every day I feel like I got hit by a bus. I am fed up with the disrespect these students have for me. I did nothing more but walk into the classroom and do my job but that apparently set them off. I need these kids to buy into learning but how can I do that when the system has let them down for so long? How can I get these kids to recognize that it's actually fun to share ideas and talk about our hopes and dreams then apply them to the lessons we learn in class as mandated by the state of Nevada? How can I get seniors in high school to recognize that the projects they did earlier in the year were well below their level? Seriously, I had a kid tell me today that he wanted to do fun things like make a poster with vocabulary words where they simply added a definition. I ask myself, where the hell is the educational value in that? Sure, 4th graders might do that for a science project, but is it even appropriate for 12th graders, even if those 12th graders are not the sharpest?

I guess, to be generous, these kids don't respect themselves so they cannot respect anyone else. They have been strung along and passed along with no skills. I don't really even know why they go to school.

I respect myself too much and I respect my profession too much to allow this to happen. Still, it's hard to enter a classroom when there's nothing in it but hatred for me. Why can't they recognize that I'm doing my job?

I'd like to do a writing workshop to get these kids to critically evaluate and help each other's writing. The trouble is that they're not actually doing any for me. And, they don't listen to instructions when I give them.

I am failing in this place. I am really worried that I'd be able to use this experience to get me a job back home. But what if I fail completely? Will the experience even have been worth it?