You try, and most things do not work—most especially those things suggested by the teacher’s manual, when you follow the “curriculum map.”
You have modest success trying to teach them basic vocabulary, reading aloud, and working with them through a worksheet of ILearn-type questions. They cannot be trusted for long stretches with their Chromebooks.
When they do not complete your carefully designed, scaffolded writing assignments, you make deals with them to get them to write something, anything, remotely related to the assignment, however late, so you don’t have to feel like a failure when so many of them have failing grades using traditional measures.
Still, too many of them turn in almost nothing, are defiant when you offer them the chance to catch up, or redirect them when they are off task (repeatedly) in class.
It’s discouraging work if you dwell on all that, as opposed to the little miracles that do happen almost daily, that surprise and delight you.
You are beginning to understand what it means to “be joyful, though you have considered the facts.”
