The Accomplishment of No Effort

I'm not sure what my students are trying to prove to me when they turn in work with:

-no name...I suppose they still think I'm kidding when I say I'll throw it out?

-work where they clearly did not read the directions

-incomplete work after I had informed them that every paper they turned in might count for their grade

I get it, end of the year, we go to school longer than the districts, I don't really care mentalities reflected in their work, and so on.  But for some reason they forget that I will teach them again next year...

What disappoints me more than anything is that they can do this work; NOTHING is new! My current 6th graders learned all of this in 5th grade.  The students that were new this year are doing better than the ones who were my students the year before. If they know what they are doing, they definitely do not show it, if they don't  they are so easily defeated and completely fine with it.  They are just waiting for me to show them how to do it correctly,  but I can't anymore.

Learn by doing doesn't work when only a handful want to try.  Knowing full well that they can if they put forth the effort, I will continue on.  For some of them it is going to be a frustrating struggle, but I am now picking my battles and with those few who hold the whole group back it will just be themselves holding them back.

I hate to say that I'm just letting the time go by until the three current middle school grades are gone and then I'll have the type of program I want is unfortunately the first thing I think, but what else am I supposed to think?   

I know the type of teacher I can become if I work at it this summer, but I find myself at an impasse with middle school and channeling my track coach, thinking to myself: "I can't make chicken salad with chicken crap".