Problem Child

So many classroom management issues have magically disappeared this year, but there is always that one bad seed in every class. I’ll let this note I wrote in documentation of a recent classroom event speak for itself:




To Whom It May Concern:

The backdrop to this story is that ------ is a constant disruptive force in class as well as directly recalcitrant on numerous occasions. I am typically very patient and level-headed in dealing with her, despite her incessant attitude problems; I do not grow personally offended until she distracts others who do in fact wish to learn and deserve to be in my class by paying attention and keeping up with the work. One of her chief discipline problems, besides mouthing off when asked to do anything, is that she consistently leaves her backpack, purse, and/or coat on her desk so that she can either text message on her cell phone or write notes. (I know not which, because I do not prefer to make an issue out of it.) Recently I have decided that just because she never does anything in class and does not care to (despite repeated calls home and attempts to encourage her to attend tutoring) does not mean that she has the right to leisure time during my class. To that end, I make her clear her desk of everything except for paper and her Latin book on the rare occasion she brings that.

Today, December 8, 2006, around 2:30 p.m., just such an incident occurred. At first her backpack was on her desk; eventually she put that on the floor. Then it was her purse, and after some amount of whining and complaining that too was placed on the floor. A little while later, it was her coat, so again I had to verbally struggle with her before she finally removed it. To my shock, the bookbag resurfaced on the desk for some reason, and at last I issued an ultimatum: anything on the desk besides paper, a Latin book, and a writing utensil would become mine until the end of the school day. I allowed her a great deal of time to make her decision, repeating my ultimatum at least once, but she deliberately transgressed me by ignoring me and ostentatiously shuffling her papers around in her bag. I had had enough, so I told her to give it me, and she did. I placed it behind my desk.

Unfortunately she had purchased a ticket to the basketball game scheduled for the end of the day and had left that ticket in her bookbag now in my possession. I understand that any amount of money is significant to a high school student and attending such events is of utmost social significance, but after considering the situation I decided that keeping her bookbag with the ticket still in it and thereby disallowing her to attend the basketball game was fair and just punishment for having tried me to such an extent in class that day. When it became clear to her that I would not surrender the bag, she attempted to grab it, but I snatched it first and stowed it away in one my drawers, at which point she claimed that I had grabbed her and stormed out of class, evidently to present her story to Principal ------. Perhaps my abrupt physical reaction was a poor decision, but I want to make it clear that I did not actually touch her in any way; I had simply made up my mind that she was not getting that bag back and I made sure to only grab the bag before she was able to tighten her grip on it.

Principal ------ came to talk with me and after agreeing to give her bag back to attend the game late and deciding to confer again concerning this incident on Monday, I am writing this explication of events to the best of my honest and impartial memory. In retrospect, I do not believe I acted inappropriately in any way, although I appreciate that this may turn into a sticky situation. Thank you.

Sincerely,
David L. Jones




During that conference, which went swimmingly, the assistant spoke of nothing but grades, which was a bit confusing. And sure enough, he later asked for her midterm progress report, which I didn’t do this term, and went straight to the principal with that information, not even bothering to explain the context and circumstance of the incident, only that I wasn’t doing my duty. I feel so betrayed about it. Here’s the exchange:




From: Me
To: Assistant Principal ------

Including the last quiz of the term we just took yesterday (that she chose not to take and received a 0 for), Shunique's average does comes out to exactly 35 for this term.

Sorry about not having the progress report. I don't recall why I didn't get them done this term, and I know it's unacceptable and puts you in a tight spot, but I do make many phone calls home in general this year when students are failing, having problems, or showing commendable improvement, including hers. Next term I'll make sure I have the paper trail, and again I know your hands are tied without it, but in reality there's no way both Shunique and her mother can deny not knowing about both her behavior and her grades.

Thanks again for your support. Please keep me updated - my intent is not malicious towards Shunique, I do want things worked out positively. This really is about her behavior in the first place, not her grades.
From: Assistant Principal -------
To: Principal ------

David Jones did not complete second term progress reports for his students.

From: Principal ------
To: Me

Is this true? Did you or did you not complete second term progress reports. If not, who many did you complete and how many were not completed. Second, this is the 18 week, why haven't they all been completed?

From: Me
To: Principal ------

No, I haven't done progress reports this term (though usually I do). I give quizzes and tests almost everyday in all my classes, which made it very difficult to keep up with grading and averages this term. The students should know, however, what their general grades are because they get constant feedback and see their grades on all such material when I pass it all back. Moreover, I've made plenty of phone calls to parents of students who are failing (in addition to those who are working hard to do abnormally well).

And both Shunique and her mom know that she is failing badly. She knows she hasn't even attempted any classwork, homework, quizzes, or tests in quite some time, and I've spoken with her mother on the phone about all this. The real issue at stake is her atrocious behavior and constant disruptions of an otherwise exceptionally well-behaved class.

Point being, I can admit that in terms of actual physical progress reports, fine, I haven't done my professional duty and deserve a reprimand and I'll make sure I get them done for the rest of the year. But in this specific case, just because there isn't a paper trail doesn't mean both Sunique and her family weren't aware of what was going on. In fact, I made sure that they did. The real issue is her behavior in class, which is entirely different from her grades, which is entirely different from my failure to do progress reports. I can't force her to learn, but I can prevent her from keeping others from learning. I'm a bit concerned at this point that Shunique text messaging on her cell phone in class on a daily basis is turning into me getting in trouble - if I need to be in trouble for progress reports, fine, but quite frankly I've followed the spirit of the law if not the letter on that issue, and in the first place that's a separate issue entirely than Shunique's behavior in class, so we should be able to treat them as such.

Thanks for your support on this.




Perhaps I am fault here for something, and usually I just avoid this sort of garbage, but Mother of God! These people don’t care that this student has the ugliest character problem I’ve ever seen, they just want to coax me into giving her a passing grade. But what does knowledge matter without a moral compass? Ah, would that I taught in a Catholic school, or that the public schools knew what they were about! But that, of course, is a blog for another time. If anything becomes of this incident, I’ll be sure to update.