Pretty Typical Day

Today I got a new student - Montarious. One of the first things he hands me is paperwork recommending him for an anger management class. I knew at that moment it was gonna be one of those days. Later on, in my all girls social studies section, Roneisha called me a "white dog and a bitch." She was angry that I had moved her from one seat to another. I'd surmise it's possible that she's still angry I gave her an F in math last term...

Reginald was sent to the office today for having gang signs drawn on his arm (I would've had no idea, if not for another teacher calling him out). It's possible he'll be suspended. I talked to him about gang activity in his neighborhood. According to him, he's been approached about "joining up." He's been guaranteed an automatic rank of "old g" if he joins, because of his fighting skills. The kid looks like a high-schooler and commands authority from his classmates. So I had a little chat with him about his intentions while the class was using the bathroom.

Two pairs of my boys nearly came to blows today. I have about 8 students who have serious anger management problems, several of which might also have physical disabilities further compounding the issue.

The thing is that today was a completely ordinary day. Every single day has a long list of issues; I don't think I've had a good day yet. Luckily I have a 4-day weekend this weekend.

I will end with a positive. One of my students I've previously written about, Tydario, who has been one of my tougher projects to tackle, wrote me a letter. Now, my patience with Tydario has been tried like none other. He can be immensely unreasonable, and downright nasty when he gets into his "funks" I've described in an earlier post. The context was that I had just assigned a social studies project where students plan a pretend trip to a country of my assignment. I assigned partner and Tydario was upset about his assigned partner. I worked hard to give him some other choices and he responded very negatively to every one. Then he reflected on it for a few minutes I assume, as he shortly produced a wonderful letter for me:

Dear Mr. Stewart,

thank you very much for putting me on the group. Lord knows I am tring to hold on. I am tring to be a good person. Though the year. I don't think I can do it! Lord also know that I am a good guy. It just take along time for people to know me. Thank you very much for your courage in me.

Sorry

Tydario


The letter obviously touched me for many reasons, the least of which was because "courage" was one of our recent vocabulary words which I had him put up on our Word Wall. These moments are few and far between, but I dig em. The picture I posted is of Tydario.