Cell phones

The students constantly game you and it gets tiresome. I have to repeat how I am in charge and I don’t want to hear how their teacher does things, what their teacher allows. While in a fifth grade setting, one student said, “You’re not supposed to do that,” and I blew up. “Who do you think you are? You don’t tell me what to do!”

I hate to be driven to shouting. It creates this negative energy, which drains me. I am sick a lot more than I ever was before I started this job. I have these issues now about people telling me what to do. My anger has pushed people away and I feel pretty alone now.

Another High School Special Ed class – which is the lexicon used to describe malcontents who want to break out of the school system. Students were talking a lot and not buckling down to work. Their teacher left word they could watch a movie, so we did. A teacher from next door popped her head in to complain it was too loud and she doubted that the absent teacher would have permitted such a plan as watching a movie. So now I’m getting hell from the other teachers. I didn’t feel like popping back over to defend myself. She could just work it out when the absent teacher returned.

Word travels fast that there is a sub for a class. The second period students learn from first period. I swear they have mental telepathy. So when the second block of students came in, they also wanted to watch a movie but I insisted they do an hour of math. Many of them were larger than me and were labeled as Learning Handicapped. I had two aides who sat with individuals. I tried to explain the lesson on the board, but again, wasn’t getting their attention. The lesson was adding up expenses on the phone bill, figuring discounts and averaging numbers.

These were 14-year-old boys and the energy was high. They had trouble remaining in their seats. One of the teaching assistants talked to me about her confusion as to the attitudes. She was from New Orleans and seemed to think it was the California attitude that was at fault. But, of course, these are the students who have been weeded out from the good classes.

I finally figured out how the news travels. Cell phones! Even in the classes where kids are doing badly academically they all seem to have money for cell phones.