Second Day Drama

Thursday. Fifth period. 

So, well, um, the continuation high school starts early. Some years I get work, some years I don't. 

It was only their second day of school, so students aren't sure of their schedules. And I don't take roll first thing. I always get them going on the assignment before I figure out who is absent. Usually this works out just fine... 

So, I was looking at the roll. And I realized that I had a student who did not belong in the class. I had seen him the day before. I checked, and he was supposed to be in my sixth period. No biggie. He could explain to his fifth period teacher where he was, and if the teacher needed verification I would give it. 

Only, something else was happening at that moment... 

I was only half listening. Something something someone's girlfriend. And Travis was looking at her? Only, Travis got very upset at the accusation, because he said he knew she was dating someone, and he wasn't looking at her? I don't know, it was a ridiculous disagreement. 

But Travis.

Some people just aren't quite able to get along. You know who I mean. The kind of person who blows up for no reason whatsoever. 

On Wednesday, I had given Travis the assignment. And he complained. Loudly. The lines he was supposed to draw hurt his hand. And he was sure Mr. G wouldn't make him complete the assignment. (Continuation high school. If he didn't do the assignment he wouldn't get the credits for it. There would be other assignments he could get the credits for later.) 

I wasn't in the mood for an argument, so I moved on. Travis sat in the back far corner, and he did (or did not do) his work. Fine. 

But this time Travis wasn't going to let the whole "looking at the girlfriend" go. Andres said something that set Travis off. And Travis was getting louder and louder about it. 

At roughly the same time, I asked Andres what class he was supposed to be in. He realized he was supposed to be in my sixth period. I asked him to go to his actual fifth period. And Andres was willing to go. 

Only, Travis wasn't backing down. Travis was taunting Andres. Challenging him. Making it as if Andres leaving the class was Andres running away from him. Because Travis could take him. Travis was tough, and he would mess Andres up. 

I picked up the classroom phone and dialed security. 

Andres got up. Headed out. Travis continued his taunting. 

I told security that maybe they were settling... 

Andres left. Travis got up from his seat and followed him out. 

Nope, I told security. Fight incoming... 

But small school. The boys were facing off outside, but five other staff members (including security) were there before it came to blows. 

Whew. Fight averted. 

We shooed the students back to class (because everyone left their classes when it looked like a fight was starting) while Travis and Andres were escorted to the office. 

I did not see Travis again that day. Andres showed up on time to sixth period. 

It's been a while since I witnessed a near fight. Glad that sort of thing doesn't happen every day. 

After school and the next day I talked to other adults on campus, and I got a clearer picture of what that dispute was all about. 

Andres' girlfriend had reported to the administration that Travis had been "watching" her, and I heard he was doing other things that were making her uncomfortable. (Andres and his girlfriend have a baby daughter.) Andres had mentioned to Travis that he should stay away from her. Rather than backing off, Travis doubled down. 

And, apparently Andres was nowhere near stone cold sober that day (hence not realizing he was in the wrong class). 

The Bird

ELD (English language development). Third period was the eleventh graders.

About twenty minutes into class, Rebecca arrived. She had an excused tardy pass from the attendance office.

I told her what the assignment was. (They were writing essays.) She said she'd already finished. Then she asked to go and see her counselor. I gave her a pass.

I've had Rebecca in various classes since she was in middle school. She can be a little irritating. But she's never made the blog before now.

She returned from the counselor after only about ten minutes. And that's the first time Rafael noticed her.

"You're late," he said. "Where have you been? Class is halfway over. You should be working on your essay. It's due tomorrow."

Rebecca turned to him and flipped him off.

And me? I told Rafael to mind his own business and get back to the essay he was not working on.

I'm supposed to call Rebecca out for inappropriate hand gestures and all, but seriously...

At the beginning of third period, Rafael grabbed a computer immediately. He had to start on his essay right away, never mind that there was a warm up he was supposed to complete first.

We argued. I pushed for him to do the warm up. He complained that he had to do his essay. We got through the warm up, no thanks to him, and then the class got to work on the essay. (He seriously wasted a good two minutes with his arguing.)

I meandered to the back of the room so I could see what everyone was doing on their computers. Rafael was busily typing an essay, right? Of course not.

Nope. Rafael spent the period avoiding doing the essay. He was staring into space. He was "doing research". We had another argument about him getting something done. He explained that he didn't need to be in the ELD class, he had the top A in the class, and he was resentful about being there so he refused to work. (Yes, those contradict each other. This is typical for a teen argument.)

So, when he noticed Rebecca (the second time she walked into the classroom) and went after her? Yeah, no. Nope. No.

Rafael was flabbergasted that I didn't say anything to Rebecca about her giving him the finger. But I had a few seconds only to offer my reaction, and I picked the more egregious behavior. And I stand by that.

Rebecca's response? When Rafael turned back to his computer, she gave me heart hands.

Bygones

For the penultimate day of school, I was once again at the continuation high school. (I did not work the last day of school this year.) The kiddos had an assignment, but very few of them chose to do it. In fact, very few of them chose to come to school at all.

(I think this is why the traditional high schools give students finals. It keeps them coming to class and makes them try for those last few days.)

I was basically on crowd control. Well, if you consider a class of seven to be a "crowd".

2nd period. I pointed out the assignment. A couple of them even got out books and paper.

"Remember when you pulled that knife on me? I wanted them to expel you for that."

This is not the sort of statement that is usually accompanied with laughter. But there was no anger in Julio's voice. He seemed to be in instigating mode. Waiting to see if I'd have to intervene, I just listened in.

"You stole my pizza," Daniel replied.

This is when Julio noticed that I was listening, so he explained.

Back when the boys were in middle school, they were in home ec. together. One day the assignment was pizza. They cooked it. At the end of the period, they each got a slice.

You know when you take a slice of pizza how sometimes a bit of the tip of an adjoining piece gets stuck to it? Julio's slice had a bit of Daniel's slice's tip attached.

So, Daniel demanded that Julio give him back that little bit of pizza. Julio refused. Daniel grabbed a butter knife and held it to Julio's ribs...

They didn't tell me what happened after that. Apparently the teacher called for backup as it sounds like the issue got resolved with school administrators.

"If I could forgive you for that..." Julio said to Daniel.

Apparently, this is one of those funny stories that they like to remember. At least they can laugh about it. If they were still angry at each other...

Not About the Highlighter

So...um...well... I kinda fell... Yeah...

It was after school. I was on my way to the office to check out for the day. I must have stepped wrong. I don't actually recall.

I do remember the falling and the landing on my right knee. I tore my pants but didn't see the scraped raw part of my knee until I got home. I didn't realize my left ankle was twisted until I stood.

The ankle hurt more than the knee. But, I was two days into a two-week assignment, so I hobbled into work the next day.

I set up a chair. When I had to be standing (which wasn't much, actually), I kept my weight off it. And the students didn't seem to notice. (They didn't say. They're freshmen, so it's likely that my awkward movements were completely missed by them.)

Except for 2nd period...

They were the worst class. They weren't terrible compared to some classes I've had, but they suffered in comparison to this teacher's other classes. Mostly, they spent more time talking than working.

So, when two boys started arguing over a highlighter, I wasn't terribly surprised. One boy had another boy's highlighter and he wouldn't give it back. Typical stuff. I gave them a minute or two, but they didn't resolve it, so I knew it was time to step in.

I hoisted myself up and took two steps towards the dispute...

"Really? You're going to make her come over there over a highlighter? Can't you see she's injured...?"

I didn't recall seeing this girl around when I fell. (It was after school. There were witnesses.) She explained that one of her friends had seen me fall and had told her about it. (Which I didn't want to examine too closely. I had seen a couple students who had been in my classes that day.)

So, apparently, some of them had heard. But hadn't mentioned it. Well, then again, I hadn't mentioned it.

The boys resolved the highlighter issue on their own. They probably would have anyway. But perhaps I should milk my "injury" for all it's worth.

(The ankle really hurt for about a day. The pain lessened considerably the second day. And now I'm moving about normally, although there's still a twinge of pain in my foot.)

Generous with Someone Else's Gum

It was the Friday before the Thanksgiving break, and I had an 8th grade science class to boot. Ugh, right? Well, no. Actually not.

Surprisingly, they were pretty good. Talking. But on task. It was one of those days where I didn't have too much to worry about.

Fourth period, a boy got up and started distributing sticks of gum to half the class. As they were not supposed to be eating or chewing gum in class, I warned them all to not open them and start chewing right then. But I thought nothing much of it. The class was working pretty well, and the gum distribution didn't distract the class.

Fifteen minutes later, Renee returned.

Renee had been summoned by someone (I don't pay much attention to too many details when the office calls for a student) for something. She looked at the two boys across from her and demanded her gum back.

Uh oh...

The boys denied having her gum. Well, at that point it was true. (The boy had tossed the empty gum packet.)

Yeah, I wasn't about to let that pass. I told Renee what had happened to her gum. And she was not pleased.

Again, this could have gone really, really badly. Instead, they debated the flavor of the gum. (It was mint. The boys seemed to think it was peppermint.) And Renee insisted that the boys replace the gum. Which they sort of, kind of, hinted that they might just remember to do someday.

Deep sigh.

So, that incident went into the note to the teacher. Because Renee's going to need backup if the boys then try to claim that they don't owe her a pack of gum.

Yelled At

6th period. Adam walked in and claimed a dry erase marker. Cleared a spot on the white board and started to write up an apology. "I'm so sorry, Sarah..."

As he was doing this, he explained. Sarah had not spoken to him all day. And he had no idea why. So, he had spent the entire day apologizing to her, to no avail.

In the midst of this, Sarah walked in. Saw what Adam was doing. And it made her madder.

Adam left. (He wasn't enrolled in this government class.)

* * *

"Get your hands off me!" Followed by a smack on the arm.  

It was the end of period 5. The students were filing out. And Samantha just lit into Jacob. 

Jacob acted perplexed. He told anyone who would listen (including me) that he had done nothing wrong. He had bumped into Samantha. Shoved by someone behind him. He then apologized for bumping into her. And that's when she let him have it.  

Now, normally I would believe Jacob. But Jacob was of the crew who had spent the period chillin' in the back of the classroom, acting as if he had nothing to do but hang with his guys. And talk. And laugh. (They were supposed to be watching the movie and answering questions that went along with it.)  

So, I have a feeling that there was a bit more to that interaction than what Jacob says.

* * *

The next day Sarah and Adam walked into 6th period arm in arm. All was forgiven? 

"Adam, why was she mad at you?"

Adam still had no idea. She wouldn't tell him. She said as much...

"Will you at least tell me?" I asked.

I admit, I was curious.  

She explained that Adam wanted to go to prom in a muscle car, and she didn't think that was appropriate. But upon further consideration, she realized she wasn't letting him make any prom decisions, so she'd let him have that one.  

Um, okay...

Did you spend weeks planning your prom experience? Did you go to your prom? Would you have asked Sarah for all the details, too? 

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