Today was one of those days I both wished I had a film crew following me and was thankful that I did not. I feel like today was a perfect core sample of the full spectrum of things teachers deal with. I had brilliant and honest students come in at lunch to finish their tests, but they refused to get their own tests because they were nervous about seeing other student's answers and possibly cheating - not kidding.
So that group left and my fifth period entered with engines roaring and little desire to do anything but torment each other. Actually it was just three kids who were really excited about making the other one's mad. I was aware of the taunting, but unaware of the actual words being tossed around. I corrected it with a little prompting and not much more than that, but I could feel the tension in one of my kids. I could see the daggers in his eyes as he stared back at the student behind him who had gone too far. After class, the drama broke out into full blown threats and tears and kids running to and from me. I still didn't get the whole story, but I had to call the office to make sure a fight didn't break out.
It turns out that one of the kids started telling heinous 'your mama' jokes to the kid he hates the most (after the fat jokes weren't getting enough of a reaction). Well, the other student's mom is going through some really difficult stuff right now and it's probably the most sensitive issue this kid has in his life, so the comments caused this tough kid to cry. His friend wanted to retaliate, but my strong little man didn't let him and he was so courteous to me when all he wanted to do was punch this kid for his rudeness. There will be consequences tomorrow and I guess I have some seating charts to change...
Sixth period was ok. I did, in my frustration from fifth, tell them, "If you don't want to be here, that's fine. Just go outside and don't bother those of us who want to learn..." Not the most gracious of responses to the two kids who were messing around all period, but they packed up their stuff and chose to spend the period outside. I hope they were disappointed when they heard the class laughing and having a good time without them - because, yes, I am that petty.
After school was a mad house. I had kids asking for help, finishing tests, correcting homework, and needing to know how they could raise their grades. One of the other math teachers was out today, so her students came to my room for clarification of the lesson. Another student was patiently waiting to give me a gift from Pakistan - a henna tattoo. So after I ran math class triage and got everyone to a point where they could work independently, I sat down for my tattoo.
My student is a fabulous artist and I now have a very pretty tattoo on my palm and wrist. Other girls were in awe of this art form they had never seen before. So this student used the extra henna to do their palms too. I felt a little silly when a dad came to pick up his daughter. I tried to hide my arm as I explained to him what work she still needed to do at home.
After my office hour, two students from three years ago stopped by to tell me about their lives. They didn't make grades to do sports, one had been arrested once for stealing headphones regularly from Target and selling them for profit to his classmates. He only had to pay a fine and he served no time. I suppose I can at least be grateful that his entrepreneurial attitude was partly inspired by the classroom economy we had in my class. The other student was arrested twice: once for vandalism and the other time for accessory to a theft. The arrests were a week apart.
I am sometimes shocked at the ease with which I can now say the words, "So, is your PO a good guy? Does he get on your case about school?" I lectured them about not wasting their lives and never being so stupid again. We reminisced about how their lying and stealing had manifested itself in my class and how they had been caught. These were my parting words as they left to serve some community service time, "Don't get arrested again! No more! I don't want to hear any more about you guys doing something so stupid. Oh, and say hi to Alex."
*Sigh*, sometimes I wish I could just hide under the covers and pretend that the world isn't broken... I suppose I can just look at my tattoo or grade my tests taken with integrity and realize that there is hope for some of my kids and if there is not hope there is at least a large amount of chocolate.
