end of the year rollercoaster

The week after Memorial Day weekend is always a tough one. Nothing like a 3 day weekend at the end of May to remind you (and torture you with this reminder) that summer-like weather has started and that summertime activities have started, but you still have 2-3 weeks of school left. Noooooooooo!! This leaves us on Tuesday, grumbling and tired, having to deal with a group of kids who got their first taste of summer vacation and not wanting to see your ugly mug again.
It doesn't stop in the classroom, either. Tuesday and Wednesday, during lunch and plan periods, I took part in and listened to other teachers whining and complaining about how we should just end the year at Memorial Day. I mean, it would make sense-- we start after Labor Day now and if they insist on keeping this old, tired schedule of September-June school year, then why not end it on another famous 3 day weekend? A lot of kids stop showing up right around then, anyway, so it would save a lot of their asses from failing due to attendance.
This week was also heartbreaking because two of my brilliant boys, who I've fought for all year, got into fights and suspended for the rest of the year (okay, well, one of them was a 10 day suspension on the day when we have 11 days left of school!).
One of them, KH, was involved in what administrators believe was a gang-related fight. I'm pretty sure this kid isn't involved in any of our lovely gangs, but he has fallen in with a small group of our basketball players (one in particular) that have dragged down numerous brilliant students this year. He beat the crap out of some kid with a few of them, for whatever reason and some other student (who is now forced to go to another school) snitched on them. This is something I never saw coming. There are certain kids you know would easily kick some kid's ass over stupid stuff. This kid? I never, ever in a million years would've guessed he would do that--especially not on school property. He's friends with one kid who every teacher dislikes, every security guard is tired of, and the principal has taken the disciplinary file of (usually the student's academy's assistant principal takes care of referrals). This kid has dragged down every student he becomes friends with. He's probably broken records for the amount of complaints and referrals. In other words, there is no reason this child should be in our school, while my student gets the ultimate punishment. Both of them were suspended for this fight, but guess who comes back to school yesterday? Yes. Problem Child. Not KH, but the kid who every teacher and security guard was thinking to themselves, "Finally!!". I am incredibly disappointed with KH, but now that disappointment has been overshadowed by the administration allowing this other student back. I don't usually blame kids for influencing behavior, but with 3 of my students, he's been a factor in their behavior and grades taking a nosedive. I place 90% of the blame on that jackass.
The other student, LaQuan, I've written about before. Another student, Shaniqua, comes banging on the workroom door during my 2nd bell planning period. When I open the door, I expect to hear to whining about her research paper, but instead, she's incredibly upset and just starts babbling: "Do you know what happened with LaQuan this morning?! He got in a fight with this other kid because the kid said he was looking at him the wrong way! He is so stupid, cause now he's going to miss the end of the year. Why did he have to do this? I had to leave my 2nd bell because some stupid ass girl was in there talking shit about him, but Dontay [another kid I had in LaQuan and Shaniqua's clas] stood up for him and told her to shut the hell up. I'm sorry to cuss in front of you, but I can't go back into that class cause then I'll have to shut her up and I don't want to get suspended. I am going to cuss LaQuan out for being so stupid later..." I told Shaniqua to tell him that I'm disappointed in him, but I understand that if someone's going to come at him, he's not just going to sit there and get beat. I was thinking to myself that I hope he comes in for his make-up exams on the last day and not just accept failure. Later on, I realized that I never got a chance to tell him that I started watching his favorite show, The Wire. It seems like a small thing, but for some of these kids, you have no idea how that small bonding point can mean a lot. He'd been trying to get me to watch the show for a long time, it finally came up on my Netflix list, and I now understand why so many people love it.

The week improved on Thursday and Friday. My 11th graders finished Gatsby and we watched the end of the film version. They're excited to watch the hip hop version of Gatsby, called G next week. My 8th bell 10th graders finished Lord of the Flies, mourned the deaths of two characters they liked and actually stayed awake for the ending. I hope my odd day students enjoy the ending as much as they did (I expect they will, my 8th bell is the hardest to impress with reading). Also, a few of my students gave me really sweet notes and drawings. One student (who I've had a real love/hate relationship with all year) sat at my desk while I was reading parts of Lord of the Flies to his class and drew a "BIG PUSH!" and wrote a note about how I was the best teacher on the back of his late pass. It was really good timing because it was one of those days you look around a classroom while the kids are falling asleep or doing other things and you think to yourself, "I put so much work and time into this, I don't get paid that much, and they thank me by falling asleep, not paying attention and generally being rude and disrespectful?! Why do I even bother??". There were some other good moments, too, like Bryan rolling up his shorts, walking around barefoot and yelling out, "BAREFOOT REVOLUTION! I'm sorry, but you're going to have to take off your shoes--TAKE OFF YOUR SHOES!!", and playing Apples to Apples with kids in my Study Hall and kids I had last year that are graduating.
Plus, yesterday afternoon, I finally got to use my gift certificate for my massage. I came in there, tense and tired from the week and driving home on Friday afternoon (always a pleasure--I am not going to miss that at all) and left completely relaxed. I slept so great last night. I love my massage therapist, she is amazing. I'm glad we're not moving that far away, so I can continue to see her. The place is near Prime Outlets, too-- sounds like a great reason to come back to Williamsburg once or twice a year, huh?