Ending the week

Man, what a week. Three days this week, the second floor was mostly out of control, with kids running around, loitering, fighting and knocking on doors. My classroom tended to be quiet most of that time, but it's distracting and rather annoying. One of the other days, I had a student blow up and trash my room, followed by another student flipping my desk over again two periods later. My aide almost had to get off the phone and restrain him, but luckily he calmed down after doing nothing more than destroying some of the other student's work, scatering the papers on my desk everywhere, wrecking some posters, tearing off some of the information I need posted (fire plan, accomodations and modifications for students, etc), and threatening and shoving me. Good thing I don't have any injury I need to protect to avoid half a year off recovering from surgery, or the aide might have needed to cut off the call. Unsurprisingly, I was lectured on not insulting rampaging students. He has so far avoided punishment. Par for the course.

Friday, many of the students were gone on a trip. I had smaller classes and worked one on one with some students. Mostly, we focused on getting missing assignments completed. A lot of the students were in a good mood, so I could spend time joking around with them. I spent some time chasing a guy around who was sticking post it notes on people, trying to stick a note on him. Had a game of what I'll call slap tag until a real name emerges (run up and slap a guy on the back of his neck. Point and laugh). When a studnet complained he was kicked, an aide and I took turns kicking him, trying to determine how and where he was kicked (these are playful kicks, not the hard type). there was also a lot of joke telling and goofiness on their part. I sincerely hope that the guy who was singing his new R&B song about his desire to tear the clothes off his English teacher and lose himself in the teacher's beard forgets to sing it to me again on Monday. It was a mixture of hilarious and creepy.

Sadly, this week marked the return of the forgotten personality of one of my students. he was a flat out asshole most of the time, constantly instigating trouble with other students and trying to provoke me. he then improved and became fine for the last few months, but has gone back to his old ways. From talking to other teachers, apparently he had only improved in my class. I plan on just banning him until his parents at least call me back, or I am forced by someone to allow him back in the classroom. A therapeutic school shouldn't have students habitually provoking other students.

I wonder why I always type "studnets" instead of "students."

Even sadder, the grandmother of one of my studnets passed away, and he seems devastated. he was also really unpleasant earlier in the year, and has since become one of my favorites. He's not my best studnet (there it is again!), but is an above average one, and is just a really likable guy most of the time. I'll say that even though he's the one who broke my thumb and vowed to make my life a living hell. He's also the one who punched someone who attacked me. Hopefully, he doesn't revert to old ways. He's come so far this year, I hope he continues to grow. I hope his family sees the positive changes he's made. His grandmother was a huge influence in his life, and I hope she was proud of what he was accomplishing.

In much happier news, I talked to the student who was hospitalized after the fight a week or so ago. he sounds great, and tells me he will be back next week, which is unbelievable. I'm kind of worried about him, since he must have some injuries still, and there's no guarantee he won't be attacked. He's generally popular and respected, but has a habit of jumping between guys in a fight to try to stop them, and I worry about him. Hopefully, he'll be more thoughtful.

Oh, I had a dvd stolen from my room. I forgot to lock it up when I had to go to a meeting, figuring my aide wouldn't let them go through my desk. I never learn. I told them I was disappointed in them and was not buying another copy, so they would be reading longer, since we couldn't skip over any parts of the story by just watching the movie. A day or two later, a student returned the disc and admitted he took it because he was annoyed at me for giving them too much work (they don't like daily assignments, and too many of my colleagues are happy giving weekly assingments). he apologized, and I said I'd keep him anonymous. According to him, it was worse hearing I was pissed than it was hearing that Romeo & Juliet would go on longer. This might be progress

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