boneheaded

Teenagers do things that adults can only describe as "boneheaded". There is no other word for it. Its normal. The teenage brain is literally be re wired and that part that says "don't do this, there are bad consequences" doesn't work.

Example one of my best and brightest had a beta club meeting before school. She left out the wrong door of the building. Not a biggie, right. Well there are rules which doors students can use before school, a means to keep them from running amuck. A teacher told her and her buddies to use the right door. They ignored her. As a result the three musketeers got lunch detention. The principal was talking to the ringleader where she was saying she would not do. He calmly replied "if you don't do detention, you'll have to go home." At which point she went out the door and went home. She claims "he told me to." She got three days ISS. When back in class commenting on it she started to tell her side of it. "Mrs. W. you weren't there, you don't know what happenned it was like this..."

"you're right I wasn't there, but even if you convinced me of your truth and rightiousness I still can't help you, can I do the lesson now."

Then later 2 other geniuses decided to skip band...ISS three days.

I'm supposed to have students that tend to listen.

I'm supposed to teach occasional athelics who realize that their team position is a responsibility instead of a "get out of jail free card."

I'm supposed to have students that are not whacked out on drugs either illegal or prescribed.


Oh yea, first game of the season against a long term rival, we won 24-19.

Another science teacher is talking to me. She's really a math teacher they took out of retirement to teach. "I'm reviewing for the test tommorrow"

Me, "why review?, tell them what will be on the test and what they need to know and move on."

Thank you god.

I haven't heard a single swear word from my students.

out in the boondocks

Many years ago when I first moved into this state I had a clerical job in a small company 20 miles south of where I lived. Now you'd think, rural, salt of the earth, must be some good home cooking, right about! some place where you can get a good wrong. These people wouldn't know decent food if it bit them, which considering what they do to poor catfish is possible. No I don't think its just because the restaurants serve one food and people cook well in their homes.

But back to where I started, there they were, my fellow coworkers discussing which of the gas stations had the best pizza.

Today it happened again, in the faculty lounge in another small town, they are discussing which gas station has the best fried chicken.

Alton Brown I'm sorry.

New job

Wow what a change!

I am at another school now.

I get 11th and 12th graders. They are honors students. I have complete set of science supplies. I teacher honors students. There are problems with the school but instead of moping they are trying to fix the problems.

I start tomorrow.

does this look like spam to you?

Seriously this is an email I recieved through the teacher job search website used in my state.
(names changed)

"Dear Ms. Widget,

Hello! We look forward to hearing from you!Please go to our website: http:school web site. There, you can type in your information on the online application form before printing it out. Download two reference forms to give to persons of your choosing in the education field. These are to be sent back to us under separate mail. With your appl., please include copies of your transcript(s) and Arkansas Teacher's Certificate.
If you do not hold an Arkansas Teacher's Certificate, please provide copies of your Praxis Scores and proof that you are eligible for certification. Also, provide more than one phone number (including cell phone) where you may be reached to arrange an interview."

I keep debating emailing them back and saying "who are you?" I don't go to unsolited websites. It is much akin to the phishing spam I get asking me to update my account in a bank I don't use.
Does nobody at this place know how to write a selling letter? This was written by a Doctor no less (bet its an E.D.).
I know I don't want to work in this city even if I were looking for a job. They arrested three kids for shooting another kid.

My state (or an association of my state actually) has ruled now. There are less schools and school districts than there were a while ago because of consolidation. That is one reason I have trouble with a job, my school closes I'm out of work.

One argument used by clueless former coaches who are now superintendents to stop consolidation is that it would affect the sports programs.

Yea it would, there are now only three schools in the state in the lowest ranking. Why not just stop the sports if your school is so small. Two of the schools in my area.

One of those schools had a sign outside announcing that the weight room was open for football players during the summer. If I ever see it again, I'm gonna pull over and stop and ask if their library is open too.

This is the school that had two openings for a coach of something to also teach math and a coach of something else to teach science. I'm certified for math and science. My first rough draft to them was "Let me know when you are serious about your kids education."

hey sparky, we're supposed to be on the same side

One of my major problem kids, a truant, a student who's grades I never even bother computing because he's absent so much, is in the court system.

For truancy, for living with a married woman among other things.

He's in the hospital. Why? because when drug testing day came up he drank about a half a cup of bleach to fool the test. Then that morning because his stomach hurt he ate candy (no I don't understand the logic either). He's diabetic.

Then after all of this happenned, he talked his way out of lock up at court!

Lady, put him away before he kills himself!

whump in the stomach

One of my best students academically was arrested in a hotel room with five boys, another girl, 10 pounds of pot and 700 xanax.

Why do I try?

juliet and romeo they are not

He is obsessed with the girl.

She is older....and a problem, a GED student. GED means "don't have the credit to graduate and if they put me in this class I'm in school and if I ever wake up to learn something I might actually pass the GED class." By don't have credit I mean after 3-4 years of high school they may have 5 credits.

He's obsessed as I said. Writes her poetry. Buys her presents...rings, stuffed animals. Tries to get into her therapy sessions. Hangs outside the class where she is...which is really fun because its my class in the morning and he will not go to his class.

He has Tourette's syndrom. A mild case. One thing is he "hiccups"...her name.

She told me last week she was just tolerating him because he's crazy. I'll agree with the last part. She's using him.

Today she told me not to interfer with them because he is giving her $100 dollars.

Word for this, rymes with my major gardening tool.

One of my students shot himself over the weekend. In front of two of his friends at 2 in the morning.

The question is not "are the kids I teach on drugs?"

The question is "what drugs are they on?"

There are many on legally prescribed, helpful mood altering drugs. These kids often pretend to take the drugs then sell them to their buddies.

Then there are parents who will buy alchohol for their minors. There are parents who are in rehab or currently taking drugs. The pot, meth, ritalin, blood pressure medicine which is snorted. Very little coke, though I suspect some crack users. I'm becoming good at looking for the signals of the drugs. "he was okay this morning, now after lunch he's bouncing around the room, now he's crashing..."

Even the innocent sugar, the illegal for minors skoal, and the slipping of vodka into water bottles are problems. I watched a sugar rush happen on Valentine's day. A group of trying to do better kids slowly errupted into a riot. I _watched_ the transformation happen.

at least they are using more words

"my Malcolm, you looks spiffy today in your stylish M&M jacket."

"Mrs. Widget why you using big words?"

"What? Spiffy? Its not big its different, it means "sharp" or "classy".

Next week, "mrs widget you have a spiffy looking shirt."

How many of you have encountered this issue?


counselor "mark is in trouble with his father, he's not supposed to be hunting."

Me "wait, mark showed me his stack of hunting licenses and I know he's been poaching too." (hunting licenses are printed out cards, with the hunter's info and a place for the game warden to fill in when you are at the weigh station)

"he's not supposed to be out at all."

only in the state I live

we also close school the first day of hunting season, figure the kids and some teachers would skip

Maybe a day off

The flu and cold is taking the toll in the school. Half the students are absent, it probably won't be any better tomorrow. If they are not sick, they will have court.

I found out one student had a stroke....no I'm not kidding, he's had brain damage from a car accident and is brain damaged, and he wants to graduate dammit.

body count

1 teacher sick and absent
1 teacher sick and present (we have 10 teacher and parapros here)
14 students sent home sick
5 deliquent reports
a fight (which is two of the above reports)

figured out the problem

We know why one class is acting up, we just get the aggitators out and the rest do the work.

No solution, half the class are agitators.

Fight! Fight!

Fights are not that unusual at our school. Heck the week I was hired they had one, it was only the second day of school.

Girl fights of course have to be the worse.

There has been a fight brewing for a long time between one girl, another who is pregnant and the pregnant girl's three buddies. The pregnant one jumped the other on the bus. While the counselors and SRO were breaking it up they got the girl off the bus, handcuffed. One counselor took the other girl away.

When the SRO was putting the handcuffs on the girl in front of her, she started fighting again, he had no choice but to "put her down" on the car hood. And her buddy cousin who I was trying to calm down started freaking. "She's pregnant you'll hurt the baby." Cousin hadn't been there when the counselors and SRO were telling the girl the same thing, that if she didn't calm down she'd hurt the baby. So pregnant one, attackee, and cousin are going to jail.

None of my kids, 8th grade, have heard of the Minotaur myth. I'm trying to find one online along with the illustrations. Trying to find an illustration in the Grecian style that I dare show this kids is a challenge. Any nudity or suggestion of it, even in classical art has them breaking apart.

let truth be on my lips

We have a reward system. Students get "money" for good behavior or behavior out of the ordinary. It allows them them priviledges. This 2 weeks it was playing basketball as teams, enough points and you can be a captain. We noticed one problem student with a huge wad of it. The teachers got together at a meeting and started asking who was giving him money. None of us had been or not that much. To qualify the money needs the student's name, our signatures and dates. Finally the administrator took a look at them, walking him around the school asking each teacher to verify the signatures. Sure enough he had forged them. That doesn't bother me, not really. What does is he is keeping to his story that he put his money down on a table and somebody must have put all those forged "bills" into the stack.

troubles not my own

"god, now that I'm done with the day I want to thank you for it.

Thank you for the cold weather, we need it to kill bugs and to make me appreciate the summer more. Thank you for the near flooding rains we have may they help our nearly deplited aquifer. I thank you for my health, compared to other women my age, I'm gonna live forever, Thank you for my children who are a constant joy and a source of "no fake, this really is what he did, wait for the punch line..." stories. Thank you for my 1.st 3rd, 4th, 5th and 6th class, they all worked hard and were a joy to teach. Now, can you do something about my 2nd period class which is also my seventh. Can you help Michael who's mom is in rehab, please let him be able to sit still for 5 minutes. Help Jonathon, who's father is in prison and mother is on dialysis do what I say without arguing, the "I can't take my test because I need lotion" was a hoot. Help Fred who may be bipolar control his anger and who is an angel sometimes and other times his head should start spinning 360s. About Ralph who has tourette's help him realize that the girl who he thinks he loves is using him. Help Kevin...well help Kevin realize there is a reason he repeated 2 grade, and its not because he's cute like he thinks. Help David not to be a clown, and help Josh who is trying settle down and get to work, one more write up and he's back in detention at the childrens' home.

God, if its part of your plan not to help them...could you help me. could you give me wisdom to deal with them to help them change, or please, let me find a way to be more patient with them.

I'm deranged

Its my day off.

I've finished my lesson plans and decide to make the 20 mile plus trek to school on the day off. Why? I'm pretty sure that the admin people will be there working and I can use the copier to get ready for the week. Yep they are there. One reason is that two of my classes have no textbooks. Our state is redoing science textbooks, this is a new school we have few resources on hand. There is no need to purchase textbooks when next year we will have to get new ones. So I use worksheets that I make and web print ups to make a plastic comb bound books for the students. So they were copied and bound and ready to go for a week or so. My students have poor organizational skills, so folders and binders don't really work for them.

Two swipes for the good guys

One student who has been out for a while, he simply told that he was going to jobcore but never did, is back. And he has changed. He's never been stupid, but he didn't want to work. He's in ISS/boot camp for a time. He's talking to me, doing his work and asking for help. I don't know what happenned but its an awesome change. I hope he gets better.

Another student in ISS/boot camp, she was fighting with another girl, made an A on her make up semester test. Her voice caught when I told her.

Annnnd he's off!

The first class of the day is GED. Most of the students who try in this class have already made the minimum they need, have left and some even have finished and gotten their GEDs. The ones in now have always been in who make no effort and others who came in when slots became open.

Normally the GED teacher is with me, but she's been in the hospital.

Then there is Nathan. Its Nathan's first day in GED. He's court ordered to attend school, he thinks he'll just pass the GED and get out. I've had him before in the regular science class and I want the best for him. I don't let him slide which is what he wants. He thinks cussing will get me rilled, since he's never cussed me I let that part slide. But I don't give him slack, I don't let him just sit the corner. My comment was "I will ride him like a carousel pony." I can get work out of him. He's been skipping school and avoiding the police for something. Finally turned himself to court and got the usual "go to school, stay out of trouble..." routine.

Class starts, "everybody sit down." Somebody said something to Nathan which riled him. Did I mention he's a coward, and about ...oh 400 pounds, okay closer to 250 but none of its muscle. So Nathan gets mad walks away and goes to another student not involved, says "get out of my seat little boy." and kicks his chair. Call box is hit and a I call for campus police, while ordering him out of the class. This starts a tirade of cussing, the cop can hear him in the hall.

So he's suspended for a week, and will be in non compliance of the court order.

what a way to go the first day of a new program.

Starting off

My husband has just won a bet with himself.

Since I read blogs, he figured eventually I'd start one.

As the profile says, I am a non traditional teacher, though I started teacher training, had to stop then just get my degree. Life happened and happened again, and I got a masters with non traditional training. I teach science. All of them. The kids in the school are "problem kids" or I refer to them as "usual suspects".

Ain't we a set?

My kids are safe to turn you back to, usually. They are not serious criminals, though many have occassion with the court system, drug use, petty theft, fights.

No I've received no serious special training, the model is "modify and adjust". What I have is knowledge, a staff with high morale, a counselor who lets me gripe in her office, and a sense of humor. Also a sense of proportion, I'm trying to win the war, not every battle. Everyday is a new experience. 10 new kids in the class because one school finished up the paper work to send them, adjust. Only kid in class but one because its court day, modify.