To kick it off, Monday started with quite a bang- at the beginning of 4th period, one of my students came in the door crying asking if she could get a hall pass to go to the theater. When I asked why, she said that a friend of hers - and a former student of mine - had been shot and killed that day in San Jose. That geometry class was the worst lesson I have given in a long time, and the students were all worked up by this rumor that a Richmond High ninth grader had just died - and all I could think about was that Ramon used to be in my class.
At the beginning of 5th period, the assistant principal walked around to every room in the school to assure students that it was, in fact, just a rumor. The kid was actually at home sleeping - skipping school of course. His English teacher filled me in on the fact that Ramon spends much of his time as a drug-runner, so she was sad to say that she wasn't really surprised by hearing the rumor. I guess their English class did a "walk a mile in my shoes" poetry assignment, and Ramon talked all about guns, drugs, weed, and death; it was the only work he did in that class. As a 14-year old, he has made peace with the fact that he might get killed. How awful is that?
Next came Tuesday, where according to my TFA mentor, I gave my best lesson ever. If only the enthusiasm and energy to get there would be sustainable for more than one day! What I remember most from that day however, was a discussion I had with a mentor of one of my students. David is in my high -achieving 4th period class, and he is a genuine kid that tries so hard but is so far behind in math curriculum that teaching him new up-to-grade-level material is very difficult. I see him every Thursday after school for additional tutoring, and talk on the phone every two or three weeks with his mentor. Over the phone this Tuesday, I was told that him, his parents, and his four older sisters live in a trailer, and that his mother is just awful to him. I understood why David had this female mentor when she told me that his mother often gets angry with him and refuses to make him any dinner. This woman on the phone explained that she took David out and bought him a glove and cleats for him to play baseball on the Richmond team because his parents refused to do so. I hope she couldn't tell that David's geometry teacher was crying on the other end of the phone.
On Wednesday, Jose from my 5th period class stayed in during lunch to explain to me that he wanted to be an actor so that he could make a lot of money and take care of his nieces since his sister wasn't doing a good job. He explained that his entire family is moving back to Mexico but that he is going to stay because he wants to go to college, and he asked me if I could help show him how to go about the application process. The sad thing is that although I have the utmost optimism for Jose, I fear all the ways that the education system can fail him, especially if all his family is leaving to Mexico. I also feel sometimes that these kids are getting the short end of the stick by getting a first-year teacher. On a related note, having heard his story, how the hell am I supposed to give him an F in Geometry even if he only understands 20% of the material? That's going to be a tough day.
I realized on Friday how much I have built up my patience by working in a classroom. Strangely enough, this realization came with the first verbal confrontation I have had with another teacher. As it turns out, for every ounce of patience I have gained for the craziness of my students, I have lost an ounce of patience for immature adults. First off, I share a walls with three other classes, one of whom is a ninth grade English teacher. Now, I will be the first one to say that I have problems keeping my 6th period class under control, and part of those problems include banging on the wall. About every other day, I have to move a student's seat or assign detention for knocking back and forth between the walls; every time there is a knock on the wall, it seems to be in their blood that they must respond with an equal or angrier knock. Such is the mindset of how life works in this community. The term "conflict resolution" is not commonly known, and any verbal disagreement between students almost always escalates to swearing and inappropriate name-calling. This only enters the classroom scene for my freshmen.
I was appalled on Friday to find out that this teacher is like my students in many ways. For half of 6th period - at least 25 min - there was consistent knocking on the wall from her classroom. I moved every student of mine away from the wall, thinking that it was them, but still more banging. This is the same class that has six special education students, and one of them has the shortest temper of any student I have ever met. Needless to say, after 20 minutes of nonstop pounding, he ran to the wall cursing and banging like crazy. I don't think I have been that furious since the beginning of the school year - but this time I was furious along WITH my student, not AT him. At the end of the period I walked over to the other class and tried to have a civil conversation about the possibility of preventing her students from ruining the Friday quiz I had planned. She instead explained to my face that my class is always hitting the wall so today she told her class that they can hit back (which the students obviously took full advantage of). I tried to explain to her that I wish she would not approach the situation in this way, and instead talk to me before allowing her students to retaliate. Unfortunately I could not get past the phrase "...and instead talk to me..." because she kept interrupting me by saying "We're talking right now." I left her with, "Maybe we'll try this conversation again after school," since I nearly blew up in her face and in front of students, but since it was Friday, I couldn't catch her again before she left school. I just could not believe that she told her students that they could do the exact opposite of what is behaviorally appropriate in school - and in life for that matter - and I am still particularly upset about it because that is the first thing that has happened at school that made me feel like I was taken advantage of just because I am a first-year teacher. And with such a large school faculty, that was the first interaction I have had with her. Great. Monday's going to suck.
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