> Let me explain where I'm coming from...I have a student in my poetry > workshop who shouldn't be there...he's a first year college student > who couldn't get into any of the compostion sections...as Director of the > Writing Program at my school, I decided to give him some of the stuff he > needed to survive a world of "academic discourse" while using his interest > in poetry to thread the needle of his learning skills...sounds good in > theory but in practice I've been dealing with immaturity and things like > not handing in work on time, yawning and sleeping in class, and comments > that give a resounding thud to class discussions...after a particularly > bad class for the student (I had to ask him to stand up as a way to stay > awake since our class meets at 930 AM and he's not able to wake up for it > easily) I tried to control the hard ass in me...after all, the institution > failed to give him the right class but I wanted to be the right > teacher...so I saw him on campus and asked him what it would take to "wake > him up" in class...we didn't get too far but I jokingly suggested > coffee...he took me seriously though, so I found out how he likes it and > decided I would give him a cup of coffee to help show how I wanted him to > wake up...he didn't show up at the next class until a half hour after it > started...the coffee I had brought for him was given to another student > who probably read the disaapointment on my face and figured that this > teacher's act of kindness soured shouldn't sour the whole class...when the > sleepy student finally showed up he had this phony sense of surprise that > I would bring him coffee or want thim to be awake in class...who's gonna > catch him, why is he dragging me over his cliff, and why do I still care? > > Holden knows, will > > I have seen this happen at school where teachers have tried to reach out to students but the students never respond. It always saddens me when I see it. Sometimes I suppose that there is nothing that you can do but it's great that you tried. -Liz Friedman _________________________________________________________ DO YOU YAHOO!? Get your free @yahoo.com address at http://mail.yahoo.com