Lessons from High School

I taught a review class today. One student came (which is one more over the number I had predicted would attend).

I have only one more day's worth of responsibilities before me as a high school teacher. Next Monday I will arrive at 7 a.m., give the Regional exam for three hours, help grade it, and then turn in my grades and my classroom key.

Here is the beginning of a list I've been working on.

"The Top Ten Lessons I've Learned from my Year as a High School Spanish Teacher."

1. High School students don't care what you've published, where you've worked before, or where you went to college. They will still call you names, bite you, scratch you, and beg for no homework.

2. The end of the school year is more bitter than sweet. A senior at our school took his own life the night before the last day of school.

3. Students judge one another not just by appearances but by the quality of their vacations and summer job.

4. Most (not all of) today's students are so engrossed in social media and cell phones and each other that they barely look to adults for advice or instruction.

5. So much of the responsibility of learning has been shifted to the teacher that students and parents expect them to do the learning as well as provide instruction.