ouch

It's half-way through the school year, and I am burnt to a crisp. Charcoal. I've got three days to get my grades done and rise from the ashes anew. Unfortunately, I'm not feeling all that phoenix-like at the moment.

I still have the cold from hell, and I'm still reeling from the nasty and mean-spirited comments one of my students wrote to me about journalism class. I like constructive criticism, and some of the things he didn't like are things I totally agree with, but many others are just wrong, like his indignation and anger over the fact that I won't let them use photos from the internet in the school paper unless they get permission from the photographer. Even then, I strongly discourage it because they aren't print quality, and because it doesn't encourage the same creativity as taking our own photos does.

He was in journalism last year with a different teacher, and he wants it to be like his old class. Only problem is that the paper has been just totally awful in almost every way for the last several years. It did come out more often, but that's about all that can be said of it. The students thought it was horrendous and made fun of it, and the staff felt it was an embarrassment. It was because of this that I was allowed to take over the class.

All this nastiness came from a student I've had in other classes, liked and been nice to, so it felt like a real kick in the teeth. I know the class needs more structure and stricter deadlines, and I'm still in the first stages of learning how to teach it, but man, that smarts!