IB teacher here. I know my students check out by March, so I put my high-interest texts at the end of the year. I also bargain. They gave me 2 focused days of essay prep/writing a week, and the other days are a more relaxed journey through our last units. No extra assignments, just the essay work.

It works extremely well. They are engaged when I need them to be for the most important material. We never take a day off, but there are days that matter more. And that balance seems to work.

Parents have no respect for teachers, so their kids have no respect for teachers.

The culture that a lot of good students have internalized is that the point of high school is to get into a good college. So when they get into college they begin to question if any of high school matters anymore.

It's because they don't have a consistent schedule.

My college kid had a breakdown at about that time when he was in 12th grade. They're under a lot of pressure.