10-23-2010

Report cards are coming out next week.  That statement use to scare me when I was a kid because it usually meant I was in trouble.  As soon as I had my ass chewed for the current one, I was already worried about the next one.  Now, I have to fill out report cards for my students. 

Because of my anxiety dealing with report cards as a student, I am careful about what I’m writing on these cards.  “Does not apply himself” seemed to be repeated often on mine.  “Shouldn’t eat paste during math” and “ Why does he talk to himself all day?”  may have popped up once or twice.  High school was tough.

We had a volleyball tournament at our school this weekend.  Three other schools came in Friday and we started playing shortly after they arrived.  We took a break and served dinner, then resumed until about 10:30.  Since there is no place for the teams to stay in town, they each took a classroom and rolled out their sleeping bags.  These teams are also co-ed, so we did separate the boys and girls. 

My responsibility for the weekend was to help make sure things ran smoothly.  The principal was out due to medical issues, so I took his place as the person of responsibility. (You may stop laughing now.)(Seriously, I can hear you.)  I actually had to answer people when they asked for permission to do something.  “Can we have a dance after the games tonight?”  “Can we have seconds on dessert?”  I found quickly that the best response is “No”.  By answering “yes”, I can see there are other consequences down the road. 

I know that makes me an old man by answering that way, but it was already past my bedtime.  I have no idea how to put on a dance and I know it’s not a good idea to allow high school kids to plan a dance on the fly.  After carefully contemplating the dessert inquiry, I think I made the right choice.  We were out of cake. I may have been wrong about the dance.  The next morning while the kids were waiting to leave, I heard Johnny Cash sing I walk the line.  After investigation, I found a small group of Yupik girls sitting on the floor with an iPod.  Maybe they could have pulled off a dance I would enjoy. 

Well, it’s 9:30 in the a.m., dark outside and 23 degrees.  Plus, I have the NFL on the TV, so I am not motivated to walk the half-mile to school to do my report cards, write my lesson plans for the week, and write two days worth of substitute lesson plans.  I’m going out of town for two days, so I may get to a store to buy more potatoes and onions.  I ran out this week.  My report cards are due tonight by midnight so I better get motivated.  Which reminds me of something else that seemed to appear on my report card as a child: “Clay procrastinates on almost every assignment”.  Go figure.