PITA, (Short for "Pain In The A**"), the child who WORKED MY LAST NERVE after he finished his final on Thursday (so much so that I sent him to MyAPBuddy. He never made it there, btw.) had a semester average of 62 when I finished grades. (70 is passing)
Then I had an attack of conscience.
He was in UberSchooljail for several days, and didn't deserve zeros for the class participation grades. I fixed those, and recalculated his grade...
...I about threw my back out doing the happy dance when the number came out to be ....
68!!!
VINDICATION. REVENGE. KARMA. JUSTICE. BLISS.
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Every year, I tell the kids at the beginning of the year that if they come in every day and try their hardest...have their supplies...don't create classroom management issues...etc....and their grade at the end comes out to be a 68 or 69, I will work some *magic* and help bump 'em over the fence.
BUT if they come in late every day...dance the mambo on my last nerve...make it difficult for me to teach & others to get their education...and they come up with a 68 or a 69, I will leave it. Period.
That way, when they see their report card, they will know in their soul of souls that they should NOT have been evil in Ms. H's class.
And they will have an ENTIRE semester to ponder that thought while they retake the class.
With a different teacher.
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The beauty of this story is that I had this same child in my 9th grade English class, 3 years ago. That year, he piddled around the last semester and had a semester average of 70 going into the final. I offered an extra credit essay to all the classes as a "just in case you have a bad day on the final" safety net.
He chose not to do it.
That year, his grade came out to be a 69.
And I left it.
I was helping with registration on the day he was registering for summer school.
I offered him an opportunity to make up that point. I warned him it would be painful.
He agreed.
I made him write a 5 page essay on "Choices and Consequences".
He did the essay...it almost killed him, but he did it.
This child HATES to write...so it was a very painful lesson he learned. You'd think he would remember it.
Clearly, he did not. So, he will not get a second chance THIS summer.
Welcome to retaking Junior English, Mr. Pita. Enjoy. :)