Most people mark the beginning of Fall with the start of school. Where I work school begins in the middle of August, so that has stopped being the door to life's greatest season. But about a week ago I noticed that each I needed to change the temperature gage in my car from as way cold as possible to cool. Now it is on warm. Fall is here! (Que music) "It's the most wonderful time of the year". "Shorts worn with swearters, and fresh crispy apples, cider, hot chocolate and fun pumpkin patches, bright colored tree leaves in which a bird sings, these are a few of my favorite things".
And I think this weekend I will have to do my ceremonial "putting away of the Birkenstalks". Yes, they are to be boxed away until next May. Huge Sigh!
I mentioned school earlier, and I just have to share an extreme example of teenage melodrama. Hopefully you parents will sigh with relief knowing that your kids really are pretty well adjusted.
We got a new student this year who can be incredibly charming, but is also a bit of a hothead. The reason he did not come to our school last year is that his ex-girlfriend was our student, and her family took out a restraining order against him. Well, on Friday the ex-girlfriend came by our and when she walked by my window I practically had to sit on him to stop him from yelling obscenities out the window. Then one girl in another class, who swears that she is tired of "all the drama" yet can't seem to keep her cute little nose out of any of it, texts my student's current girlfriend (who at one point last year got pissed and beat up a car) who promptly calls my student on cell phones, which are supposed to be turned off, and yell at him for being near "that hussy". My student goes ballistic, leaves class and just Tiggers right over the fence! At this point we call the cops, his parole officer and both sets of parents to let them know what is going on. My student ends up spending the weekend in the pokey. I have this image of my student and his girlfriend being a hot blooded couple hitting each other over the head with frying pans one minute and passionately making out the next. It makes for great TV stories, but terrible family life.
On a lighter note, I hope everyone enjoyed National Talk Like A Pirate Day, matie.
Joie de Vivre ~ A Hearty Joy of Living!
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Showing posts with label school. Show all posts
Wednesday, September 19, 2007
Sunday, December 17, 2006
It comes and goes
Many days I drive away from school, where I teach at risk teenagers, I sure that I am not getting through to the students and pretty sure that I am going to hand the reigns over to someone else next year. This week I had a couple of days that allowed me to doubt my ineffectiveness.
On Wednesday at the end of school, we had a meeting with Student B and his mom. Perfect Teacher was concerned because B's behavior had deteriorated over all since last year. I wanted to go because I wanted his mother to know that while he was a major pain in the behind, since we had changed his classes, he had greatly improved. Even earlier that day B came into class surly and definitely not in the mood to work. He sat quietly in to back and I gave him the day's handout and told him that as long as he was not disruptive I would let him be. He was fine with that, where as a few months ago he would have blown up and told me in no uncertain terms to get out of his face.
At the meeting, even before I had the change to tell his mother the positive changes, B said "Ms. H is my hommie. She just lets me be when I am up set." Unsolicited he called me his hommie! That has NEVER happened before with any student. The rest of the meeting was heart breaking. B's mother cried as she confessed that B has been acting disrespectfully at home and that B's parents do not know what to do with him. At one point B struggled to keep his composure stating, "You make me out to be America's Most Wanted!" We ended the meeting with B agreeing to meet once a week with the school counselor. I have a lot of hope for this kid. First of all he has parents who, though frustrated, care enough to come to school and talk, really talk. There are many parents we have begged to come meet with us, and we have never seen them. Secondly B's near tears shows that his heart hasn't hardened yet. So there is hope for B.
There was another thing that made Wednesday a good day. During the last period of the day Student J asked me a question. "Hey Ms H., how many kids did you have to send out today?" I actually had to take a moment and think about it for a minute before I told J that for the first time that year I did not have to send anyone out of class or give any detentions! Unfortunately Thursday more than made up for it, I reveled in the fact that Wednesday was a good day. Friday was pretty good, too. It was the end of the week, and nearing the end of the grading period, so I was creatively dry and had the kids work on vocabulary puzzles. But they had fun and were using the words, so who is anyone to judge.
Joie de Vivre ~ A Hearty Joy of Living!
On Wednesday at the end of school, we had a meeting with Student B and his mom. Perfect Teacher was concerned because B's behavior had deteriorated over all since last year. I wanted to go because I wanted his mother to know that while he was a major pain in the behind, since we had changed his classes, he had greatly improved. Even earlier that day B came into class surly and definitely not in the mood to work. He sat quietly in to back and I gave him the day's handout and told him that as long as he was not disruptive I would let him be. He was fine with that, where as a few months ago he would have blown up and told me in no uncertain terms to get out of his face.
At the meeting, even before I had the change to tell his mother the positive changes, B said "Ms. H is my hommie. She just lets me be when I am up set." Unsolicited he called me his hommie! That has NEVER happened before with any student. The rest of the meeting was heart breaking. B's mother cried as she confessed that B has been acting disrespectfully at home and that B's parents do not know what to do with him. At one point B struggled to keep his composure stating, "You make me out to be America's Most Wanted!" We ended the meeting with B agreeing to meet once a week with the school counselor. I have a lot of hope for this kid. First of all he has parents who, though frustrated, care enough to come to school and talk, really talk. There are many parents we have begged to come meet with us, and we have never seen them. Secondly B's near tears shows that his heart hasn't hardened yet. So there is hope for B.
There was another thing that made Wednesday a good day. During the last period of the day Student J asked me a question. "Hey Ms H., how many kids did you have to send out today?" I actually had to take a moment and think about it for a minute before I told J that for the first time that year I did not have to send anyone out of class or give any detentions! Unfortunately Thursday more than made up for it, I reveled in the fact that Wednesday was a good day. Friday was pretty good, too. It was the end of the week, and nearing the end of the grading period, so I was creatively dry and had the kids work on vocabulary puzzles. But they had fun and were using the words, so who is anyone to judge.
Joie de Vivre ~ A Hearty Joy of Living!
Friday, October 20, 2006
The Smells of Today
What a day today. It started out with me loosing my cool during second period because for the second day in a row people let off stink bombs! Second day in a row! This time we did not go outside to work. I made them stay inside and work - if you could call what we actually accomplished that day work. It is a small school (48 kids total) so I know the students will find out who did it. In fact I am sure that the culprit is sitting at the lake bragging about how he - trust me, it was a he - was able to make me blow my top. I just hope that the students stuck in the stink will use peer pressure to get them to knock it off!
But the day ended with our first graduation of the year. Five young men have completed all their requirements to earn a high school diploma or completion certificate (this is for kids who meet all requirements except for passing the high school exit exam). Each student has a staff member give a speech about him. One student made sure that in his speech he said that he was sorry for giving a particular teacher a hard time. That particular teacher was - you guessed it - me. A dozen students looked over at me gave me a smile and head nod.
I know this speech should make everything all right. It should. Actually it did help because I could tell that he was sincere. But it doesn't quite. I had to put up a lot of crap from him, and from others who decided to follow his example. Why couldn't he have figured this out weeks or months before he left?
Well, we will see how things air out on Monday.
Is it bad that I know how many days of classes there are until Winter break?
Joie de Vivre ~ A Hearty Joy of Living!
But the day ended with our first graduation of the year. Five young men have completed all their requirements to earn a high school diploma or completion certificate (this is for kids who meet all requirements except for passing the high school exit exam). Each student has a staff member give a speech about him. One student made sure that in his speech he said that he was sorry for giving a particular teacher a hard time. That particular teacher was - you guessed it - me. A dozen students looked over at me gave me a smile and head nod.
I know this speech should make everything all right. It should. Actually it did help because I could tell that he was sincere. But it doesn't quite. I had to put up a lot of crap from him, and from others who decided to follow his example. Why couldn't he have figured this out weeks or months before he left?
Well, we will see how things air out on Monday.
Is it bad that I know how many days of classes there are until Winter break?
Joie de Vivre ~ A Hearty Joy of Living!
Wednesday, October 11, 2006
Funny things said to me today
I am trying to remember that just because one class gave me some gray hairs, or another student threw a banana across the room and broke a window, it was not a totally bad day. In fact I think some of the strangest things happened or were said. Some are strange ha ha, some are just odd.
Student E, whose early use of drugs has put a serious hamper on his brain ability, joined a new class, and I knew it would be hard to catch him up with the novel we'd been reading all month. Another student gave a quick summary of what we've read so far, and I had them continue reading and answer the comprehension questions. E started his usual vacillating between talking to his friends about the party he went to last night and screaming over and over that he doesn't get what to do. So of course I snapped, "If you'd been paying attention then you'd know what has happened so far." He then rattled off the entire summary word for word. Egg on my face.
Student R, who was a major pain in the you-know-where last year, said something so amazingly mature. "I wish I had an older brother to set me straight. In elementary school I screwed around but figured I'd get my act together in middle school. I didn't and figured I could change at the high school. And then I screwed around in high school and ended up here. I am keeping my baby bro on the right path. He's getting straight A's and shit." My little man is showing signs of growing up.
Then today right out of the blue in the middle of grammar, student J asked, "Do raccoons run in packs?" After my confused admission that I have no idea, he continued, "I hooked one with a fishing pole and sardines when I was fishing at my friend's place."
You just never know what you will find out in school.
Joie de Vivre ~ A Hearty Joy of Living!
Student E, whose early use of drugs has put a serious hamper on his brain ability, joined a new class, and I knew it would be hard to catch him up with the novel we'd been reading all month. Another student gave a quick summary of what we've read so far, and I had them continue reading and answer the comprehension questions. E started his usual vacillating between talking to his friends about the party he went to last night and screaming over and over that he doesn't get what to do. So of course I snapped, "If you'd been paying attention then you'd know what has happened so far." He then rattled off the entire summary word for word. Egg on my face.
Student R, who was a major pain in the you-know-where last year, said something so amazingly mature. "I wish I had an older brother to set me straight. In elementary school I screwed around but figured I'd get my act together in middle school. I didn't and figured I could change at the high school. And then I screwed around in high school and ended up here. I am keeping my baby bro on the right path. He's getting straight A's and shit." My little man is showing signs of growing up.
Then today right out of the blue in the middle of grammar, student J asked, "Do raccoons run in packs?" After my confused admission that I have no idea, he continued, "I hooked one with a fishing pole and sardines when I was fishing at my friend's place."
You just never know what you will find out in school.
Joie de Vivre ~ A Hearty Joy of Living!
Tuesday, October 03, 2006
A Fresh New Day
The red is fading a bit.
A weekend of old friends and videos helped. Getting together with college friends I haven't seen in years was refreshing. Although I did something I thought I never would. Amos asked about my trip to Japan, saying I probably had a lot of stories. And I did. But instead of launching into my escapades with high tech toilets, I told them to check out my blog's post. Can you believe it? I passed on real life entertainment.
Today I had a heart to heart with one of my students. The vice principal made him do it because of some, shall we say unflattering, pictures he drew of me. The conversation started out they way any other forced apology goes, "Sorry I did it, I know it wasn't nice, blah blah blah." After getting over the wave of emotion, I started to talk to him about his real problem about not do anything to earn his credits so he can graduate some time this year. His eyes glazed over with the heard-that-speech-before-so-I'll-tune-out-till-she-stops-talking look. I grasped at something to say before I lost him, and I mentioned that he was too good to be "stuck" here at school. I think that saying he was worthwhile struck a chord somewhere because his eyes misted up and he suddenly got interested what was going on out the window. And later that day he worked more than he has in an entire month. We'll see how tomorrow.
If you are interested, Lucky Number Sleven is a wonderfully quirky black action comedy, and the Inside Man is not to bad when want an intriguing bank robbery movie.
Joie de Vivre ~ A Hearty Joy of Living!
A weekend of old friends and videos helped. Getting together with college friends I haven't seen in years was refreshing. Although I did something I thought I never would. Amos asked about my trip to Japan, saying I probably had a lot of stories. And I did. But instead of launching into my escapades with high tech toilets, I told them to check out my blog's post. Can you believe it? I passed on real life entertainment.
Today I had a heart to heart with one of my students. The vice principal made him do it because of some, shall we say unflattering, pictures he drew of me. The conversation started out they way any other forced apology goes, "Sorry I did it, I know it wasn't nice, blah blah blah." After getting over the wave of emotion, I started to talk to him about his real problem about not do anything to earn his credits so he can graduate some time this year. His eyes glazed over with the heard-that-speech-before-so-I'll-tune-out-till-she-stops-talking look. I grasped at something to say before I lost him, and I mentioned that he was too good to be "stuck" here at school. I think that saying he was worthwhile struck a chord somewhere because his eyes misted up and he suddenly got interested what was going on out the window. And later that day he worked more than he has in an entire month. We'll see how tomorrow.
If you are interested, Lucky Number Sleven is a wonderfully quirky black action comedy, and the Inside Man is not to bad when want an intriguing bank robbery movie.
Joie de Vivre ~ A Hearty Joy of Living!
Sunday, September 24, 2006
Do I Have a Life?
Wonderful, supportive teacher that I am, I am spending my precious Saturday morning not listening to my favorite NPR shows and eating waffles, but I am watching a few of my boys play soccer. They will either think I am interested in them as people, or that I have no life.
It is totally God's fault that I am here. Now my students didn't know, as of Friday morning at school, when the game would start. My Sweet is not feeling well, so he is grouch and I had to get out of the house for a while. I ran a few errands, and yes garage saling is a necessary errand - I just got a nearly new dehydrator for $3. I pull to the field just as the boys were warming up. Total God's timing, but someone had better score some points.
Sitting on the nearly empty sideline is the aunt of a former student. He had been with us for only a couple of months, transferred to adult school and is now planning to transfer to Berkley. Sometimes we are an elevator lifting students a great chunk to their goal, and sometimes we are a toehold to the next step.
Why do we Americans love football when the rest of the world is passionate about soccer? Why do we play soccer only until we are old enough to graduate to football? I do not know, and to be honest I don’t really care why. There is a limit to how much energy a country can pour into sports, and we have chosen our four: football, basketball, baseball and reality TV competitions.
There are a few things I like about soccer, like it being a high-energy game. But what I like best is that a 90-minute game is just that - 90 minutes. No 15 minute quarters that last three fourth of an hour!
What I laugh about soccer is the injury drama. You see them trip over a blade of grass and they go down as if a pit-bull had taken out their Achilles tendon. American football players have been know to hack off a broken toe in order to keep playing. No whining on their part!
Well, I see that one of my students has scored a goal thanks to the set up of another student. I hope I scored as well.
Joie de Vivre ~ A Hearty Joy of Living!
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