Law of Gravity

It was the first full week of school. I am covering a "vacant class" until they are able to bring in a teacher for the rest of the year. I have three periods of seventh grade English and two periods of eighth grade English. Because of this, I got to do something I've never gotten to do before. I got to go over the syllabus with the students. The next day, the eighth graders had a writing assignment. (The seventh graders did too, but they are way more cooperative than the eighth graders. Good for me, bad for the blog.) They were to write a letter of introduction. It's their first writing assignment of the year. Every day I've tried to have a list of what they'll need for the day written on the board for them. (Some days I'm able to, others not so much.) On this day I had that list up. They needed a piece of paper and a pen or pencil. I explained the assignment. They got to writing. Only about half way through the period, one boy said he was finished. That...

The other day as I was clearing out some old papers, I found some blog posts that I'd never posted. I wrote them down with the intent of putting them on the blog, but then... I suppose something more interesting happened that week. That's my only guess. "But if I get another referral, I'll be kicked out of school." He should have thought of that when he refused to step outside and stay outside when I told him to. "If I get another referral, I'm going to be sent to my dad in Texas. I don't want to live with my dad. He drinks." And yet, when I asked him to stop talking so I could go over the day's assignment, he couldn't manage it. "I can't get another referral. Could you make this a warning?" And what were those three other instructions? The "stop talking"? The "step outside"? The "go back where I told you to go"? And what about continuing ot talk after I said he'd get a referral for disobeyi...

It was Friday, and I was surprised by a minimum day. That's a good surprise. Although, it wasn't actually a minimum day for the students. It was what they call International Day, which is a day where the campus clubs sell food, and the kiddos spend time in a carnival-like atmosphere with dancers and other performers. The entertainment and the food are from many different nations. So, while the classes ended just before 1 PM, the students were still "at school" until their usual dismissal time a little over two hours later. However, they let the subs go after the classes were over. I had checked out, and I was on my way to my car. At the above gate, there was a girl climbing over. (This is known as "hopping the fence". Read: ditching school.) She was almost to the top when I got there. "What are you doing?" Yes, it was pretty obvious, but I had to open the conversation somehow. She did not have an answer for me, of course. She got her legs over the ...

Iris seemed fine as she entered class. She wore a t-shirt with "Baby Girl" emblazoned on the front. And she was talking and joking with her classmates. The class: seventh grade science. I did my intro and got the class started. Then someone asked to use the restroom. When that girl came back, she didn't go right back to her desk. She hovered at Iris'. (Iris' desk was next to the door.) When I went to shoo her back, she informed me that Iris was crying. Whenever I'm crying, the last thing I want is "sympathy"... (I'm not heartless. I offered to let Iris go see her counselor or even just to sit outside. She said no and left her head on her desk.) Another girl from across the room when to "help" Iris. I overheard something about a boy and "finding out on [her] own". I shooed girl two away. Not five minutes later, Iris and the girl seated next her her are happily sharing a set of earbuds and discussing the music on one of their ph...