Wednesday, March 21, 2007

One can tell that Summer is coming...


Okay... its probably a little early to be writing about Summer, yet... here I am. You see, historically around the end of March, first of April, educators (whom I work with) begin to completely freak out! You see for 7 months they have not, in any way, noticed that certain of their students are struggling. Suddenly, as the first burst of warm weather hits, they are struck by the fact that little "Johnny", who has been suspended 4 times, failed to turn in any homework, and performed terribly on the Iowa test of basic skills; is in URGENT need of being assessed for problems. And if little "Johnny" does not get HELP RIGHT NOW, he is going to be a complete failure for the rest of his life.

Johnny, on the other hand, thinks things are great. The sun is warm, the playground is fun, and his friends have something now called "cigarettes" that may be very interesting. See everything is new here.? This is where my life suddenly becomes rather...errr... complicated.

E-mails suddenly begin to flood my in-box. Referrals for testing pile high on my desk. My phone rings endlessly with educators asking when I will get off my lazy butt and take care of little "Johnnies" that are multiplying by the dozens. *Sigh*

I remember when I was Johnny. I was a late-blooming Johnny developmentally. I waited until my final year of High School to send my choir instructor into a tizzy. I was also something of a spazz. I was rather "giddy" one day when the principal, assistant principal, and campus police officer pulled me from choir class. They all insisted that I "breath" into their faces. After each successively smelled my breath and shook their head they told me to get back to class. NOpe.. not drunk... just a spaz. They were smelling for alcohol. An earlier incident gave them reason to be suspicious (that is another blog post) but I was just a retarded teenager with Summer-fever hitting into high gear.

Perhaps I needed someone like me to evaluate me, and tell me that my choir teacher was an overzealous, summer-fever infested idiot? I'd like to think that I do that for some students (let them know that the adults are sometimes completely batshit stupid). As a matter of fact, I have. Good for me! Good for the kid! Good for the teacher (reality is always the best medicine)!

Happy Summer-fever (coming soon to a town near you).

HH

1 comment:

shane said...

I concur. Good for you! That's the kind of counselor's we need--ones who expose the insanity of the higher-ups.
Funny story about the cops and administrators smelling for alcohol. Can't wait to hear about the incident that made them suspicious.

I hope the summer fever includes images of traveling to Colorado.

Later amigo,
Shane