Shaddup Already!
2004-08-05
It amazes me
It amazes me that a class of 25 can seem more like a class of 6. Now I'm not saying that's a good thing. Four of those six are talking non-stop and the other two are visibly frustrated with the lack of learning going on. I just can't believe someone can misbehave so much in the first week of school. Come on.Anyway, I was teaching my 8th period class the Code of Conduct vocabulary words. Did I mention what fun that is? And there are a group of boys talking. Now this is the class that is packed and I was desperately looking for somewhere to move them. Unfortunately you can't always move them to the front because there are those kids who have to sit up front so they can see or hear. I determined that I would have to do some major work on a seating chart this weekend. Now there is nothing I hate more than doing seating charts. I recognize the need for it and even appreciate the philosophy behind it, but it is never easy. You may spend three or four hours working up a seating chart only to find that you have sat a bully and their victim side by side. Once last year, I got someone else to do my seating chart. I had tried every reasonable combination of trouble makers and non-trouble makers and nothing worked. So I thought if someone who didn't know the kids did the seating chart it would be completely random and maybe it would be the ideal set-up. It was close.
Anyway, I finished discussing the words with them and got them started on their projects. I had forbidden this class to talk while doing seatwork because they had been so bad during the note-taking. So I sat at my desk and just started looking around. All of the sudden I started seeing certain students that I swear I had never seen before. The entire time the ruckus was going on, I was focused on the key players. The other students seemed to cease to exist. I felt really bad when I realized that. So I kept looking at them and trying to remember their names. Of course I know the other kids' names. I said them enough.
