Junior Cadets

We have a program here through the Anaheim P.D..  Junior Cadets.  It’s an after school program once a week, generally filled with students who have trouble at school and/or at home.  Students who get in trouble a lot are usually refered to the program.  I hear it’s a pretty good program.  One of my students’ parents asked for their son to be in it, because they had a son a few years go through it, and they thought it was a very valuable thing.  From what I hear, it’s run by some Anaheim police officers.  They do a lot of running, pushups, and things like that.

Last week C got kicked out of Junior Cadets.  Kicked out!  I’ve never heard of anyone being kicked out of it before.  Another student in the program said he was making racial slurs against Asian people, and then against Black people (remember, he IS black).  I was also told when they asked him to leave the room, he refused, and they had to forcefully remove him.  He was hanging on to desks and whatever he could to stay in the room (defiant ’till the end).

Yikes!

C’s Language

C said, “F**k you,” to a supervisor a couple of days ago.

Yesterday he told a girl that her mom was a lezbo.  When I asked him why, he said because she had said that his family was black.  I told him that it was true, they are black.  Did I mention C was black?  He is.

State Testing

…is here.

It’s a bittersweet time, at least for me.

Testing means no planning for the morning.  No teaching.  Just a quiet room full of test-takers.  So planning is easier.  During the testing weeks, we also get a longer recess, so that’s nice, too.  But walking around during the test, I can get a glimpse of the answers the students are putting.  And sometimes that can be heartbreaking.  Seeing a student put the stupidest answer, on a type question we just went over the week before, just makes you want to cry.  Or watching a student who struggles with reading (yes, even in the fourth grade) tear through the test and finish first, in about an hour too early.

Or the kid who breaks his pencil at the tip, then tries to hold it together to answer the questions, instead of raising his hand and asking for a new one.

You tell them to take their time.  You tell them to read carefully.  But sometimes, that just doesn’t help.

Testing takes all morning.  We start the test at about 9, and don’t finish until 11:15, which is our recess.  Just about everyone finishes in that time, but some just barely finish, and some have to go to the extra time room to finish.  You want students to take their time, because if they finish too early, they may sit around for close to an hour with nothing to do but read a book.  Sure, that sounds good to me and you, but to a student, that’s grueling.

I had one boy today that, during the math portion, would just stare out in space from time to time, as if the answer was written somewhere on the ceiling.  I have another boy who just sits and gels for about 5 minutes at a time.  It looks like he stayed up til 3 a.m. or something (I doubt he did, but you never know).

It gives me a lot of time.  I’m supposed to walk around the class and monitor, and I do.  But I can’t walk around for the entire 2 hours and 15 minutes.  I walk around, then sit.  Walk around, then sit.  Sometimes I’ll check papers while I walk around, or while I sit.

But I gotta keep moving.  One year, our principal walked around the school, and if she found teachers sitting at their desks, wrote them a note in their box reminding them to keep moving.

What ever.

A’s Writing

The king who rained

I remember when I was little.  My family were saying weird word that I didn’t know, like my sister has a frog in her throat, and my daddy says there fork in the road, or sometimes my mom tell me to get the hair spray and when I give it to her she says I am a little deer.  But when I grew up the wird word they told me were hyperbole.  I will never forget those word.

C’s Antics

I have to tell you, C’s behavior in class has improved.  He still drives me a little nuts, though.  He tends to pout when he gets in trouble, even if I just have to mention his name.  And then I lose him for about 3 or 4 minutes.

His out-of-class behavior, however, has not improved.  He is still getting in trouble when it’s time to line up.  He seems to call people names frequently, and make fun of people.  And he seems to be disrespectful to adults other than myself.  He gets discipline reminders, often more than one, almost daily (most students don’t get any).