My french teacher owns me. I need to pass her course.
<rewind to Nov 29th> So I’m on my way to Florida and she tells me my homework. Read “Un Simple Soldat”. In Florida, I’m busy nearly 24/7. I didn’t really have a chance to read, except for 2-3 scenes in the play. I come back and she’s surprised to see me.
“I thought you were there for all of December”
“No, the note my mom wrote you said I was away for one week”
“Ok”
So I sit down, and continue to do what I do in class. Little do I know, we have an essay to do in class the next day (on Manon Des Sources). I have no trouble with it, none at all. I think that it had to be the one work that I can proudly say I wrote in French all semester. She wasn’t there the day we had to write the essay, instead, a nice supply teacher. So the following week, she returns telling us the news about her brother. He had slipped and fell in his apartment and was stuck on the ground for 2 days alone. They nearly had to amputate his leg. I feel sorry for her, so I try to be a nicer kid (it seems as though all the teachers at our school are going through tough times as of late). So Tuesday I walk into class. Dictionaries on every desk, along with a peice of paper and our essays. She tells us that she read 2 or 3 and they were utter junk. I pray that mine wasn’t one she wrote. I put my life and soul into this essay. She tells us to go over again and revise them, look for any mistakes. I spent the whole class and found only 2. We did this by ourselves so of course we can’t get others opinions. We understand what we’re trying to say but it’s more than clear she doesn’t.
<fast forward to Wednesday of last week>
I come into class, put my books down, say the usual “Hello” to everyone.
“Justin, can I talk to you?”
“Sure madame”
So we walk out into the halls
“Justin, I don’t have anything to mark you on from December. You were absent for a dictée and you missed all the work from Manon” (when she dictates something to us and we write it down trying to master the spelling etc)
“But Madame, I was here in December. What work did I not hand in?”
“The Manon essay.” drop my jaw
“I handed that in, you were absent, we had Mr. **** and you gave them back. I handed it in, honest.”
Now I’m one of those kids that will lie to get around this. But I swear to God that I handed this one in. So she just nods her hear in the stupidest way I have ever seen.
“You can make it up by doing this essay on Un Simple Soldat”
Remember? The play I didn’t have time to read? So she goes in and gets me a sheet. On it are 4 essay topics and then she kicks me out of class and sends me to the library. She expects 1 and 1/2 pages of work in ONE class! I haven’t even had time to collect any thoughts about the play and she wants it done in ONE class! On top of that, we have a dramatization of the play due. So while I’m working on my essay, she goes to my group and tells them flat out that she expects that I won’t do my fair share of the work and if they wish SHE can read my parts. I’d get marked with a big fat ZERO.
I’ve had it up to here with her now. She picks on me. I’m stressed out. I can’t talk to her. I’m a debater, but I flat out can never talk to teachers because no matter what I say they’ll ALWAYS persist that they are God blah blah blah. Dopers, I’m scared I might fail this class and not get the credit. I want to approach her but I can’t. I was supposed to bring the essay in on Friday to give to her, but I just couldn’t move (I got killed during hockey). Now I know she’ll hate me and probably won’t accept the essay and right now I can’t budget time between the essay, the play, and my other subjects, not to mention some family problems. Just writing this makes me want to breakdown and cry, but being the guy I am I just laugh everything off. Any troubles I have, I laugh away. Dopers, I don’t think I can laugh anymore.
Man, I don’t know what to tell you. You sound fairly screwed, unless something unexpectedly good happens, which sometimes it does.
It seems that language teachers are always the worst ones. Once they decide that you are crap, there is nothing you can do about it to change their mind. Mine was Spanish, but she also taught French. Luckily, being the charming, persuasive, person I am, I somehow managed to avoid being one of the people she picked on.
Anyway, all I can say is keep trying, and try to put up with her BS. I hope everything turns out well, and you pass.
well goodluck, could possibly a parent/guardian talk with your teacher about losing your work if in fact you handed it in? or try reading cliffs notes on the play possibly to get up to speed. I dont know what else to say either, in highschool someone misplaced/took a huge project left on the teachers desk that I wrote and had no way of proving that I did hand it in. It was frustrating, but just try to do things one step at a time and not get overwhelmed by the big picture.
Do you have a counselor or somebody else at the school that you could talk to outside of this class? Maybe even another teacher? It sounds like (outside of her not having received your essay, which sucks, but there’s not much that can be done about it after the fact) you’ve done pretty much everything that you could have been expected to and it wouldn’t be fair for you to fail this course.
If you can talk to someone about your concerns about budgeting your time, if you can’t get help directly from your French teacher, there should be at least something you can do. Nobody wants to see you fail your class. Be prepared, though, for people to suggest that you give up your other pursuits (you mentioned hockey and debate. Teachers always want to make students give up debate. Sports too, sometimes.) in order to help with your time management.
On a side note, you mentioned that you debate… Is that policy debate? I debated in HS and I always like to touch base with people doing it these days.
Well I spoke with her a bit today. She’s informed me that this essay will count for a LARGE chunk of my second half of the semesters mark. This worries me. At mid-term I had a 57. Now I have a project worth 15% (the dramatization) and then an exam (15% as well). I submitted my work when I came into class (5 minutes late because the library’s computers didn’t work) and she glanced at it and asked if I’d like one more day on the work to just check it. I took it as a hint and asked a friend to check over it (which would be cheating by her books) but I managed to get most of the kinks and I’m left with this:
Un Simple Soldat est une tragédie. Ceci est montré par les vies de Joseph et d’Edouard. Joseph était un soldat dans la guerre, il a voulait voir la bataille. C’est une bataille dans la Guerre Coréenne qui le tue. Edouard vie pour sa famille. Il poursuivait pour fournir chaque petit peu qu’il pourrait. Il est même allé jusque marier Bertha quoique ni l’un ni l’autre ne se soient aimés. La tragédie est un des thèmes principaux d’Un Simple Soldat et peut être vue par ces exemples.
Joseph était dans l’armée. Ses ambitions devaient vivre semblables d’un simple soldat, pour voir le champ de bataille. Au lieu de cela, il a seulement vu la formation. Ceci à l’a amorti son esprit le sens qu’il est devenait un ivre, un homme qui n’a pas respecté la loi, et à l’enfoncement l’individu. Joesph buvait sans fin. Il essaie de voler une voiture, et quand il se fait attraper, il se tourne vers son père. Cet événement ne change pas ses manières. Il semble être que son comportement incontrôlable fait partie de sa mauvaise nature. Peut-être son mauvais côté est ce qui mené lui pour joindre l’armée. Les guerres auraient été un endroit parfait pour qu’il ont laissé aille de ses anéantissements. C’est pas chanceux que les champs de bataille mènent à sa mort. Quoiqu’il montre un grand quantité des qualités mal, son père, Edouard, vient toujours à travers pour lui.
Edouard est un homme que tout le monde peuvent aimer. Son affection dure dans tout le livre. Il ne peu pas réalisé qu’il est une employer. Il y a beaucoup d’indications que sa famille ne doit pas tricoter ensemble par l’amour, mais par la demande. Edouard est le fournisseur. Les femmes n’ont pas eu les mêmes opportunities puis qu’elles font maintenant pour travailler. Edouard est celui qui chacun vient à pour les finances mais jamais pour des conseils ou l’amitié. Il peut être considéré comme une personne qui donne des sorts mais pas recoives aucun. Son mariage à Bertha peut étinceler une révolution en ces jours. Ils sont n’étaient pas mariés pour l’amour mais plus d’un rapport d’affaires. Près de l’extrémité du jeu nous pouvons commencer à voir la tragédie dans la vie d’Edouard. Il meurt, juste demandant que Joseph viennent visiter. Joseph est peu disposé mais vient à travers et nous pouvons tout sympathiser avec les caractères parce que plusieurs des extrémités de perdre se composent et pendant qu’une assistance nous peut voir juste comment les conflits entre les caractères ont été réduits tout à fait facilement.
Comme vous pouvez voir, ni l’un ni l’autre des deux caractères énumérés n’ont mené les vies heureuses ou réussies. Mourez et laissez les autres sans n’importe quelle sécurité à l’avenir. Edouard laisse sa famille instable, congé Fleurette de Joseph le voulant. Ce sont justes certaines des raisons pour laquelle il peut conclure que Un Simple Soldat est une tragédie.
I know she’ll come down hard on the marks for the play but I’m honestly trying very hard. Nevermind that I have one of the smaller parts, it really threw me off. I hope she enjoys it though.
Well White, we’re doing Canadian Parlimentary and we’ve got some big university tournys commin up. I think we’ll be working on cross-examination aswell. Anyone have tips?
This is where you shot yourself in the foot. Let me tell you what I do if a student does the “Oh! I turned that in” thing–I talk to their other teachers. If they have a pattern of claiming they turned stuff in that disappeared, or a history of other lies or “I am pretty sure he was lying to me” type situations, then I likely assume they are lying to me. Is it fair to base stuff on reputations? Maybe not, but it’s all I’ve got.
As far as saving your ass goes, the only thing I can sugest is that you
come completly clean–down to the fact that you didn’t read most of the play, and so couldn’t write a good essay.
Tell her that pasing French is a priority for you, and that you are willing to do what it takes to pass. Show her you are serious about French by dropping something else–White Lightening suggested it, and it’s a good idea. Right now, you are too busy to do everything you want to do. That doesn’t mean that French is more important than hockey, say, but it does mean that you need to pick which one matters to you. You can’t do everything.
Ask if you can either rewrite the original essay or have your final grade take the place of the missing essay.
