Busy Indeed!

I've been remiss in blogging lately, primarily since the last couple of weeks have been grading and parent/teacher conferencing. It's always an interesting time meeting the parents of my students. I form impressions about my students' personalities from the way they are in class and I know that I don't have the full picture. So it's always interesting to meet the parents and see just how much one student's eyes match his father's, how another acts just like her mother. Then again, sometimes it's not so much fun. I have one student in my ninth grade who takes some work. I taught him two years ago and he was intelligent, needing attention, already tall for his age, all of which added up to him being something of a smartass. I didn't teach him last year and this year he's mellowed quite a bit. He's still somewhat snarky, but he's also much like my brothers... I guess that I just get him. Anyhow, when last I met his parents his father kept implying that I was sugar-coating my summartion of his son's behavior and character, that I was somehow protecting him. I was as tactful as I possibly could be with him and said something along the lines of "I'm trying to give you an honest assessment, I don't think that it's the right thing to go looking for reasons to fault your son." I was trying to imply that he was looking only at the bad and not at the good, a point I think he got. This year we met a second time and, once again, my student's father was certain that I had given his son a better grade than he deserved. It bothered me some that he was implying that I'd lied, that my grading was dishonest and unfair. But what really bothers me is that my student's father has already decided that his son is horrible and worthless, no matter what anybody tells him. It disturbs me that this is the primary belief this man holds about his son, that this is what my student is going to have engraved on his psyche, that this is the picture he's forming/formed of himself. And then there's just the fact that the father's a fugly dick and I just don't like him. Fortunately, most of the parents were wonderful and it was overall a good experience.

I got home at almost eight in the evening exhausted. The BF completed a MAJOR milestone in his project so he felt like doing something fun. Turns out that the new Harry Potter film opened at midnight so we went for the showing. I wasn't crazy about the first two films, but I enjoy fantasy so I go to see them. They are spectacular visually and I love the way that they create an entire world. However, the plots and characters are mind-numbingly boring. The third was the first one I liked, really, and I went hoping that they were on a roll. No such luck. Also, the theater was packed with a strange-ass crowd. I mean, I realize that we went with the fanatics, but they clapped at the opening notes of the theme song! Seriously, I was blown away by their foolishness. At one point someone dies and during the eulogy someone near us was bawling. It wasn't even a really central or even a recurring character and they totally lost it! It's a freekin' guilty pleasure, not cinematic art! Anyhow, the Goblet of Fire is nothing special. Fun to look at, tragically lame otherwise. And I got only about three hours of sleep before I had to get up for the day-long faculty meeting and other excess bullshit for today. Ho hum.