Melissa's Rants

kids

Melissa — Fri, 19 Sep 2008 22:19:56 +0000

I spent the first half of my day today teaching a middle school geography class. About an hour into my day I was sitting at my desk wondering to myself about the future of our society. Think about it for a second…these kids are our future. They are going to be the ones running this nation someday. They are going to be the ones in charge and half of them can’t even write a complete sentence. I was talking about Columbus today and one student asked if he was the one that discovered how to make ice cream. The kicker is that she was completely serious. How on earth can you not have ever heard of Columbus before?? I also taught a high school bio class for three weeks and discovered more than half my kids can’t write a complete thought or read a paragraph. I had a fourth year Freshman in my class. That’s right…he was 18 and still in 9th grade. He was too busy getting into fights after school and trying to flirt with his teacher to learn how to spell his own name correctly. Yeah, he’s the kind of guy I want around…

It terrifies me that our school district passes these students and lets them graduate when they can’t even perform the simplest of tasks. I can’t completely place the blame on the schools and the students though. Parents have just as much to do with it as anyone else. I think a lot of these kids just don’t get the support and motivation from their families. Either their parents are never home, or they just don’t care. I understand there are a lot of parents that aren’t home because they are working multiple jobs to pay the bills, but there has to be some sort of a good influence in these kids’ lives somewhere whether it be parents, grandparents, or even just friends. These kids need motivation to succeed in life. Many of them are only settling on just getting by. How do we, as educators, motivate them to become more and actually shoot for the stars?

The excuse that I have heard the most is, “I just can’t do it.” That right there is a crock of crap. I honestly believe that one can do anything he sets his mind to. If you really want it, go get it. These kids are held back though. It’s uncool to be somewhat intelligent these days. Instead, kids want to go out and have sex and get all tattooed up because that’s what the media says is cool. Where are the positive role models? Where is the discipline? What ever happened to kids coming home from school and playing outside with their friends?Geeze. When I was a kid, not too long ago, I never worried about sex or drugs. I worried about getting good grades and what college I was going to go to. These days kids just want to grow up too fast. They don’t realize they’ll miss being a kid when they get older.

Getting back to my first thought…I pondered the thought of these kids taking over the world when I am older, and I was genuinely frightened. Now I know all the kids aren’t that bad, but a good chunk of them are. Who else worries about this kind of stuff? Am I just crazy? Then it also makes me wonder if I can really even mae a difference as an educator, but that’s a whole other story.

writer’s block

Melissa — Tue, 16 Sep 2008 21:05:52 +0000

Someone please help!!! I have been desperately looking forward to have a moment to do some non school related writing and I finally have time right now, but I have writer’s block!!!!!!!!!!

why do I want what is so bad for me??

Melissa — Mon, 15 Sep 2008 17:16:38 +0000

Is it human nature to just really want something you can’t have? Or what about desperately wanting something that is so incredibly bad for you? You know it’s bad for you, but you just don’t care and you torture yourself over and over until you finally realize you need to be honest with yourself and move on. I seem to have this innate ability to make myself miserable. I get myself into situations where 80% of the time, I am unhappy with it, but that 20% just seems so worth it that I keep riding on the rollercoaster of emotions. Why do I do this? I have no idea. If you know, by all means, clue me in.

I just recently abandoned a relationship that was so bad for me, but that I liked so much. It was one that had been going on for several months off and on with certain perks, but I mostly felt confused and at times used throughout the relationship. So, I called it off. I decided if I really respected and loved myself, I wouldn’t keep torturing myself. So, today is day two of my new change, and it actually feels worse than day one. Yesterday I was surprisingly happy given the circumstances. Today I woke up in a nostalgic fog missing it all. What is a girl to do?

Music and Lyrics

Melissa — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 22:16:50 +0000

Another exciting development in the life of Me is that I’m going to try my hand at some lyric writing. I’ve tried and failed in previous years, but have grown and learned much since then, so I decided I’m going to try it out again. I’m going to come up with some words, and a friend of mine is going to put the lyrics to some music. I think this will be a fun collaboration of talents!! I can’t wait to see what happens. I don’t expect too much success considering my forte of writing is in short stories and fiction, not musical lyrics. But I guess that’s beside the point…I am just doing it for fun after all

Tough talks

Melissa — Fri, 12 Sep 2008 01:15:12 +0000

Don’t you hate those situations where you have to tell someone something, but you really don’t want to? Well, over the course of the past few weeks, I have encountered one of those situations. I had to share some information with one of my dear friends, someone who I’ve developed a special bond with over the last few months. The information definitely wasn’t typical subject matter, but something I had to share. Needless to say, I freaked out about how I would present the information to my friend. Anyway, I had the talk last night, and all went well. My friend was very receptive of the information, and we ended up sorting through the mess and we came up with a good plan of action.

I guess the point of this ramble is when tough times and situations arise, your TRUE friends will stand by you and respect you. I freaked out for nothing thinking that after I told him the news he would hate me forever, but instead, he apologized and asked what he could do to help the situation. I really appreciated his gestures, and in all honesty, despite the circumstances of the situation, I think it brought us closer together as friends.