Back to School

I love the week report cards go out. Know why? It's because my students are so terrified that they are going to get bad grades that they try to compensate for it by being extremely well-behaved- as if their behavior will change the fact that they knew nothing about William the Conqueror, whom we studied for two weeks (even reinacting the Battle of Hastings as a class). The only drawback is the phone calls from parents and the parent-teacher conferences to follow.
"What do you mean by the S (satisfactory) that my child received for obedience?" - Well, that seems a bit obvious; he doesn't obey.
"You don't understand, my child is really quite intelligent, you are just too hard." - Really, well the other 15 student's don't seem to have a problem with basic addition.
Okay, the comments in quotes are true, the responses are what I wish I could have said, but am wise enough not to have.
Hope everyone who gets MLKjr. Day off has a wonderful three day weekend!