Play the hand you are dealt

During 2012-2013 I taught a challenging student - and I use the word "taught" even though I mean that he was in my classroom. I am not bothering to reference all of the times I talked about Curtis and am not going back and reading what I wrote. His behavior was horrible.

I couldn't get any administrative backup so I had no power. I had to have him removed during almost every test I gave - which was the only backup the administration gave me.

I would write him up - and nothing ever happened.

I met a friend for lunch yesterday and we got to talking about Curtis. She said that she had put him out in the hall virtually every day because of his behavior. I know I saw him in the hall from other people's classes this past year.

He is old enough to drive and incapable of behaving in a way that allows you to teach other people while he is in the room. (and, no, there is no IEP and there is no reason for this deficiency except willfulness on his part)

And so this got me to thinking. I kept him in the room, tried to teach around him, wrote him up and got nothing - and was the least effective in his classroom as I have ever been because of his acting out.

Other teachers put him in the hall (and we are told not to do this) and taught the rest of the class. And were more effective with those students.

I believe that you play the hand you are dealt and try to do right by all of your students. In this case, I should have sacrificed Curtis for the rest of the class.

And I did try to involve his mother. She would not respond to phone calls or emails because I was the only one complaining. Right.

What the kids are up to this summer

My students are getting arrested.

Since school let out, a dozen of my former students have been arrested. Shoplifting, drugs, sexual assault, stupid stuff. Three females, 3 white - most black males.

Could the economy have anything to do with it?

With no jobs and the lack of good sense to be nice to authority figures (more in a tad), getting arrested is inevitable. (I keep telling my students they don't have to like authority figures - teachers, admins, and cops - but they do need to learn to be polite out of self defense. Is that racist? Or practical?) Three quarters of those arrested were black, most of those male. At a point that (any given year) less than 20% of my classes are made of black males.

I have lost any respect for one - I have written about Curtis before. This time he apparently has started (or continued) shoplifting and took a friend along. They got caught. (No real surprise - the friend is a looker with an attitude. She is not who you would want on a crime with you unless she was to be the distracter.) Curtis was out almost immediately - posting all of this on his FB. She has an absent mother and lives with her grandmother, who apparently is not posting bail.

Since he is posting all of this on his FB - don't you think there would be a little remorse on Curtis' page? Nope. Business as usual, whining about nobody calling him and how he is going to be a BMOC this fall(if he doesn't cost himself his scholarships with his idiocy).

I hope somewhere in here he grows up - but it isn't likely.

Curtis

Two years ago I wrote about Curtis. He was a boy who for a short period period of time would appear to be charming but made it almost impossible to teach the rest of the class. I never heard of anyone who wanted him in their class (students or teachers). He was written up a lot just to get him out of the classroom.

He didn't pass enough classes that year to progress to his sophomore year so he was still a freshman this past year. One of the courses he didn't pass was math and he failed freshman math again last year.

I am not sure he will be a sophomore in the fall, because he continues to behave in the same way in class.

Most kids who act up in class are either looking for the approval of the teacher or (more likely) their fellow students. Curtis is just looking for attention - good, bad, doesn't matter. Just attention.

He hung out in that group outside my class this past year and I overheard him ask another kid, do you think 17 is too young to be a father? (Note, I have never ever seen him with a girl beyond annoying one) I listened harder. Apparently he feels that you are a better parent when you are a young parent, so he wants to have his children before he is 20.

The friend was laughing and telling him he will need a job.

He will need to graduate and the only way he will be able to do that is to knuckle down and do the work. At this point, if he applies himself (since he is capable), he could graduate in 3 years. He has the ability to LEARN the material so he could pass the graduation tests.

But I cannot see him planning anything academic that well or long.

To write up or not to write up - that is the question

Spring break is still weeks away - and the kids have gone loony tunes. They are stealing from each other left and right. I wrote about my binder (which has now become the most wonderful binder ever, in my eyes, but that is neither here nor there). This week they have stolen a phone, an ipod, and someone's fundraiser - just because.

But my larger delimma is their behavior. Big Boy2 is still crowding the girls and grabbing their arms. Curtis is still talking all of the time or not showing up. Angry Girl is still waltzing in late and wanting me to verify that she was late - as opposed to her bringing a note. Soljah Boy still interrupts my last class.

Angry Girl really topped it this week. I gave them their last test to fix.
AG: Why are you always doing this?
me (puzzled): Allowing you to recover?
AG: Giving us work to do. Why don't you do this when it's convenient for us?
me: You're in my class. It's convenient for you.
AG: Why are you being sarcastic?
me: So don't do it. (to the class) Do you want to recover or leave the grade the way it is? (chorus: recover)

Soljah Boy leaves his gear in my room and picks it up the end of the last class. I have told him he will lose that privilege if he disrupts my class. So Friday, he picks up his gear and grabs a girl's notebook on his way out the door. She chases him - I chewed him out. If I write him up, because of HIS prior behavior, it'll be several days out of school. I am torn.

Chirper in one class HAS to blurt out things (Move your ugly butt! Why are you talking?) Generally this is when I am teaching and it is directed at another young man, but it is terribly distracting and he won't stop.

Curtis - wants the rewards and just can't bring himself to stay put or follow the rules. Have to love it.

Tom Thumb accused me of not teaching the material. He said I just tested them on material and people were failing my class and passing what was supposed to be a harder class. I pointed out that my class average pretty much tied to the other class (because I had calculated it 2 weeks before. And that the material he didn't test well on I had taught 3 different ways (lecture, hands on, and group) , tested (where they couldn't reproduce it), retaught by lecture, group, and graphing. And that was why they were reworking the test with a graphing calculator to help them with the material. My option had been to give the test again.

The day before - he'd been talking instead of doing the work. Yep, I can see how I am not teaching him.

How do I get them to accept the responsibility? When they do - they soar. When they wait for handouts, they drown. Daily Grind talks about teaching to where they are, forget the past. I still need to see the kids acknowledge that I can be a brilliant teacher - and I don't think I am - but they won't retain it without work on their part.