frustrating fridays

disclaimer: this is a vent post. I apologize in advance that it may not make sense and it may be all over the place. I also apologize because I know it is nowhere close to what I normally write. The next post will be better. I promise.




Fridays are relatively easy here at school. At least as far as teaching English is concerned. We call it SSR (silent sustained reading). And it’s really quite simple. Students are required to bring a book to class every Friday. It can be a book from the library or one from home. The only stipulation is that it cannot be a comic book, newspaper, magazine, textbook, or something inappropriate for school. They bring the book and the only assignment that day is that they read. 45 mins of uninterrupted reading (I even let them stop reading after 38 mins if they’ve been quiet). It’s not difficult and there are no tests to take based on the books they read. After 5 Fridays of reading, they are to come to me and do a Book Talk based on their book. this is a test grade and a VERY big part of their 6 weeks grade. I usually thumb through the story asking them random questions about the characters, or I’ll read a page or two and ask them what certain things mean, or I’ll simply just let them tell me about the book. The hardest part about the entire SSR requirement is that they are to read a minimum of 300 pages per 6 weeks. If they come in and simply read, without talking or cutting up, then they only have to read during class time. However, if they are a slower reader or if they disrupt the class, then they’ll need to read at home. Sounds simple right?



Hardly. Every Friday I bring my own book, fully excited and prepared to leisurely read. However, most of the time, I spend the class period asking students to be quiet and finding “other work” for those who didn’t bring a book to do. Today I got in about 5 pages but that was during my conference period, in between helping students with our newspaper (which is way past deadline) and running errands.



I know not all students love reading. I get that. I understand that. I empathize with that. However, they are allowed to choose their own book. They can pick anything they want: sports, mystery, love, murder mystery, vampires, biography, …etc. They can bring the bible or a devotion book – frankly, I don’t care what they read, as long as they get their pages in.



Every Friday they receive a grade accordingly: 90 (for reading and being quiet the entire class period), 50 (if they are loud or if they have to leave my class and go get their book), 0 (if they fall asleep, have to go to the library, or talk a lot). blah blah blah.



However, instead of being simple, Friday’s are a pain. The kids talk and don’t bring books (even when we’ve been doing this for 4 six weeks so far), and they continue to erk my nerves for the 45 minutes we spend together. Fridays are hard enough as it is: the kids are tired and so are we. they are ready for the weekend and their brains have been pushed to the limit, so Friday should be a day of relaxation and calmness…



(deep breath)



the final bell just rang.

finally.