Teaching is a Learning Process

This is a blog dedicated to my reflections and learning as an English teacher.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Things that frustrate me as a 6th grade ELA teacher

By the time kids are in 6th grade, I expect them to know a variety of things.  This apparently is very silly of me, though, as many of them cannot do these simple things.  Here, a list of things that my students do (or don't do) that frustrate me.
1. They do not know which side of the paper to write on.
2. They do not know to bring a pencil and paper to class, even though we tell them every day. 
3. They do not know how to write neatly.
4. They do not know what "double space" means.
5. They do now know do type a written document in Word.
6. They do now know how to staple papers (neatly, in the upper left-hand corner, of course!)

These are things that we do over and over, and they still do not seem to pick up.  I can't imagine their elementary teachers doing all of this for them, so what gives?  Are they really that lazy?  Do they not care?  Do they really not know, even though it's written on the board and I said it a million times?  The world may never know.