it was a long week indeed. i had some past students come look for me all week. they all look so grown up in their new school uniforms and they all carry themselves a bit differently, heads high and confidence beaming. they all filled me in on life at their new schools, new classmates, teachers, their favorite classes, … they also helped in breaking the reality to the new grade 6: they are going to fail gsat if they don’t settle down and start working with us. marie and i decided we need some very serious ground rules with equally serious consequences. to give you an example, i gave the gsat kids a test yesterday on terms and prime ministers. i had to hear their incessant bantering about how (a) they never knew there was going to be a test (although all week we had reminded them), (b) they never had information to study (although they were all responsible for their own notes… they also have books with all of this information), (c) so and so was cheating, … it just went on for forever. i told them if i saw anyone cheating it was an automatic zero because i don’t care about other people’s intelligence or the fact they can read out of a book; i do care about what they know and making sure they are on track. at the end we all were equally vexed. i reminded them that as their teacher sometimes they are going to hate me and i’m alright with that. it is for their own good. no man, something needs to change because i can’t continue like this all year, i’ll either have a heart attack or a stroke from all the stress. i’ve already warned that if they can’t change their attitudes and behavior i will move to grade 4. luckily it’s the weekend. looking forward to some washing, cooking, cleaning and relaxing.