Mean Teachers Suck!

Let me start by saying that I have been teaching for 11 years, and I can count the number of times I've actually really YELLED at kids on one hand. I'm just not a yeller. I definitely discipline kids, but I do not yell. I hold kids accountable, make them live up to the rather rigorous academic and behavioral expectations I set forth for them, and I expect them to demonstrate kindness and respect to me and each other, but I rarely meet those ends through raising my voice.

Now I can start the actual story.

I have a student who is quite immature and babyish. He is a nice enough kid, and I like him, but he definitely is not what you'd think of as a typical 7th grade boy. Believe me, I am always delighted to have a sweet kid who still seems to want to be a kid and not try to jump right head to adulthood while still in 7th grade. But this kid is just kind of, well, babyish.

He is constantly asking me to go to the nurse. He wants to go for things like headaches, or to get ice for a stubbed toe..minor things. Very infrequently do I deny a child the permission to go to the nurse; I am no medical professional and I do not want to be held accountable for a kid getting really sick or hurt because I refused to let them seek medical attention.

Out of concern for the kid and his frequent trips to the nurse, I decided to touch the base with the school nurse to find out if everything was generally OK with this kid. The nurse told me that he suspects that sometimes the kid is up there because he has forgotten homework or is just trying to get out of class for a few minutes. The nurse encouraged me to try to have the kid wait out his initial requests and see if he can go to see the nurse later. The nurse assured me that, more often than not, if a kid is just asked to wait a little while, they'll forget about the request to see the enurse all together.

I need to drop this nurse line for just a second while I backtrack and provide a little more information and background.

This kid is constantly forgetting his homework, or leaving my homeroom unprepared for his next lessons. This means he'll eventually turn up at my door while I'm in the middle of a lesson, interrupt me, dig around for his books in his desk (which means he has to push aside the kid who is sitting at his desk for that period), and hold up the teacher of the lesson he is supposed to be in.

He does this literally on a daily basis.

He forgets homework for my class 3 out of 5 days a week...at a minimum. His quarterly essay was 3 weeks late.

You get my point.

Last Wednesday, I was showing the kids a National Geographic video on cities of Europe and I saw this kid goofing off over in his corner of the room. When I walked over there, he and another classmate were writing really degrading notes to each other about another classmate, and complaining that the film was boring. I put them both outside of the room and asked them to write letters of apology to me.

On Thursday, the kid forgot my homework and interrupted three of my lessons for forgotten books later in the day.

On Friday, he asked me if he could see the nurse. He asked at the end of the 25 minute morning homeroom period, just as we were getting ready to switch for first period. Keep in mind, he got off the bus at 7:30, and was shooting baskets in the gym with his friends from 7:30-8:00. I asked him why he needed to see the nurse. He said he hit his arm on the bus and needed ice for it. I VERY NICELY asked him to hold off until morning recess and I would send him up then.

I was shocked when this kid literally burst into violent sobs right there in the middle of my homeroom. I naturally took him into the hall and asked him what was wrong. No joke, it took him at least 5 or 6 minutes to compose himself enough to be able to speak. His face was all contorted and he was choking over his sobs. I had no clue what the hell was wrong.

Eventually, the kid said, "You're mean to me."

I asked him to talk to me about it and tell me what he meant. He said I was always "yelling" at him. See my opening comments.

He said, "You give me attitude every day just because I forget my homework all the time and just because I always forget my books for class. And then you gave me attitude because I was writing notes during the movie."

Yes, this is what he said to me.

This child is very indulged by his mother. I love the fact that I am seen as "giving attitude" because I expect the kids to be responsible.

I calmed the kid down, but assured him that I would continue to keep on him about preparedness for class, homework, and acceptable behavior in school.

I thought that was enough for the week.

Today, on the way out, another student called her mother on her cell phone to accuse another of my colleagues of "pushing" her. The teacher claims she was out of control in the class and that he simply asked her to leave. When she refused, but was standing close to the door, he approached her, put his hand on her shoulder and told her to leave the room.

This guy is so gentle and kind and I could never even imagine any pushing on his behalf.

Freakin' ridiculous.

The worst thing is that this kid has launched phony allegations before, and her mother is a complete loon, so she backs up everything she says. What a nightmare.

I have a meeting tomorrow and will be out of school. I will miss all the dramatic follow-up tomorrow, but I'm sure I'll be filled in on Wednesday.

Oh, and one more thing....

I was doing a lesson plan today while my kids were in gym. A colleague came down to see me to ask me about a book one of my students was reading for "free choice" reading in her class. This student is not even in my homeroom, so my responsibility over her is the same as this colleague's. The woman told me she found the content of the book to be objectionable. I encouraged her to take action since she had actually seen the book and I had not. Jesus Christ, why would she expect me to exercise jurisdiction about discipline issues over something that took place in her class? If she was so shocked about the book, why did she not go directly to the principle?

So, not only am I a horrible, mean, rotten teacher, but I also should be the bad guy for another colleague who is afraid to stand up and take disciplinary action on her own.