Extracted ...

One of the great things about Teach for America teachers is their creativity. Ms. Gerchman was not satisfied simply writing referrals to send students to the office when they misbehaved...no. She decided to write the best referrals possible. These referrals stand as a testiment to the mind-blowingly stupid behaviors that middle-school teachers face each and every day. I wanted to share them as a sort of 21 referral salute to her leaving.

Ms. Gerchman writes,

"Student achievement is a beautiful thing. But so is teacher tenacity in the face of some truly ridiculous stunts. The following are actual discipline referrals I’ve written for my charming students.

September 11, 2002: “Literally rolling on floor during class mural-making session.”

November 8, 2002: “In the middle of another student’s turn at reading, he burst out in song: ‘I like big butts and I cannot lie …’”

November 13, 2002: “Insulted a classmate by calling her a dwarf.”

November 14, 2002: “Will not stay in seat, will not pay attention, despite my numerous, high-decibel entreaties for him to do so.”

January 13, 2003: “Simply does not understand concept of not talking while teacher is doing same. Maintains, ‘didn’t do nothing’ and ‘why do you always have to write people up?’ and ‘how much you gotta write?’”

January 22, 2003: “I have told the whole class to be quiet. I have told him to be quiet. I have said, ‘This is your last warning.’ Still, the boy speaks.”

January 27, 2003: “When I gave her the attached referral and was talking to her about completing her classwork in the Student Management Room, she continued to make smart retorts until I began to raise my voice. Then she said, ‘Don’t you be raising your voice at me.’”

February 7, 2003: “Came over to me while I was writing another student up and asked why I was doing so. I said it was none of her business and she had to get back to work. She said, ‘It’s a free country.’”

February 23, 2003: “Stuck middle finger up at me repeatedly throughout class period. When I privately asked her why, she replied, ‘Shut up.’”

March 4, 2003: “Brought no paper to class and claimed this was a good reason not to take required notes.”

March 10, 2003: “Told to pull his pants (around his knees) up, he insisted on blowing a salute through a rolled-up paper horn first.”

April 11, 2003: “Combing a student’s hair instead of looking at book. I said, ‘This is not a beauty parlor; put the brush away,’ and she said, ‘I ain’t got a brush.’”

May 8, 2003: “Raised hand and, when called on, said, ‘I hate this class.’”

May 12, 2003: “Playing at another teacher’s door when sent to sharpen pencil, then insulting her while I write this (‘It’s not my fault her ears are stuffed with mashed potatoes’). Earlier in period, told me I needed to take a bath!”

October 22, 2003: “Talking incessantly, throwing bits of paper, getting out of seat, and mysteriously ‘falling out of desk’ not one but three times.”

October 30, 2003: “Will not raise hand. When I yelled at him, he made a big show of wiping saliva off his forehead and said, ‘I already took a shower.’”

December 1, 2003: “I asked the class to list our mandatory school supplies. He raised his hand and said, ‘Weed.’”

December 12, 2003: “Typically requires 3-5 requests before following directions, such as ‘sit down’ or ‘come here.’”

February 11. 2004: “Sprayed extremely potent cologne in middle of class, aggravating several students’ allergies.”

March 4, 2004: “Absolutely refuses to accept even minimum responsibility for any action.”

March 15, 2004: “Will not stop making cruel comments to another student about that student’s late father. Given a stern and clear warning not to discuss this, he said, ‘I hate it when it’s raining; the tombstones get wet.’”

Heh .. that was rather funny ... :)

Well, after reading that, I think sometimes I am extremely fortunate here. In Singapore, students may misbehave, but they still aren't so bad ... yet. Thank goodness for that. When the kids misbehave, telling them off usually help. I've never send them off to the Principal before yet. Somehow we handle them ourselves, I doubt it is the culture to send every disciplinary case up. Perhaps we'll discuss the student with the disciplinary committee later, but we don't have the habit to write referrals and send them off.

I do get disruptive students in my class, especially in my Normal Acad class. With 45 of them squeezed in a cramped classroom and half of them not interested in learning, it can get very demoralising to teach. It was really like a zoo and complains to decrease the class size fell on deaf ears. I was simply told that it's really not too bad, other NA students are worse than them. Period. The students were not motivated and not interested. One wonders why they are there. I guess perhaps it wasn't too bad after all ... like it could have been worst right? We shall always look at the bright sides of things. Oh well .... anyway, the good news is that after 1 1/2 years with them, I think they do like me somewhat ... heh ... which means they really tried to do my work. Or perhaps they just like the sweets I gave them. *LOL*

It's really not too bad. Teaching itself and dealing with the kids is fun and challenging. It's all the bloody admin work and useless meetings and 'shows' you have to put up which is draining. There is a basic lack of trust in our culture. And it goes right from the top all the way down to the bottom. *sigh*