- "Shawna's out today. She's getting her hair done by my mom." (I KNOW that hair braiding takes at least 8 hours, but it would never occur to me as a legitimate reason to KEEP YOUR CHILD FROM SCHOOL.)
- "Teacher, you're 30? My mom is 31." (The child was 12 or 13.)
- There was a boy named Darius in my class. The next period, Darius came back and told me his name was Darren. I thought I was losing my mind. The other kids did not register that anything was amiss. I asked Darren, "Weren't you already in here last period?" He said that he was not. He did not have the air of a student pulling a fast one; nor did he offer any explanation. I did not inquire further, because I did not want to be the insane white teacher to whom all the black kids looked alike.
When the classes changed, I found another teacher in the hall. "Are there twins in this grade?" I asked tentatively. "Yes," she replied, "And for some reason the parents thought it was a good idea to name them 'Darius' and 'Darren.'" "Good, I'm not losing my mind," I replied. She answered, "Some days I can almost tell them apart." - Today, the vice principal threw an ice cream sundae party for the fifteen kids in 6th grade who are passing all of their classes. Achievement!
revision99 is 20
2 weeks ago
3 comments:
Although Darius and Darren and Shawna need you more, I understand wanting the 'burbs. It probably feels more possible there, eh?
I want to teach, not to be a prison warden. Just managing behavior all day is awful, and it makes me start thinking extremely cynical thoughts.
Yeah, I don't think I even have the patience to teach that age. The worst part is, the longer we (as a society) put off actually teaching ALL kids, the more kids end up getting no teaching at all. I hate the idea of abandoning Darius & Darren and the kids in the CPS.
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