Saturday, December 15, 2007

"I'm not calling for a second chance
I'm screaming at the top of my voice
Give me reason, but don't give me choice
Cause I'll just make the same mistake again."
James Blunt

The not so new one called kids names so horrible I will not type, or hint, at them in a public forum, nor would I repeat them to my mother on the phone. He also rocked back and forth in his chair, chanting, "I'm gonna kill some one," over and over again. When no one responded, he said it louder, and when still no one responded he stood up on his chair and screamed, "I'M GONNA KILL SOME ONE!!!" Security entered the room, having been called by another teacher. Amazing, the few times I've called they've never come.
He was removed and my kids sat, stunned.
"I feel like I'm on that show where they arrest people and they put it on tv and then it's a show," said Joshua. "If I was on that show, I would give people my autograph."
I thanked my kids for ignoring him - we'd had a class meeting earlier about how sometimes, when things are going on at home or inside of you, you say and do things that you don't mean and that the best thing we can do for him and ourselves as a class is ignore him and help him when he expresses a need for help. Since that meeting my kids had been beyond amazing. His pencil fell on the floor, 3 of them raced to pick it up. He needed a piece of paper, 2 of them were ripping one out of their notebooks. These were kids that were ready to rip him to pieces 30 minutes before....
And then, somehow, they all went back to work, and so did I, and eventually, the new one came back as if nothing had ever happened.
I can't imagine growing up in a world, or being educated in a classroom, with peers who say (and feel) such intense anger and hopelessness.

3 comments:

ZP said...

Wow. In case there were ANY doubt, you and your kids are amazing. Wow. Funny, that as I read this, I think ... yeah, what they learn for those upcoming tests is so important to their education, which is important to their "ticket out" aspect ... but what they learned with the new one, equally so if not a little more.

In the meantime, this is me staying positive even though we lost FIVE DAYS of instruction when there were only TEN left and district measurement tests this Thursday and Friday ;). I cannot wait to see my kids, though.

ZP said...

one of my d-hall students is in the hospital; he got in a fight, hit his head, bleeding on the brain.
one of my ELL students is moving to mexico (Back) and won't go to school there. I think her parents are probably not legal.
Both are not really atypical events, but just hitting me hard this week.

phbt.

blue said...

Hi
I found your blog by google search.
I am a Japanese journalist who writes about New York city for publications in Tokyo. Currently I am working on the article about young teachers of the public schools in this city.
I am simply interested in what kind of people are brave and tough enough to tackle this very difficult system despite of the fact that they may not be able to afford to have their own apartments with their modest first year salary.
And I wonder if I can chat with you on this subject.
Please e-mail me, I will send you the details of the article.

bluedrug(at)hotmail(dot)com

I am looking forward to hearing from you.

Michiya