Annoying Gnat

My maddening whirlwind of activity continues. I taught high school English for two days. I had freshman first period. They grouped together, too many at one table. There was no seating chart, but I was sure they weren’t sitting where they were supposed to be. There was a teaching assistant – no I think she was another teacher who shared the room. She came in and removed my things from her desk. I was to have a podium only.

I have to step into a brand-new world everyday. And yet people think I should know their world! So this other teacher breezed by me and whispered some bit of advice in my ear. “I’d break that group up,” she said. She was like an annoying gnat buzzing in my ear.

Something snapped inside me. I was very angry. It was the disrespect from this teacher. I prefer it when the teacher just steps in and talks directly to the students. They are more likely to listen to someone they know. So when I experienced this frustration of being put on the spot by this teacher I lost control and walked over to the table. I encircled my hand around the arm of one of the students and told her to get up and move to another table. She started screaming, “This is where I sit,” but she did move. At her new table she kept yelling, “She touched me! She touched me!” while pointing at me.

I got a letter from that school asking me not to sub there anymore. The letter mentioned something about being unable to control the class. If I get two more letters I will be banned from the inner city district.