I can't believe I've only been here a month. This place is really dumpy. And, living down the road from a pig farm (the same one made famous by Mike Rowe in his show "Dirty Jobs") doesn't add to the -- ahem -- charm.

School still sucks and the kids don't get better. Some days are better than others, but the students freely bite the hand that feeds them (and they have no idea what that saying means). I swear I've had better and more intellectual conversations with the 6th graders at RCDS than I can even hope to have with my classes. How to get them engaged? More importantly, how to teach to the kids who do care and want to learn while dealing with the general shit that shows up on a daily basis doing nothing? My motivation for this week came to me on Friday afternoon. I gave the seniors a group project where they had to discuss, take note, present and write a reflection on the lesson. Knowing that some students are saying to me, "Some kids in my group did nothing. I hope you know who they are." and "Some didn't even listen to the group's discussion" make me realize that I do have some who care. How can I invite them out of the shell? More important, how do I get rid of the crap that brings them down? I wish I could just fail those do-nothings now and get rid of them so I can get to the task at hand....