Fifteen Years

I’m frozen stiff and so is the ink in my pen. It snowed yesterday. I, and everyone else, was hoping that school would open late today because of the snow but it didn’t happen. Somehow, I survived the day. I actually feel pretty good considering it’s a Monday and I’ve spent the whole day with students. Friday is a teacher workday – when we submit the grades for 2nd quarter. That means I only have the little rascals for three more days this week. I can survive.
One of my students brought in her older sibling's yearbooks from fifteen years ago. I flipped through the faculty section. There were only a few familiar faces. I can’t imagine being in this school for that long. One of the few things that makes it manageable is the fact that it is only temporary. It was a sobering look at the past and the future.

Hall Monitors on the Street

They’re posting hall monitors on the street now. There have been a lot of nieghborhood complaints about our students on the way to and from school so I guess we have to monitor that now too. I passed a hall monitor with a radio while on my way to the train station. I crossed under the tracks and into a crowd of students who were avoiding the monitor. I don’t know what they were plotting but when they saw me they scattered like cockroaches from light.
The behavior seems to be getting worse at school. It seems like the disruptions are constant now. As soon as you get one student focused, two more are working on getting everyone else unfocused. Grades come out soon and they won’t be good. Maybe the new quarter will help.
It’s class again tonight. This is the professor that I don’t like. I have to try to smooth things out tonight. Last night’s class was a little better. It went to the bitter end, though. We used every second of class time and didn’t get out until 9:15. By that point, I really didn’t care at all about the Social Foundation of American Education. Come to think of it, I never did.

Social Foundation of American Education

Tonight is the first night of my Tuesday class, Social Foundations of American Education. I’m riding the train to class which should get out around 9 pm. It’s tough. I’m tired from work and then I have class. This is my last semester. I should be completely done around the first week of April.
I’m giving my last test of the second quarter today and tomorrow. The quarter is winding down. We’re almost halfway through the school year. It’s hard to believe. One thing about taking night classes is that it makes time pass quickly. The next couple of months will fly by. By the time I’m done with my night classes, the school year will be mostly over.
LJ got in a fight before school started today. I guess he’ll be suspended for a while. More importantly, I hear he was beaten pretty badly. Maybe he’ll learn something from this. Nothing else seems to be working and he’s been asking for it for a long time. It was Allison’s brother that beat him up. I didn’t realize that Allison had a brother in 7th grade but apparently she does. That’s a scary thought.

Another Gun Off the Streets

The school police officer came by to thank me for the info. The police got the gun from Malcolm’s mother. It is a rifle-type pellet gun. Apparently, the six-year-old still has the pellet in his neck because the doctors are scared of trying to cut it out. The officer isn’t sure if Malcolm will be charged or not.

Dr. King Would Be Proud; Monday, January 17 – Friday, January 21

It’s been a week. Monday was the Martin Luther King holiday. Tuesday morning the kids were fighting before the opening bell. Dr. King would be proud.
My evening classes started on Wednesday. I don’t get along with my professor at all. I was sitting in class biting my tongue. She kept saying all these negative things about teachers that made me upset. I kept telling myself to take it easy, "This is my last semester. I just need a 'C'." Finally, I burst. I pointed out the flaws in her argument and how she was contradicting herself. I made her look bad in front of the class and that can’t be good. I’m going to have to stop paying attention in there.
Thursday was Inaugural Day. It was supposed to be a half-day/teacher workday but it snowed out.
Today, Malcolm wanted to use the phone. I wouldn’t let him. We’re getting stricter after a bomb scare on Wednesday (that’s a whole other story). Malcolm asked to speak to he alone in the hall. He handed me a business card from the local police department. He told me that they had pulled him out of class and that they were looking for something that was in his house and had been involved in a malicious wounding. He said that he had to call his mother to get it out of the house. I told him "no". After class, I called the detective on the business card. I got the answering machine so I left a message. I still wasn’t satisfied so I went to talk to our school police officer. She verified that the police had removed Malcolm from class to talk to him. I told her what he told me and asked if it made any sense. It turns out that the police are looking for a BB gun. Someone shot a 6-year-old kid.

As Bad As They Have Ever Been

I came dragging into school late today. I was still recovering from last night. The morning was full of science fair forms. We have to have all the paperwork for the city fair by Wednesday. Of course, we didn’t know who would need the paperwork until last night.
Most of the day went by fine. My second block class, however, was as bad as they’ve ever been. They wouldn’t stop talking. They wouldn’t stop singing. They wouldn’t stop insulting each other. I sent a lot of them out. I sent Rodney to the office. It continued. I was incredibly frustrated and angry with them. Rodney came waltzing back into the room in the last minute of class. I yelled at him and kicked him back out. How can you send a student back to class after I am frustrated enough to send him out?
My after school soccer team played today. We won, beating the only team that’s beaten us. This was their first loss and they were bad sports about it.

Science Fair is Over

The Science Fair is over. I am exhausted but not as exhausted as I’ll be when I’m teaching tomorrow. I finally left the school around 8 p.m. Science fair was OK. Some of my students did well. A lot of my former students also did well. A few of my students qualified for the city fair but didn’t show up tonight. I had to gather all their boards for them.
I actually nodded off in class today. I knew that I was running out of energy for teaching so I put a video in. I sat down to watch with the class and almost fell asleep. I had to force myself up to stay awake.
During reading time Rodney insisted that he needed to go to the library. He claimed that he took his book back without reading it because someone had written in it. Then, he claimed that his Spanish teacher sent him to the library. The story sounded suspicious so I started questioning him. After several minutes, he admitted that he was lying and claimed to have left his book at home. I refused to send him to the library. Finally, he went and got his book off the shelf and started reading. Why does it take so much work to get him to do what he’s supposed to do?

Science Fair, Tuesday, January 11- Wednesday, January 12

This is science fair week. I had to stay late yesterday to help with the judging. I was supposed to stay late on Monday too but it slipped my mind. Apparently, I wasn’t the only one who forgot because several of us received nasty emails from the science department chair. Tomorrow night is the public viewing and awards ceremony. I probably won’t get home until nine or later. I hate this time of the year.
As part of my work with Rodney, I was asked to keep track of how many times I have to talk to him in a single period. I’m keeping a little tally sheet. It’s amazing how many times he gets in trouble every day. I hadn’t even realized. It’s pretty much constant. Today, he was yelling across the room, couldn’t stop talking about Thomas’ shoes (I finally put him out for that), was playing paper football on at least three different occasions, talked during the quiz, etc.

What Do You Mean I Have Bad Attitude?

I finally made it to a doctor and got some antibiotics over the weekend. I also got this really great cough syrup. I took a teaspoon before bed and I haven’t slept like that in a long time. But when it was morning, the alarm was sounding in a very far off place and my legs and arms didn’t want to move. I skipped the cough syrup for the day—it’s not supposed to be used when driving so I figured it’s not safe for school use either. I have to be fully alert.
Cardoza finally came back from a long suspension for fighting. I gave her a copy of her interim grade report with all of her teachers’ comments on it. I had completely forgotten what comment I put down for her. Suddenly, she was up in my face with plenty of attitude. “Mr. Moore, what’s this about having bad attitude? What do you mean I have bad attitude?” If the situation weren’t so real it would have been comical.

The First Week Back is Always the Longest

The first week back in school is always the longest. It seems like it will never end. Two of our juvenile delinquents got in a fight today, or so it seemed. I saw a big group of students crowding around in the hallway. That usually means a fight. I rushed down and saw an administrator holding Deon, who was flailing around wildly. Whatever had happened, it was now over. Deon got hauled off in one direction, Malcolm in the other. Class would be easier without Deon. I wouldn’t really miss him. I might miss Malcolm but class would be easier without him, too. Then, Deon came to class. It turns out that they weren’t really fighting after all. Deon was getting ready to fight some girl and Malcolm pushed him off her. They didn’t get suspended, but maybe a couple of days of In-School Suspension.
I’m looking forward to this weekend. I’m still nursing a cold. I haven’t been getting enough rest to shake it and I have to use my voice with the kids. Hopefully, I can get some rest. Every weekend I think I'm going to rest but I never do.

Never Heard the Word "No"

LJ has a five-day suspension. I guess he did something when he was skipping class yesterday. The principal was saying that he is a really spoiled kid and that he always gets what he wants. I think part of the problem is that he has never heard the word, “No.”
We followed up on the Malcolm story today. It turns out that his cousin was not killed yesterday. He just invented that as an excuse to get out of trouble. I have to admit that I had my suspicions but I didn’t think Malcolm would slip that low.

What is This World Coming To?

I’m still sick, maybe sicker. We had a team meeting this morning. The principal was there and he shared some news on some of our students. LJ finally went to court for stealing a bicycle. He got twenty-five hours of community service. He’s been asking loudly and proudly if he can do the service at school. Meanwhile, he was five minutes late to class today. I sent him to the office for a pass and never saw him again.
Our other little student who is in trouble is Deon. He was arrested for robbery over the winter break. A former student of our school pulled a knife on someone and stole his jacket. Deon was there, wearing a ski mask. Since he wasn’t the one with the knife he got off easy but he has a probation officer now. I guess Deon had a good scare. His older brother is locked up somewhere so he knows the routine.
Malcolm skipped math class this morning. He said his cousin was killed in Maryland. What is this world coming to?

Back in the Routine

It didn’t take long to get back into the routine. I had another long meeting about Rodney this morning. I’m getting tired of talking about him. By the time class started I was exhausted. Then, I had to deal with him in class.
I’m getting sick. I had to do a lot of talking in class today, too. I’m going to have to change my lesson plans around because I’m losing my voice. At least, the next semester of night school hasn’t started up yet. I’m not sure when it does start. I should probably check on that.
There was some big drama going on between some of the girls today. I had them in class and they were fine. After lunch there was almost a fight. The principal came around later and started taking people out of class. I guess they were trying to sort things out. Shauna was in the middle of things once again. It’d be nice if she got suspended again.

Teaching is an Addictive Cycle

It's a new year and a fresh start. I didn’t really want to be back but it wasn’t a bad day. A lot of the kids were out today. I guess they’re still recovering. It mad it a lot easier to teach the ones who were here.
Teaching is an addictive cycle. If it were all based on the middle of the third quarter then every teacher would quit. But it isn’t. You have summertime and winter break. Then you think, "Teaching isn’t so bad," and before you know it you’re back in the school year wondering, “Why am I doing this again?”
It was a little weird being back today. I was disoriented. I couldn’t remember which classes I had—-I even forgot a couple of students’ names. It’s like being in a different world. When I’m on break I don’t think about school at all. I think it’s a survival method. The kids don’t think about school when they’re on break either. In fact, they seem to unlearn everything they’re been taught the whole year. It took three and a half months for them to learn it and only a week and a half to forget it. Some of them just run wild all the way through the break. It’s going to be tough for them to get used to discipline and consequences again.