Grading and the Transformers

The last week has been draining: we've had to do grades this week. I teach about sixty kids right now, and because the tuition is rather expensive and because the children's behavior is often less than self-sufficient, I suspect many of the children come from wealthy families who give them anything they want.
It is very difficult to write comments for sixty children, telling the parents how smart and wonderful they are, saying the children are really good but need to listen better, and encouraging them to do their work more often.
It is even more draining because the teachers need to do most of this work on their own time. V. annoying (forgive the Bridget Jones reference).
On to the transformers. I believe in an earlier post, I mentioned the transformer bugs. Some of the teachers have nicknamed these strange bugs such because they jump, they swim, and they crawl. My best guess can describe them as a cross between a grasshopper and a cockroach. And they are big.
My efforts to keep my apartment free of cockroaches have continued to be quite successful. I hate the ugly things, and I haven't much patience for sharing my abode with them, so I regularly spray my windows and door to keep the beasts out.
Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to keep out the transformers.
Last night, I had a nasty battle with a three-inch transformer that involved bleach, an old fly swatter, and several shoes. After slowing down the beast with the bleach (but not killing it), I successfully escorted the bane outside. I yelled at him a bit, and I think he was sufficiently swayed from coming back.
We will see.