Hey Teachers: Here’s Your Report Card

Chris Jones
4 min readApr 13, 2021

It only has two grades on it.

Picture from tearsflow.blogspot.in via BustedPencils.com

So, my dear friends, this year has been a bit of a trial. No matter where you are, no matter what your school or district decided to do for classes this year, it has been one of the weirdest and hardest years to be an educator in the history of ever.

We’re coming to the end of it, the next couple months, so in keeping with tradition, it’s time to cram for those exams and get our report cards. You’re probably thinking — I hardly know any teachers that aren’t — that this year the scores are gonna be pretty low.

So I have good news. We’re only scoring ourselves on two things this year.

I’m aware that we’re supposed to be preparing thorough lesson plans and putting together ironclad rubrics and meeting all the state standards. Oh, and helping students prepare for an ever-growing number of standardized tests, of course. And doing classroom safety, both visible and invisible. And satisfying the baying hounds of politicians, administrators, and parents.

And, you know, teaching. Sometimes. Using whatever method and delivery system we’re being shoehorned into today.

Please pardon my French here: C’est merde, ca.

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Chris Jones

Working writer, teacher of historical things, professor of logic, rhetoric, and poetics at Mount Liberty College (.org). Wild-eyed romantic. I believe.