Shaddup Already!
2005-03-30
Grrrr
Okay, the week after spring break simply isn't going well. I don't remember what happened on Monday, but I do recall I wasn't happy. No, wait, that's not true, most of my kids were eerily good on Monday. They fell apart on Tuesday, yep. That's it.Tuesday
So Tuesday the kids are pretty much getting out of control. They had their good day back from spring break and now they can't sit to save their lives. They have also forgotten that they do have control of the volume of their voices.
Around 1:00 the fire alarm goes off. I don't know if you are familiar with FL at 1:00pm, but it's hot. It's so hot that sometimes people cook their food on the sidewalk instead of the oven. It's very, very hot.
So we get up and walk out the back of the portable to the field behind us. We have been having issues with our fire alarms this year, so I assumed it was another one of those things and we would be ushered back in fairly quickly.
The teacher behind me was in a devastating small plane wreck (years ago), so he is fairly disabled. It takes him a long time to walk and he can't stand up straight. I just look at him and think that it must be painful to be leaning like that all the time.
Anyway, when he was about 1/3 of the way out, I sent one of my students to let him know that I would watch his class so he didn't have to walk all the way out. Again, I figured this would be over with pretty quickly.
We were outside for about 30 minutes when the principal came by to talk to the teachers individually:
P: Do you have all your kids accounted for?
Me: Yes, but I'm watching Mr. K's class and I don't have a roster for it.
P: Okay, we're under a bomb threat. Have any of your kids been acting strangely today?
Me: No, but I'd be happy to donate a few to be interrogated by the feds.
P: (laughs) We have enough of that going on already.
So we ended up being outside for over 40 minutes. That may not sound like long, but when you combine FL at 1:00pm with middle schoolers and no shade, it don't make for a pretty picture. Trust me.
The last time we had a bomb threat, it was followed by three more within the next week or two. It sucked. Majorly.
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Wednesday:
This day was particularly bad. I'm hoping that by referring to it in the past tense, it will think it's over and leave me alone.
I woke up today and only had about an hour to get ready. I had to drop something by my mom's house, so I wanted to leave a little early. Now I'm not a high maintenance kind of person. I can be ready to leave in a five minute period, but I really needed a shower, the dog had to eat (she hasn't been eating breakfast lately) because she is on medication for her skin infection and I had to drop something by my mom's house. On top of that, if I don't get to piss around on the Internet a bit before work, I get cranky.
So I figured if I left no later than 7:30, I would be good to go. So I rushed and got out of the house at 7:25. I drove the massive distance (1 1/2 miles) to my parents' house and tried to go in their side door. It was locked.
They gave me a key, but they gave me the wrong key, so I had no way in. So I rang the bell repeatedly and waited. Nothing.
So I went to the front door because the only door they lock is the side door. Warped logic, for sure. Anyway, to go through the front door I had to walk all the around the dog yard (because one of the hurricanes took out the gate on the side door side and it was replaced with fencing, not a gate) and go through that way.
I walked in and my dad and two big dogs met me. The biggest dog jumped up on me. Since I have the neuropathy in my leg, having the dog jump on me hurts like hell. So I wasn't happy. I also wasn't happy that my mother never told my father I was coming, which is why the door was still locked. My mom just had surgery last week, so she couldn't walk all the way out and unlock the door herself. Would it have killed her to tell someone I was coming? I think not.
From there I went to the grocery store to buy my lunch. I got behind these two women who were blocking the way and very obviously not in a hurry. I got around them and found that they didn't have the salad I usually buy for lunch. Instead they had the "bigger," more expensive salad that actually has less meat and lettuce and more packaging. So I had to buy an extra thing of meat because if I don't get enough protein, I get shaky.
This is getting really long, so I'm gonna cut the getting to school part short. I like to get to school at 7:30, I'm usually there no later than 8:00, I have to be there by 8:30. I walked in right at 8:30. That put a chink in my day because I rely on at least an hour of alone time in my room before I have to deal with students. I didn't get it today.
Homeroom sucked. They were way too loud. I made them ponder (on paper) why I have the rules I have in homeroom. They did pretty good with that, but the minute I rewarded them with free time they got too loud again. Lucky for them, the bell rang before I leveled a punishment.
2nd period was okay.
3rd period came in like they had been locked in a cage for weeks and weeks.
About 6 of them came in tardy from lunch (it's block scheduling today). One of them was excuse boy (EB). He came in 15 minutes late.
I told them that the principal had told teachers to stop accepting passes from people who are repeatedly late from lunch. So I let them know that they get three excused late lunch passes, but if they have more than that, it means they are using the system (long story, but it really is an abuse on their part). So I told them to make sure they are walking quickly to lunch and that they get there in a timely fashion.
EB pops up with this: What if you get lunch detention? Then it's not your fault.
Me: Huh? Don't get detention you fricking moron.
Use your judgement about which part of that I actually said, 'kay?
Then EB went on to be an asshole the entire period--no change there from normal. About halfway through he asked me if he could go get a drink of water.
Me: What did I say on Monday about passes?
EB: That you were only giving three this nine weeks, but I haven't used any.
Me: What did I say about water passes?
EB:(Shouting now) BUT I HAVEN'T USED ANY PASSES YET!!!!!
Another student: She said she wasn't writing anymore water passes because she allows us to bring in bottles of water and drink them in class.
EB: Oh yeah, I forgot my water.
Me: I'm sorry, you're going to have to take the consequences of that.
(EB continues to make an even bigger ass of himself, laughing, talking, playing with a key around his neck, playing with his bracelets, asking questions that were just asked and answered while he was doing any of the above)
EB: Can I go to the restroom?
Me: No.
(EB is now glaring at me and slamming stuff around.
I finished giving directions to the class.)
Me: EB, come here and talk to me a minute.
EB: WHAT I DIDN'T DO ANYTHING!!!!
Me: I didn't say you did, come here so we can talk.
(EB walks out the door, where I directed, and he immediately turns his back on me.)
Me: You need to show me respect by looking at me. Are you going to show me respect and look at me when I'm talking to you?
(EB is oblivious because he totally wasn't paying attention to a word I said)
Me: Okay, obviously you aren't going to show me respect, so I'm not talking to you right now.
(I walked back into the classroom and left him at the door. He looks in at me)
EB: What? Do you want me to come in?
Me: I want you to show me respect by looking at me when I talk to you, are you ready to do that?
EB: Yes.
Me: I don't want any excuses, I want you to just listen to me.
You were fifteen mintues late from lunch, th
EB: IT WASN'T MY FAULT!!! I WAS AT DETENTION!
Me: You're making excuses, come back in.
We came back in, EB pissed around some more and then another student asked for a pass to the restroom. I gave it to him. EB was beyond pissed.
Me: EB, I tried to explain to you why I wouldn't write you a pass and you wouldn't listen. You kept interrupting. I think it's your right to know why I said no, so do you want me to tell you?
EB: I want a pass to discipline.
Me: I'm trying to tell you why I won't let you leave my classroom. Do you want to listen? I can tell you from here (about 10 feet away, meaning the class would hear) or we can step outside again.
EB: I want to know.
Me: Do you want me to tell you from here?
EB: I don't care.
Me: No interruptions.
You were 15 minutes late from lunch. Granted you had a pass, but that is still class time that you will never get back again. You have spent at least 50% (very generous estimate on my part) playing around and not paying attention.
You have missed too much class time today and I don't think you should leave the room right now.
EB: I want to go to the discipline office.
Me: I'm not writing you a pass from my class today.
EB: I want to go about another teacher, not you.
Me: You know, and I want the whole class listening to this, you have every right to complain to administration about a teacher. I support that right. However, I would hope you would have the maturity to talk about the problem with the teacher first. I think you should try and resolve something person to person in a mature fashion before making a complaint, but if you aren't mature enough to do that, then you should go tell someone.
EB: I'm gonna go tell my mom.
Me: Please do, I really want to meet with her.
(EB rolls eyes melodramatically)
Me: Do you want to call her right now? From class?
EB: No, she isn't home.
Me: Does she have a cell phone?
EB: Yes, but I don't know the number.
Me: What about a work number.
EB: I don't want to call her from class (rolls eyes again)
Me: I truly don't care if you roll your eyes at me, you know.
EB: (mutters) Well, I'll do it again.
Me: Okay, roll your eyes at me again. (rolls eyes)
Apparently he went and talked to an administrator about me. Mr. R came to me and we were chatting about some stuff when he brought up EB. He said that every other word out of EB's mouth was a victim statement. I don't like him, the other kids do this, it isn't his fault, etc., etc., etc. So Mr. R asked what EB's grade was in my class. EB told him it was an F, but he got it up to a C. Mr. R gives me a look like he is positive that I'm not picking on him if he was able to get an F up to a C and then he told EB to just keep his mouth shut and do his work. He also told EB that he should try talking it out with me first.
Then the next class started and one of my *ahem* favorite students came in. He's the big, bad kid that's moving to Chicago next year (supposedly). I called him over to me so I could give him his new seating assignment. I called him over three times. The first time he didn't hear the next two times he blatantly ignored me and even said "I'll pick my own seat" one of those times.
So I gave up and said, "Fine, when you're ready to come see me in a respectful manner, I will give you your seat. Until then you can stand."
I wouldn't let him use my furniture or walls. He couldn't set anything down or lean against anything. He was miserable. He held out for an hour. It was rather shocking, really. I kept going over and reminding him that he was making the choice.
He was really mad at me because he got out of school suspension and it was all my fault.
On a humorous note, I was chatting with our new student from Trinidad. We had about 10 minutes between groups of dismissal, so we were talking. He was telling me about the slang that confused him. Then I started asking about schooling.
He had been homeschooled before he got here, but he did attend public school in Trinidad. He was telling me that they use corporal punishment there. I just said that sometimes I wish corporal punishment would come back to the United States.
Really, that's not true, because I don't believe people should hit one another. I really don't think it's fair to do as a punishment when the person giving the punishment is angry.
I'm going to eat dinner now and dream of summer vacation.
