One more Saturday

My vacation is winding down and now I realize that I have a ton of stuff to do. As predicated by my husband, I did go to work on Friday and spent about 3 hours getting 'caught up' for the Monday onslaught of hormonal teenagers. The state of Georgia has standardized testing as a gateway to graduation. These tests start in 11th grade and if not passed then, continue on into 12th grade. They include Math, Social Studies, Science, Language Arts, and writing. In their infiinite wisdom the writing 'retake' is scheduled for Wednesday. We just had a week off, and these poor students have to come back and take the writing test. I put a pretty heavy emphasis on the writing test in my class. I have only had 2 of my students ever fail the writing test. I have about seven I think taking it this time. Did I mention that I teach English to students whose first language is one other than English? So these kids have been here two years and have to pass graduation tests in basically a foreign language. I have had great success, but I sweat it out every time. I am making breakfast for them on Wednseday morning. I made goody bags that include a nice pen, healthy snacks, Gatorade and water. They get so little support from other sources, so I try to really go all out for them. I spend too much money on them (so sorry Honey...I know, but we don't have kids of our own)Some of my kids on the Europe trip
Exhausted in the Coliseum

, but it makes them feel good. On a completely unrelated note..... South Dakota is trying to ban abortion. Now, I don't like the thought of women getting abortions, but I sure feel like we have that right. So people say that this will open up the road to give rapists parental rights. Good grief, would that be a mess or what? My husband and my baby girl dog are out scouting trails. Ballou....the prettiest girl in the world