Pi Day

It was pi day today. Get it? 3/14, pi=3.14 Our math teacher celebrated with pie eating contests in her class. It’s a fun idea but the students were getting crazy. They showed up for class on a major sugar high. Rodney, in particular, was obnoxious (more so than usual). My mood didn’t improve when the counselor told me that his mother wants a conference with me. His behavior has improved in class (thanks to all the extra time and energy) but he’s still failing.
Most of the kids have been improving. The expulsions have removed a lot of our least cooperative students and the others have improved without having the chronic troublemakers around. Deon has been moved to the alternative program. I ran into the alternative teacher and she said he’s doing great. Yeah, I think he’d be doing great in my class too if I only had three students. I’m happy for him, though. We’ve been trying since first quarter to get him in alternative. Why does it take so long? We’ve wasted so much effort on this kid.
I’m taking tomorrow off. I have to write a couple of papers for class. I’m starting to get behind now and I really don’t care. I find myself sitting at the computer and just staring at the screen. It’s my last semester. . .

Why Do I Have to Deal With This Stuff?

Three of my students were in In-School-Suspension today. Rodney was one of them. Class was much more pleasant today than usual. Of course, it also helped that I was giving a test.
It’s interim grade time again. It kind of crept up on me. I’ve been spending so much time on class that I haven’t had much time to think. This weekend was over before it had even started.
Some kid snatched Allison’s money out of her hand in the hallway today. Then, he ran shrieking down the hall with the money held above his head. Allison chased him down the hall until he ran into the boy’s bathroom. She then stood outside and yelled threats into the bathroom. I went to talk to the guy and he refused repeatedly to hand the money over. He’s not one of my students so he thinks that he doesn’t have to listen to me. He’s one of those guys, though, that is in trouble so often that everyone knows who he is. I eventually got the money back and sent him to the office. Why do I have to deal with stuff like this?

Reading Assembly

We had an assembly today. It was Arome’s first day back from her knife suspension. Deon was back from his cussing out the sub suspension. Briana was back from spending a couple of weeks in El Salvador. The assembly was pretty poor. It was supposed to be a Reader’s Theater for Read Across America but they chose the remedial reading students to do the reading. No one could understand what they were saying. Of course, all the students in the audience were going crazy. Before the assembly even started, Deon got into some sort of screaming altercation with one of the paraprofessionals. He had been in the auditorium for less than a minute. I think it actually the paraprofessional's fault.
After the assembly, I got my class back in the room and locked the door. It was a good thing that I locked the door. One of the eighth grade girls (former student of mine) came down and tried to start a fight with one of my current students. She stood outside my door, yelling into the room and refusing to go away. All this because someone rolled their eyes at her. The principal had to take her away.

Laughing at a Funeral

Today we went on a field trip to the Holocaust Museum. Most of the kids were well behaved but those who weren’t . . . Allison and one of her friends were singing in the museum. Arome, Tasha, and Kesha decided that this would be a good place to pick up guys. Mr. Burns caught them getting some guy’s telephone number. When we got back to school, we talked about the museum. Arome said that it didn’t really have much of an impact on her because she didn’t know any of the people in the Holocaust. Tasha was mad that people told her to be quiet when she and her friends were laughing. I asked her how she would feel if someone who was close to her died. Then, I asked her how she would feel if someone was laughing at the funeral.
"Ooooh, I would steal him in the face, Mr. Moore," she said.
"Well?" I thought. These kids have no idea how inappropriate they are.

Education Classes, What a Waste

March! It snowed yesterday and school was cancelled. We opened two hours late today. I was happy for the break. I needed it. Unfortunately, I spent most of my time writing a paper for class tonight. This is my last semester of education classes for my teacher license. I am in a complete senior slump. I just don’t care anymore as long as I get it done. I only have five or six more weeks! Looking back on it, these classes have been a real waste of time and energy. It’s time and energy that might have been better utilized for teaching. What a waste.
Well, as might be expected, many of the students weren’t ready for school to start back up today. A lot of them didn’t bother to come. Those that were here have forgotten everything about how to behave in school. It really is disappointing. They’re almost as ready as I am for the year to be over.