"D" Student

Today was interesting for lots of reasons, but I'll focus on "D."

"D" is one of the kids that more than likely won't be saved. He is habitually absent, has a one-parent home that enables him (not in good ways), and he is a constant behavior problem when he is in class.

"D" was in class after a couple of days off "recovering" from scabies which his girlfriend and him have been passing back and forth all semester. The kids were excited/scared to see him. They don't realize, nor did I until today, that you can't get scabies unless you are rubbing up against someone. Not something 8th graders should need to consider during English class, but this is par for the course with "D."

So anyway, I usually begin class with 30 minutes of reading silently. I changed it up when the principal came to observe class today so she could see the actual lesson instead of kids reading at their tables. Things went pretty well during the class discussion on poetry that ensued—"D" needed a few subtle reminders to listen while others were speaking, but on the whole he did pretty well.

It's amazing how this kid can turn it on and off. He really dislikes school and sometimes I think he goofs off just to get sent out of class. I know he does.

But today he did well while the principal was in class. He likes me because I tell him he is a sharp kid (which he is) and because I tell him in so certain terms that f***ing around in my class is unacceptable. I have pulled him aside on several occasions this semester and told him to get his s**t together. This is real to "D" and he misbehaves less in my class than he does math for that reason.

But when the principal left things went quickly downhill. "D" didn't have a book. And he didn't have a reading record. And he wanted to talk with another girl across the room. And he wasn't getting that this was annoying the crap out of me. (Or maybe he was, who knows.)

Either way, after a few generous offers to find him a book and a work sheet—after I gave him a book mark and showed him how to use it as a speed read prop—after I asked him directly to read and stop disrupting class (all so quietly that you could hear a mouse piss on cotton) "D" still couldn't focus on his book.

I asked him to step out into the hall.

I went out to talk to him after he'd had time to think and I had time to plan my attack.

I started with how many pages have you read?

9 or 10. (Which threw me off because I was expecting 3-4.)

(I shifted to build-up mode.) This is twice as much as you normally read in class, right?

Right.

So, if you improve again tomorrow I can maybe look past some of your more annoying habits, but if you don't you're gone.

Okay.

We went back in and things went well. "D" didn't want to read anymore, but he was drawing something and it was officially advisory period now so it was cool with me. At least he wasn't bothering anyone.

But then a student says—Hey is there something on my forehead? There was. A blue pen mark. I asked "D" did you mark on him (a blue pen in his hand)?

No.

Stick around after the bell.

Okay.

After the last kid left I really talked to "D" and found out that his dad never graduated from HS. That he doesn't see himself graduating and doesn't really care, but offered that he might care later in life. "D" wasn't getting it so I grabbed a handful of pennies and tried to explain how writing on someone's head cost him a few pennies in my good graces, but at the time he didn't have any credit because I had already taken all of his pennies earlier when he was asked to step out in the hall for disrupting class.

I told him that I wasn't mad at him (even though I was mad at him on some level) and after I was reasonably sure he understood what I expected of him (about 10 minutes later) I let him go.

Tomorrow's another day.

I hope "D" makes it to school.

I hope he pulls a "D" average this year because he won't come back if he fails.

Friday, November the End

Today my students presented projects on a class novel we finished recently. It went—well, "well." This semester has been odd for a number of reasons and while I'm pleased with a majority of my students, today was a perfect example of how a small number of students can suck the life out of the most fun lesson plan.

I teach on a block schedule and should be able to cover significant material during each class period. (Backing up a hair, Language Arts classes are taught on block schedule—the rest of the classes students take each day are 45 minutes long. So, I have half the 8th graders everyday for 90 minutes.) So, I should be able to read aloud with my students and finish a novel in a week or two, right? Wrong.

I honestly believe that a vast majority of my students enjoyed the novel. I saw students reading ahead on numerous occasions. But there were just enough party poopers that we spend a good month reading and discussing this book. The discussions were like pulling teeth from an unwilling patient, and I gave up on calling on kids to read because it was somehow uncool to be seen reading and having fun doing it.

Thank god for the students who either don't care or more likely don't have a clue that they are being "looked at" by the cool kids when they read and read with emotion.

I have had several successes with students during the past month—students who don't own a single book, students who are proud of bein' dumb-jocks, students who when told that real men have brains and brawn step up and really perform. The frustrating thing is that these successes are too few and too short lived to make a dent in the overall behavior of the rest of the 8th grade lemmings.

8th graders are wonderfully refreshing in that they are sooo moldable, but for the first time since my first year of teaching I feel like this is a curse. Usually I am able to shape the personality of my classroom. I can lead academically disinterested students towards self-motivated learning, but this group is killing me because they are bending to the will of a few knuckle-heads that hate school.


Anyway, the really cool final projects were performance based. Small groups were given 4 options ranging from readers' theatre to talk shows, and they fiddled around and stalled and produced a bunch of 60 second crappy presentations that didn't show that they were intelligent human beings at all. What a downer Friday. I am looking forward to a fresh start on Monday.

You know it was a rough week when you are looking forward to Monday.

This is the virgin run

I am a new blogger. Have patience.

I teach MS Language Arts in Kansas, and was recently turned on to a blog called Ms. M's Apples. Funny stuff—honest, inciteful, grand stuff.

I was inspired to try it myself. So, here it goes. Wish me luck.