Apathetic. Disinterested. Flat as a week old glass of coke. That’s how the classes feel right now. I’m definitely slipping. It’s the end of the semester and I’m not even bothering to yell at the kids very much anymore. Oh, I still mock them sometimes, but I’m not at peak form.
This morning was the final exam for one of my classes. For their final exam, I had each of the kids prepare a speech which was supposed to last one minute and fifteen seconds. We’ve been working on it for the past three weeks. I’ve helped them with their outlines, speech ideas, wording, and any questions they had about it. Today, I called out the name of the first speaker. It was his turn to show the class the fruits of his class time. I called him 5 times before he sighed loudly, got to his feet and stomped his way to the front of the class. He glared at me and yelled, "I don’t know." Then he turned and stomped back to his seat looking angry enough to cry.
Usually, I’d yell at him to get back up in front of the class. If he didn’t go, I’d stand over him and threaten him. Then, I might mock him about being a cry baby. I might even kick him out of class and send him to the principal’s office. But today, I just calmly asked him if he was going to cry. Then I asked him if he was still a baby. He didn’t respond so I told him not to cry over a speech. And that was all I said before I moved on to the next person.
See what I mean? I’m becoming indifferent. I can’t wait to go home.
