Failure

[Crankin]

No you are not, Veronica. Let me tell you about Travis. He came with a reputation he deserved. His parents thought he could do no wrong. He was a 4 foot tall 6th grader who instilled fear in everyone. He could barely read and his mom would not let him be tested so he could get services. There were threats of lawsuits.
Travis was in my HR. Remember the nice morning meeting/sharing time I described? He wrecked it for everyone. Not only did I have him for HR, but also for Lang. Arts, and then, for a 9 week period for a remedial reading course I taught to a rotating group of kids. We were going to kill each other...
Eventually, the team decided that we would be better off if Travis moved out of my HR. One of the male teachers took him, although he still saw me for 90 minutes every other day for LA.
Yes, I gave up. I couldn't reach him. And there have been a few others just like him. Believe me, I tried. I mean, I was the teacher that everyone's parents wanted their kids to have. National Board certified, a mentor, blah, blah, blah. I still couldn't do anything with some of them.
Keep trying, but it is not your fault!

[redrhodie]

Can you take a sabbatical?

[salsabike]

Yeah, we do that "it must be me" thing a lot in this field.

It's hard to come up against some of the limits we have on what we can control. But...you also want to try to remind yourself that some of the seeds you've dropped onto what looks like fallow kid ground may well sprout later, even if you never get to see that. That happens, Veronica, which I know you know.

But I'm sorry for how it feels right now.