"Do I have to put. . . "

That question has been popping up like crazy lately in my classes. "Do I have to put the clipart in?" "Do I have to format it like that?" "Do I have to print it in color?"

All those answers are in their directions. Yes, you do need to put the clipart in or you will lose points. Yes, you do need to format it like it says, otherwise you  will lose points.

One thing I keep saying is "Do I have to grade it then if you aren't following directions?" and the look I get from some students are priceless. 

I don't know why but my set of 8th graders this year are dumb. Yep, I said it. Dumb. They aren't following written directions, or verbal directions. They are asking these questions that I just don't know where they are getting them.

When it comes to typing, that is the worst. They stopped teaching keyboarding at the Elementary level a couple of years ago, and the kids are coming into class with little to no keyboarding skills and I need to start from scratch. And the state says that they need to be typing at least 30 wpm with 6 or less errors by the time they reach the 9th grade. I have 145 8th graders daily; only 10 of them know the keyboard well enough to type 30wpm. The rest have the bad habits of looking down or hunt-and-pecking. I do have these covers for the keyboard and they fight me tooth and nail to not have to use them. So I decided to make a challenge: if any student can beat my typing speed and accuracy with their hands covered, they don't have to use it anymore (and I type 102wpm with 3 errors usually). That got a few more students to actual start working on their typing, but for the most part, they are fighting. The 7th graders are even worse! I usually don't deal with 7th graders all that much except in my elective classes and I've had more 7th graders sign up for those 2 than ever before. So I'm dealing with more and more kids who don't know how to use the computer properly.

On the flip side, I do have a few students who are actually trying and continue to try and beat their bad habits. I've seen their scores go up and I am praising them like nothing other, but that isn't exactly helping the others. I'm at a loss as to what to do with that.

Other than that, the school year hasn't been all the bad so far. I haven't had to deal with too many parents who believe that their child is a genius when they aren't and I haven't had a parent come in mad at me that their student is failing and it's all my fault. 

Let's hope it stays that way.