Adventures in Babysitting

WARNING! EPIC FAIL!  Today was another one of those days, when you leave the classroom feeling like a complete loser as a teacher.  Sometimes I wonder what I'm doing here at all?  One of my students just imploded during class today and refused to do anything.  As I tried to talk to him in the hall, all he could do was turn his back on me.  NO MATTER WHAT I OFFERED as a reason to come back in and try reciting his poem again, he wanted nothing to do with me or my class.

It bothers me that it bothers me so much! There are so many things in and around my career that I don't give a rat's ass about, but I will always hold onto that little flicker of hope that longs to make a change in a kid who is self-destructing.  I want them to see their own potential.  I can see it inside of them.  Every great now and then I see something really amazing in this kid, and right before we are about to hit the jackpot of success in my class....he self destructs.  The problem is, he  explodes in anger with every last bit of insecurity and self preservation inside of him. He won't accept a single consequence and he doesn't care what rude or obscene phrases come out of his mouth.  It's unreal.  Many times, I can't react.  I can only stand there and stare with my mouth open and stare blankly into his glazed over eyes. 

There's no use calling his Mom, she has yet to offer any positive solutions to the problem.  There's no use calling the principal because there isn't anything or anywhere we can send this kid in the school for a consequence (he wouldn't show up anyway).  So what do I do? Where do I go from here? How do I help this kid see that his response is going to lead to very painful consequences when he tries to hold down a job some day, or even finish High School? I'm at a loss.  He's got the potential to be great at sports, but he probably won't ever be eligible, because nobody cares enough to make his life uncomfortable now in order to for him to be more comfortable later.

It's the strangest reality of teaching.  Some students are simply out of my reach.  Not because I won't fight for them, but because no one will fight with me.  Where is everybody.  Didn't Hillary Clinton say, "it takes a village."  Where is this boy's village? I can't lie. Today I sat in the back of my class and had a good frustrated cry.   Somedays, I just wonder why?

Research Based Standards--Ha!

"In reading the recently proposed Common Core Standards already accepted by all but three states, I could not see many elementary school children of any background or ability meeting the standards at the grades designated.  In my view, as a former elementary teacher and principal, the standards overestimate the intellectual, physilogical, and emotional development of young children, asking them to think analytically as they read or write, extract subtle meanings from text, and make fine distinctions with and across texts.  Such deliberative and intensive behaviors are not supported by the research
on child development, nor are they anywhere else in children's lives today."  Joanne Yatvin, educator

Thank you Ms. Yatvin! I could not have said it better myself!