So it finally happened.
This is my year.
This is THAT class.
This year was suppose to be the "easy" year. This year was suppose to be the "break" from last years class. Last years class was suppose to be the roughest group since kindergarten, now don't get me wrong...they were rough but man did they try. The attempted everything. They had GRIT, they had drive, they had work ethic.
This year my class is divided.
This year my class is different.
I currently have 20 kids. I have 20 sweet, fun, and wonderful little 5th graders that are trying to figure out their world. Unfortunately, I have about 9 that just don't seem to care as much as the others.
Background of my kids:
I work in a Title I school and our Free and Reduced lunch rate is extremely high.
Most of my kids have been labeled "poverty".
I have 9 kids that just won't do their work. It doesn't matter if it is in class or if I send something home to work on....they just won't do it.
I have talked to their parents, I have adjusted assignments, I have sent them to the principals office (which I NEVER use to do), I have taken recess (which is cruel), I have yelled, I have calmly talked to them to try to come up with a plan. I have read book after book and watched a ton of YouTube videos and spoken with other teachers.
NOTHING IS WORKING!
I have a student that is extremely smart but not medicated so he is a huge distraction to the other students and myself. I have a student that has been placed in our gifted program that will stare off into space and when redirected will look like he is working but doesn't. I have held him out of the gifted program until he proves he can do the fifth grade work and yesterday I made the mistake of trusting that he finished his 6 problems in math and I sent him to gifted before checking..........and I find out later that he didn't even do a single problem (and we worked for over an hour in class on the worksheet).
I am at a loss. I do not know how to motivate these kids who consistently do not do their work.
I am frustrated which is making it worse. I want to leave the profession every night and I find myself disgusted at their lack of work ethic and annoyed that their parents don't care either.
So how do you fix it?
If they are being raised in a house that proves to them that their parents do not care because they do not follow up or require them to do their work, how am I suppose to get them to work in class?
