stuff here. two of my favorite paragraphs:

"My music is not only pleasant to the ears it is also inspirational. My songs inspire people to love themselves for who they are. I also create songs about the importance of perseverance. In addition to those powerful messages, my music displays my struggles in life. Therefore, benefitting the listener if they've gone through the same struggles by making them feel as if they are not alone. I love to make a difference in other people through my songs because not only does it benefit them, it benefits me to."

"In a lifetime, we humans are less willing to make the change to be the best person we can be. We often feel that the world should accept us they way that we are. The changes that we do make could be the spark of us beng successful in life. Take me: a person who was headed down the wrong path, but now a more mature person with a bright future ahead."

go y'all! It also helps to know that for this second student, the wrong path was the bloods. changes things a bit. it's weird because i try not to talk about my students all the time like when i first started teaching, but i for real spend 7 hours a day with them and who can you tell about all their little triumphs and failures? it's a strange thing, teaching.

alas, i digress! let's get on with this last full week!