Three for Three

After a rainy weekend where I basically slept Sunday away (I must've needed it) and an impromptu adventure in a downpour on Monday to go look for a new washing machine since the repair man broke it while he was changing out the heating element in my dryer (insert eye roll here), I was still not thrilled to have the sun prying my eyelids open at stupid o'clock this morning.  Because I am a kind and caring human being I spent most of the day (literally until almost 10:00 p.m.) on Google docs with several of my students because today is the deadline for the AP classes that require portfolios.

One of them asked for help back in March, before we went on the Spring Break that lasted an eternity. They would write, I would ask for clarification via comments, suggest edits, and pose questions to help them go deeper into their research. At the end of March they were about 1/3 of the way done...and that's the way it stayed...until about 48 hours ago. I nagged, I bribed, I threatened to sit on the sidewalk outside their house and do work but those threats fell on deaf ears. To be fair the kid admitted that they needed to get in gear but then found other things to do instead. I still do that but I'm not about to admit that when I've spent all this time trying to convince them that they are their own worst enemy. You know, like Lit: "It's no surprise to me, I am my own worst enemy. Cause every now and then I kick the living shit out of me. Can we forget about the things I said when I was drunk? I didn't mean to call you that..."

Anyway, the requirement for this particular essay was a 2000 word limit and, by the time they got finished writing and I got finished making suggestions it was significantly past that. I'm always up for a challenge, though I got them to 2000 words with edits. While I was editing and making revision suggestions, I got another invitation to edit...another essay, with a 1000 word count this time. EASY PEASY. I got that student squared away without much effort since I was super familiar with the prompt by that point, having it in the back of my head for the last 12+ weeks. 

I turned my attention to another prompt and worked on that one with another student for a couple of hours until they were ready to submit about an hour ago. Three essays. Three exact word counts. It's such a huge relief for me; I can't imagine how relieved they are! And all of this editing and revision just further reiterates to me that these kids desperately need help with writing skills, which is great because I officially received my teaching assignment for next year and I'm teaching AP Modern World, AP U.S. History and Dual Credit Gov/Eco! It's what I wanted and I'm happy that I am being given the opportunity to work with groups of kids for multiple years in a row. It makes me so happy that I found somewhere that is a good fit for me and where I truly enjoy the people that I work with. 

It's so funny how I was so adamant about how I wanted my story/path to go because I realize now that the path I desperately wanted would make me so miserable. It's funny how life works.

It's going to be so weird when school is technically over on Thursday. I'm already tired of all of the free time I have and looking forward to the prepping and planning I'm doing with my team for next year when we will inevitably be digital for part of the year. Having a collective team is something that will be new to me; it's always just been me and another person for AP. To have a true collaborative team will be a great thing.

You know...if it actually happens.

Aubs