Initiative….Desire

Yesterday, was just one of those days. As a teacher you want to help your students any way you can to succeed. Sometimes it is so hard because the desire to do well is greater in you as the teacher than it is in the student. I have a student who struggles in Math, in fact, he is not passing right now. He missed math class the day before which sets him back even more. Yesterday, he brought me his homework. It was not completed, about 5 problems were not even attempted. He responded by telling me he did not understand how to do them. I then proceeded to tell him I would help him. I had him get his book and scoot a chair up to my desk so we could work on it together. He then rolled his eyes at me and said "You mean I have to do this again?" I responded by telling him you didn't do it all the first time, so yes we are going to do it." 
As a teacher it is so frustrating to be willing to bend over backwards to help a child and then he doesn't even have the desire or diligence to want to do it himself. But yet, he will come to me at the end of the quarter and want to know what he can do to bring his grade up. My response will be….."You could have accepted help when it was offered earlier in the quarter."
It is hard to watch a child self-destruct when you know what is going to happen, but you can only help if the student is willing to accept your help. 

Some days are just blah. I came to school today with energy, I thought. I managed to get myself up and ride my bike 4 miles this morning. Always a good way to start your day. The weather is cloudy and dreary which doesn't do much for the mood. I have 1st period off, but today I was taking care of a co-worker's class. The students are pretty self sufficient, so there was not much work entailed for me. When I had my class second period, I just was not to motivated to teach. As teachers, we have those kind of days, too. Sometimes I feel like it is necessary for we as teachers to always be "on". Some days it is hard to do. Today is just one of those days for me.