2. Kids take notes from the board (except those who refuse to lift a pencil). Notes go into "NOTES" section of binder.
3. Co-teacher takes picture of board, and we post it on my teacher website so every time we do context clue sentences, the directions will be there.
4. Parent sends scathing 3-paragraph email about how stupid I am that I cannot spell highlight and that I should be fired and shouldn't be teaching. And, oh, by the way, Little Natasha is doing more creative writing than ever, but I suck as a teacher, so fuck me and the horse I rode in on.
5. I take the picture of the context clue directions off the website, essentially leaving the students who didn't bother to take notes (Little Natasha) without directions on how to write context clue sentences.
6. I assign context clue sentences for homework. (This was already in my planner, and, in truth the sub assigned it as I was out for a personal day.)
7. I check and grade the homework. Little Natasha has neglected to highlight any of her vocabulary words and has forgotten to include definitions as she did not highlight to make sure she had included both the words and their meanings into the sentences.
8. Little Natasha gets the lowest score on her homework out of all of my students because she is the only one who didn't follow directions and highlight.
Not that I think it is EVER good when a student does poorly, but in fairness it is only a 5-point assignment out of hundreds of points. Her grade doesn't even budge, and she is still in the A range, so no harm no foul.
Except that there is something incredibly poetic about one dad complaining and then costing his own child points. I mean truly, irony is a wonderful thing. If only I could use this example as a life lesson, it might help to highlight exactly what irony is.
Sometimes God just gives you one when you need it the most. Thanks, God. I owe you a Highlighter.
