Resolutions from the kids

Last week, our first week back to school from Holiday break, I asked the kids to write some New Year's Resolutions in their writing journals. I explained what a New Year's Resolution was first, and gave a few examples, such as exercising more or not watching so much TV.

Looking through the journals to see what the kids wrote was great. Some resolutions were very specific -- "To clean my room on Wednesday and Friday" -- while some were very generic -- "Learn so much things."

Here are some of the others that stood out to me:

"I need to play my games." -- technically, a resolution, but not exactly a life-changing decision.

"I would like my mom and dad to help me study more." -- Leave it to this kid to be making resolutions for other people.

"I have to stop eating stuff that makes me fat." -- This was a good one, along with the following resolution that made me laugh out loud...

"I not going to eat taco."

"Do the homework of my brother." -- I wrote back to him, "HELP him with his homework, but don't DO it for him!"

"Be good at basketball, baseball, tennis, and foosball." -- I was never very good at foosball.

"I going to watch tv at 3:00 to 3:50." -- Wapner's on. Definitely Wapner. Definitely.

This was from a model student: "I will not run and scream in the classroom." -- This is kind of like me giving up flying into space for Lent.

"Be god at the school." -- I am assuming that this was a misspelling, and not the beginnings of a superiority complex.

And finally, from one of my best students came a list of goals, beginning with "Get a girlfriend," and closing with "Get a dog." All he needed was "Get a pickup," and he'd have the makings for a killer Country-Western song.

I was kind of hoping to see more resolutions along the lines of, "I will pay attention in class," "I will show my work on math problems," or "I will not play in class so much." Oh well, I can only hope that the kids who DID write resolutions like that will actually hold to them. And that the others really WILL be good at foosball.