In our morning meeting, I received a bit more information about the LEAP results. Three (TB, Miss Piggy, and somebody else) out of 28 8th graders passed for a whopping 6% total. Five (Big White Kid, The Great Black Hope, Rosie, The Rapist, and Step Six) out of 16 (31%) passed the 10th grade GEE test required for graduation. Not what I had hoped for, but atleast I got a few. I still haven't seen the scores. Just another thing on my to-do list for before I leave.
I was put in a good mood before my students had even reached my door. When I heard the security lady yell that students were coming, I looked down the far end of the hall and saw a tall, thin body enter the doorway. First student in: Skinny Kid (formerly in Camo).
It reminded me of one of my favorite quotes from one of my favorite movies of all time (The Shawshank Redemption): Get busy livin' or get busy dyin'.
Goddamn right.
I had my homeroom in my class all morning. Movie time once again. Today we watched Radio. Not my first choice, but not a bad flick by any means. At one point, I looked out at my class and saw 7 out of 9 were sleeping.
I was pleasantly surprised when Power Off came in to hand me his time card. I am not sure if I explained this before, but each student has a time card stamped at the beginning of the day and must take it to their homeroom teacher. Because we changed first period classes, some students must go to their old homeroom teachers first thing, hand them their time cards, then go to a different class. Power Off is one of those students. Anyways, I told him that in order to earn a C for the semester, he needed to complete the entire work packet that he had allegedly completed once before. His response, "Well, let's just do it right now then."
So that's what we did. He pulled up a chair and for a solid hour, he worked through the ten or so worksheets I had stapled together. Did he know what he was doing? Probably not. But with my minimal instruction and frequent corrections, he was able to go through all of the work. It ended up raising his grade 11 percent points. Like I told my kids frequently, I wanted the class to be as easy as possible. Pretty sad that a decent percentage of them still failed.
The movie ended with about 45 minutes left to go before lunch, so I let my students go on the computers.
I decided that it was the right time to pass out some candy. Actually, I had decided about five minutes earlier that it was the right time, but as I grabbed my package of Twix bars, The Rapist's girlfriend pleaded, "Mr. C-------, you should give me some candy." Somehow, she had failed to see that was exactly what I was attempting to do. Suddenly, I didn't feel like sharing quite so much. When I finally did, I had one of nine students say thank you. It has always been a pet peeve of mine, so I went back to the cabinet and grabbed a second piece for Psycho T. She said "Thank you," once again.
It is funny how some of the students who I genuinely disliked at the beginning of my time here have turned in to some of my favorites. I remember my first run in with Psycho T, thinking she was a bit bitchy and pushy. I was right. However, I've seen the softer side, too, and I know that she will be one of my students that I'll remember for years to come.
My final grades are in, and besides organizing my room, I have no work to do, so I plopped down next to them and played some games. Tony Montana (nicnamed "Habanero" by his classmates) gave me some pointers as I struggled through some soccer game. Not much later, the kids were off to lunch.
Lunch might have been the highlight of my day today. I stopped by the gas station and bought a roast beef po-boy. It sounds unspectacular, but I have never had roast beef like that in Wisconsin. Good Lord! Sauce spilling everywhere, but every bite was, dare I say, orgasmic. I can still taste it now.
I was expecting to have the afternoon off, but I ended up have some students in my class to watch a movie again. No big deal. I didn't want to have the same students from this morning, because I was running out of movies to show them. I switched with the social studies teacher, and it ended up being more trouble than it should have been. Suit Man came up to me and started complaining about how I got him suspended. He said he had a medical condition and the heat caused the issue. I told him that he got himself suspended with the way he acted. He then told me he was taking me to court. He was standing in front of me and I was trying to acquire order in my classroom, so I told him to sit down and shut his mouth.
"What'd you say?"
"Sit down and shut your mouth."
He was whining again. It felt like I was starting to lose my dear old Suit Man. A minute later, I lost him. Only for a little while, though. The sergeant from across the hall walked into my classroom and gave him the boot. Let's just say that after he returned, he was too sweaty to be wearing a suit jacket for a while.
The class watched the movie, Taken, and I must say, they resembled normal students. Teletubby, Jam Master Jay, and others were mute for the 90 minute running time. The movie, which is pretty mindless, yet action-packed and entertaining, held their attention. There isn't much more that I could ask for.
I had one issue with the movie: It is only 90 minutes long. This meant I had an extra 75-80 minutes before the end of the day. Some students grew restless, so I gave them the option of going on the computers or watching the beginning of Meet the Parents. The majority went on the computers, but a few were watching the movie.
The computers became a problem. I kicked one student out after he went on an inappropriate website and wouldn't stop talking. He got a good workout in.
One of my new students, who shares a first name with arguably the most famous modern-day NBA center, caused me most of my problems. I'll call him Diesel (if you follow professional basketball, you should be able to figure out his name). He promised not to go on a violent game, then, while I was standing directly behind him, went on a game called "Blood Shot" and shot somebody in the face, causing their head to explode. He was stunned when I asked him to get off the computer and return to his desk. After I redirected him several times and threatened to kick him out, he made an awkward statement that appeared to be some sort of a threat. Not exactly sure what he said, I responded, "Wait a minute. You said that if I come to your hood, you'll bang me!?" The class erupted as he tried to retrace his words. I had none of that and convinced the other students that is exactly what he said. He didn't seem too pleased with me.
I was happy to get the Suit Man back that instantly became one of my favorites. Princess Donothing addressed me as "Little Daddy" as she asked me some pointless question. When I asked her in disbelief whether she addressed me in the manner I heard, Suit Man replied, "That's because she knows you're little." For those of you out of touch with adolescent machismo, he was referring to how I stacked up below the belt. A couple of months ago: an insult. Today, I knew he was just playing around, so I went over by him and threw some imaginary punches. "Now, Mr. C-------, you realize that that is assault..." he told me.
I took my students outside for the last thirty minutes before the buses came. You would think that an instruction as simple as "line up outside my door" would be a pretty easy task. Not for them. Half were walking down the hall, then when I yelled at them, they started walking out the other door. Finally, I got my group lined up and walking down the hall. After a brief stop at one door for my beloved Teletubby to chat with who knows, we were outside.
I learned three things while outside:
1) Splitting up Teletubby and his boytoy Slim will be devastating for all involved. I love watching them walk off together and chatting like a couple of school girls.
2) Some of these kids honestly like me.
3) I really like some of them. What the hell?
I split my time between shooting the bull with my students and my fellow teachers. It is nice to finally feel like I belong. I have proven myself as an educator to the other teachers as well as somebody that cares and can somewhat relate to my students. Suit Man even told my uncle that we (myself and Suit Man) were like father and son. I convinced him to come to school on Thursday to see the big surprise (more on this later).
The buses loaded and school ended. Tomorrow will be my last "real" day with my students. I need to buy some candy bars to reward those select few that passed their test.
I can't believe how fast this experience has gone. I can't believe that these people who were complete strangers from a different planet a few short months ago have left lasting impressions on me that will forever alter the way I look at the world. And I can't believe I will be saying goodbye in a few days.
With time running out, I know I have to make the most of my final moments. Two for one daiquiris today. You know what? Screw it. I ordered two 32 ouncers for myself. It's not like I'll have the chance to do it again anytime soon.
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