My students are (mostly) adorable.
No, really. They're not sociopaths, and 99% of them are really lovely.
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But... some of them have their brains in a different dimension. Or they smoke more than the regular lawn. Or they need an MRI right now.
There are always a few silly bunnies in classrooms; there were some when I was a student, and the silly bunnies stayed when I became a teacher.
I'm currently dealing with students for whom my class is quite a secondary subject, but the level of inattention is getting worse. I could blame the almost constant use of their mobiles (I had to ban them during my classes, or I would have ended up with classes of texting students not listening to me), but there's something else.
I always give them six weeks to write one page on a specific topic, and I tell them how to present it. I also add that I want it spell-checked and printed.
They obediently nod their lovely heads, and... 50% of them just missed my deadline even though I told them (for six weeks, for Merlin's sake!) to not miss it or they wouldn't pass.
Amongst the works I got, there's one that's the size of a post stamp, not presented the way I said, and on the wrong topic, and then, there's one with a coffee stain (because they can hand me any rag, right?).
I also told them to give me their works early, as I would accept no excuse if they missed the deadline. They nodded again... and I got messages today: one asking me for a delay for health reasons, and the other sending me a file without a single word - not even a "Homework; take it and be happy that I deigned to write something for you, witch".
So, I can try to teach them how to work properly, but some of them must have tuned me off and they'll never do what I ask, which is really not much, and definitely not quantum physics.
As well, there's a new trend this year: the students addressing me by name. I don't expect them to call me "Dr de Lanor", but when they start an e-mail with "Hi, Drusilla!", my blood starts boiling (really; it bugs me beyond words).
I know that some of my fellows, in a misguided attempt at looking cool and still young, encourage our students to call them by name, but I never said it was all right to do the same with me. In fact, I added something to this effect in the "classroom rule" file I give them, but they ignore that as well (so we're back to the brain in another dimension, lawn smoking, or brain tumour options).
I wouldn't mind teaching them good manners on top of what I'm supposed to teach them if they did pay attention. Some of these students still can't introduce themselves in a formal situation when I've taught them how to do it - several times.
One of my teachers once told me that being a teacher is being a parrot (and for months, I saw him repeating the same bloody grammar rule each week to students who were always in the room, but kept forgetting), but this parrot is currently disappointed with that sort of lapse of concentration. It's worrying because it's getting worse and because I have the feeling that 70% of my colleagues aren't even bothered about this disastrous new trend.
I care about my students, silly bunnies included, and they're going to be eaten alive when they start working in the jungle real world.
