3 Weeks of Not ‘Fully’ Teaching

Last week, this week, and next week only consist of 4 days for students; a fact makes planning 

easier, but what about meeting the consistent seat-time they need? Do we do enough? 

I think about several charter schools where teachers see their students everyday for 60-80 min, 

instead of my 90 min every other day. How do I fit in ‘cool’ literature and activities when there are 

so many necessary writing skills that need re-taught or refined for my student’s learning benefit?! 

Ack. 

Grading the district benchmark test on Friday did help and alarm me in its own way. Hmm… I guess I need to give lessons on paragraph indentation, apostrophes/ possessives, passive vs. active voice, 

along with the important subject of audience and purpose. Or so the internal thoughts say as I continue 

grade around 300 pages of student writing this weekend. 

I feel so blessed and privileged to have this role though, holed up on the couch reading personal 

narratives/ true stories about gang violence, cutting, teen pregnancy, divorce, immigration, 

cliques, adoption, and burned friendships. My students have made me cry, laugh, feel inspired, 

and impressed with their resiliency, maturity and reflection. Truly reading their prose is on the 

best parts of my job; to think, I get to meet and teach our society’s beautiful, creative, and 

expressive youth. 

Of course catch me in the middle of a crazy school day when those cherubs can’t stop chitchatting 

long enough to hear directions, and I might have other expressions. Also, there is writing that isn’t 

appropriate and who am I to judge if a student is acting satirical/ sarcastic instead of actually 

creepy/ evil? Do his creative writings make him the next Tim Burton (movie genius) or Ted 

Bundy? They were kids once too… Is it just a matter of too many hours playing gore-related video 

games, or is it a developmental imbalance? Yikes. 

All I can say is, God Bless parents with teenage boys, for who can understand what all goes on in their 

cognitively developing skulls? Not I… in some ways I’m not ready to know about my student’s 

personal lives. It’s hard not to feel responsible or anxious for them about things that are beyond my 

control. 

(For example, I think back to the 9th grader yelling on the phone with his girlfriend below my 

classroom window. Granted, he did not turn his conversation into me as a piece of writing, but he 

might as well have with all the detailed expression he used). 

Anyway, I have a feeling I’m going to be more involved with some of these kids than I thought… 

and that’s not a bad thing; it’s just not what I expected. No one told me that writing teachers 

became the keeper of secrets, and which ones do I have to tell and which ones are just between my 

students and me? I so don’t want to get it wrong… no wonder teacher’s have liability insurance.