The Jest


There has been a lot of hitting in the classroom of late. And choking. And kicking. In the head and stomach. One mom asked, "Where were you when my kid was choked?" And I could only stare back at her and wonder the same thing. I felt I had let the kid down, but I sorted out the incident with all involved, to our mutual satisfaction I believe.
Later, I had an altercation with one curmudgeon, who spent most of Friday yelling out (whenever anyone looked his way), "Stop staring at me! I'll slap you in the head!" After the 10th time he interrupted my read aloud, (an awesome book by A. Clements called No Talking), I jokingly told him that I would slap him in the head if he wouldn't let me read the book. This is never a good thing for a teacher to tell a child. And I'm just hoping the remark came off with the humor I kind of intended.
When we walked to gym a bit later, another young man ran up to me and grabbed my hand. He said that a classmate was going to hurt him and seemed to be seeking protection of some kind.
I asked him why she would do that.
He replied, "She says I slapped her in the face."
"Did you slap her in the face?" I asked.
"No I did not. If I slapped her in the face, I would be dead by now. That girl is from Detroit."
We're going to have a serious talk about the hitting situation on Monday. I'm sure we can do better.

Comments

Anonymous said…
Looks like you are thinking about NY NCTE! The hitting is not good. What can be done? More Ranting? More "Stop that right nows!" Whatever works at the time I guess. BTW I like your new subtitle-- you doctor you!
N
Anonymous said…
1. Tell your student that I'm from Detroit, and I'm sweet and kind, and gave them books...
2. Will you be eating in the Village?
3. Thanks a lot for the vocabulary/rice attachment. I spent way too much time on it.
LH said…
1. How bout coming in and doing some thing fun with us so we can give detroit a better rap?
2. I've heard about this place called ANNISA but i've probably waited too long for rezzies.
3. Dad of Friend of #1 son created the free rice/vocab site. I'm totally hooked on it.


4. Hi N! I'll be straightening everyone out today. I'll keep you posted.
Anonymous said…
Since you made it part of your blog, I thought you would be eating at Perilla. No?
I will visit right after Thanksgiving. How about a Command Performance Invitation?
Julie Anna said…
Would like to chat but am completely addicted to FreeRice now, thank you very much. Sent the link to about thirty others and several of them are also hopelessly hooked.
Anonymous said…
i don't have problems with hitting and kicking, but i do have problems with this one kid who keeps doing inappropriate things. like, we were brainstorming topics related to All My Sons, like family, restitution, guilt, betrayal... and this kid yells, "POOP! DIARRHEA!" I mean, come on. this is tenth grade. and then today he farted loudly. wtf?
Undomestic said…
Your student is onto something. Have ya been to Detroit? The real Detroit? ;)

My sister-in-law is moving to Altanta. She's going to teach in a juvenile facility down there. She has taught in such facilities for the past few years. When going for the interview they said they knew she could handle their kids, since she's from Detroit!
Anonymous said…
Hey undomestic!
What part of Detroit do you consider to be the "real" Detroit?
LH said…
Freerice.com fans. fyi.
cbs news is doing a spot about the inventor of the site, our good friend. and they're coming in to newschool to film the peeps using the site today. i hope all goes well, in terms of the kicking, etc.
Undomestic said…
To anonymous:

An actual Detroit address. It's just that when I tell people who know the area that my husband is from Detroit, they start asking where...and start naming metro area suburbs. Then I have to stop them and say "the Detroit." Not sure the area...the Eastside...maybe? They moved a lot. He went to Cass Tech high school. And was part of Upward Bound in the summers, a program that took him out of the city to see other opportunities. A program he applauds for part of his success. Honestly, I've never seen so much poverty, abandoned buildings, etc before. To be honest, it's sad.

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