This is a rant, sorry. It was cathartic, anyway.
And the saga of the lazy kid continues. There's a lot of backstory here, and I'm not going to tell you everything, but here are the basics: Child comes into my class. Does minimal work in class, does nothing at home. Child loses morning recess and has notes sent home. Child still does no work. Conference with father. Father smiles and shakes teacher's hand, says that he will take care of it, does nothing. Child loses opportunity to play basketball, still does no homework. Child has conference with teacher and principal, signs a contract stating that he will come to school prepared, be on task, etc. Child continues to "forget" and "lose" assignments.
That brings us to today. I have the child speak with the counselor. The counselor asks me to be present during the conference. The child's main complaint- I'm not "nice" to him. Damn, freaking straight I'm not going to be nice to him. I tried asking him nicely, I tried motivating him with recess and sports, I've felt sorry for him. I've done all of those things since August. Now I'm pissed. The only thing that's caused him to get anything done is me breathing down his neck. So, that's how it's going to be until he gets some work done without my being "mean" to him. The real source of the problem here, IMHO, is his family's complete lack of work ethic. The kid is just as capable as any other, he just doesn't do anything. And, yeah, I'm angry about it.
Sorry for the rant. I feel better now. In other news, my lipstick looked gorgeous today. Really. I'm listening to Garbage. Maybe, that's what's making me angry… Nah.
