Bummer

Sometimes we have students that are a major pain in the butt, but--for some unknown reason-- we love having in class. They don't do work, they are brutally honest, they are brilliant, hyper, talkative, constantly in motion... all the marks of a kid you don't want in class. But there they are, and you find yourself enjoying their remarks and craziness from time to time.

I have a kid like that this year. I nicknamed him Sunshine because he always stops in and says good morning, always seems to have a smile on his face and has one of the biggest hearts of any student I've had so far.

His problem is that he doesn't think before he acts. He realizes what he did was wrong after the fact, but he has a hard time not acting on impulses. There are a few of his teachers that he can't seem to get along with. There have been many times he's ended up in my classroom after blowing up and needing somewhere to chill out. He's been my "bodyguards" on my hall monitor walks quite a few days.

One of his other major problems is that he is so hard on himself. He wants to do well, but doesn't like to sit down and do work. Or he gets distracted and forgets about it. Or he has to sit too long and ends up slowing down and falling asleep. He has the highest expectations for himself, and when he finds something slightly difficult or challenging, he stops believing in himself, gives up and starts beating himself up over it. If a teacher, at that moment, pushes him, he can become incredibly upset, leading to a lot of problems.

All of this led to a meeting today where it was decided that he'll go away for a while, to an alternative school in another county, to hopefully make up credits and come back ready to try our school again. It's definitely the best decision at this time because he needs to make up credits to be able to graduate before he's 20 and this program can help him do that. He is determined right now to earn a diploma, so this could be a step in the right way. I really hope it is because we all want to see him reach the level of success we know he's capable of. I'll miss having him in class because he is brilliant, helpful, and hilarious. He's talkative and disruptive and hyper, but he can also see things in the literature we read that a lot of other kids don't pick up on. I'm pretty bummed that he won't be in my class for the rest of the year, but maybe I'll see him in a class next year.