I Must Be Losing My Rep!

I did not blog about this but I have had a run of incidents in my classroom of late. A couple of weeks ago, one of my 9th graders started skipping my 7th period class ….. every day. Long story short, when she was called to the office and confronted about the skipping, she had a valid reason. She didn’t like me! Oh darn…loss of sleep over that one!

Assistant Principal: Can you tell Ms A why you haven’t been attending her class?

Student: I don’t like her…that’s it…I just do NOT like her at all.

AP: Does she treat you differently than the other students?

S: No, she is like that with everyone.

AP: Like what?

S: She tries to make us follow the rules …she needs to lighten up.

AP: Is she ugly about it? Yell at you or something?

S: No…she just makes everyone do math ..the whole time…in her class. I don’t care what you do to me…I am not going back in that room with that woman!

Solution: Send student to a Special Ed teacher’s room to do Ms A’s work for the remainder of the year.

Problem: Now she skips that class and it has taught her that it is OK not to follow the rules.

Then, a couple of Friday’s ago, I had a killer headache and stopped up nose due to our lovely weather and my allergies. During my 1st period class, I kept smelling, faintly, what I thought was hand sanitizer. I have a large pump type dispenser of the stuff in the back of my room. We all got to go to an assembly to watch a play between 1st and 2nd period. One of my students was stopped by another teacher in the hall on the way to the play because she smelled like she just stepped out of a bar.

Come to find out, she had a fruit punch bottle filled with Scotch that she was drinking IN MY CLASS! How in the hell did I miss that one?

Today, I see two boys passing a note in my 4th period class. I watch hands…its an old habit. Boys don’t pass notes often unless they are passing it to a girl. They were amused and more interested in it than my lesson on circles. I told them to get back on task. The one holding the note, wadded it up and held it in his fist. Hummmm…also unusual behavior. Mostly the note would wind up on the floor or stuffed in a back pack. I work my way around the room and hold out my hand for the note. He looked at his friend and slowly placed it in my hand. I went back to teaching.

While everyone was working a problem, I unwadded the note and read its contents. Damn…one of them was trying to sell some pills to the other and bragging that it was a great deal….2 for $10.

WTF…..in my class!? BAM …immediate adrenalin rush….major dump! Do they not realize what I used to do for a living? I picked up the “emergency” phone on the wall to summon an administrator. I finally hung up and a couple of minutes later, they called back. I made my request and one showed up eventually. I gave him the note, explained that it was about a drug deal, and asked if he would like to take both of them to be searched. He did. Don’t know the outcome of that but they did not return to class.

I have not felt that rush in a long time…I used to feel it a couple of times a day. I had so much energy that had no where to go… not only was I shaking but my voice was shaking! I had to mentally gear down so that I could finish the lesson. It was a good thing that I was already planning a workout at the gym after school.