Day 79

So I had a meeting with one of my Giggle Girl's Uncle and his wife. Both of them were educated out of the states, so they understand the need for respect of their teachers and they even said that they wouldn't dare treat their teachers the way that American students tend to treat theirs. It was a productive meeting. They told me a little background of Giggle Girl and wanted to know what they could do overall. They also said that the mother is a hands on mother, but has the "my child gets straight A's, so it's not her fault she's failing". At least the Uncle has some sense in him. When he sat down he wanted to know what he could do to help push her along and get her back into the passing range. Fortunately enough Giggle Girl pulled herself out of the failing section by actually turning some work in and on-time. I think there is a good possibility that she may get a good grade this term.

The Uncle asked some interesting questions about what I felt was going on with Giggle Girl to make her go from a good student getting high marks to a failing student that doesn't want to come to class or skips school. I told him that I wasn't an expert but from what I could see there are a lot of different factors that can attest to that. I wish I had a more solid answer, but I told him to sit down and actually talk with Giggle Girl. Perhaps she wants to just talk.

I'm in the after school hours of lab and I really don't mind having students in the lab after school. 3 out of the 4 that are in here are here because they are really far behind or completely failing. 1 is here because she wants to make sure she has enough time to get her project finished before the break.

I've given my students an ultimatum. . . either they get the work in before the break, or it becomes a 0. I had some eyes ready to pop out of their sockets when I said that, but at least they know. It is also written on my board quite plainly. Hopefully they'll get the message that there isn't room for late work anymore.

I don't know, they are teenagers after all and while many of them try to see how far they can push the boundaries, many of them are genuinely interested in doing well--whether or not they let their friends, parents, or even teachers know that.