Tuesday was my last ever day of classes at Arlington and I feel happy that it is over. I am very happy that I don’t have to teach 5th period (9th graders), or 8th period (10th graders). These were the two worst classes I have ever had to teach and it was sad that my last ever lesson at Arlington should be with that 8th period bunch of yobs. I try not to think bad of students, but some of them truly were little punks who had no respect.

Several of them were on probation and, at the start of the year, one of them even had an ankle bracelet to track his movements as he had just been released from Juvenile Detention. I can say right now that many of them have not passed the Global History Regents because they did nothing all year. Of course, if they do not pass the Regents they cannot graduate. I feel I did everything I could to help these kids and, since most of them will have passed, I feel vindicated in the methods I used to teach them.

The Global History Regents was actually yesterday and we spent most of today at the school grading essays. The kids write two essays and, after a while reading them, it gets tedious and boring. At least they are done now and all I have to do is put together their multiple choice scores with their essay scores and short answers. Looking at the exams I think most of the kids have done quite well but we will see.