Thoughts on a Friday Morning

I gave my environmental class a quiz on Wednesday. We had spent the past two and a half weeks studying the principles of ecology, and I figured the time was ripe for some kind of assessment. Now, I announced the quiz a week in advance and reminded my students every day thereafter, so there was no excuse for not knowing about it. The day before the quiz, we played a closed-note Jeopardy review game that covered every single concept to be assessed on the quiz. In a perfect world, my kids would have come in on Wednesday prepared to ace the quiz.

I've spent enough time teaching at my school to know that we are far from perfect, yet it stings every single day. My first period class averaged a 42% on the quiz. My second period class averaged a 37%. What now?! Did I teach them? Where were they the past two and a half weeks? Was anyone listening?

My daily theme song invokes my favorite movie:
>>Is anybody there?
Does anybody care?
Does anybody see what I see?<<

The last question on the quiz asked them to reconcile their views on religion with those on evolution. This was a topic I emphasized heavily in class, and about which we spent much time discussing. There was no right or wrong answer -- I just wanted them to write, and I gave points to pretty much any coherent response that met my length requirement. Needless to say, about half of my kids didn't even attempt to answer the question. So I'm wondering what on earth I'm doing here. How can I motivate my students to study? How can I motivate my students to even write a response to a question? Which brings me to the next question -- Why are seniors in high school (yes, environmental science is a course for seniors) unable to write a response to a question such that I have to motivate them?

Where can I find this answers?

One girl in my class wrote the following response to the evolution question: "Ms I realy want to have good Grande in this class but I don't now that much Ingle and sciences is very difecult for me. I do alot of thing to pass this class. I don't now what to do. I just oging to do my's Do Now and Exit Slip and Project to pass this class with C or D."

She's a sweet girl, her attendance is excellent, and she has a good attitude. So I really want her to pass the class. But when did my expectations become so low that I feel a girl with simply a good attitude and good attendance deserves to pass?