Monday, August 14, 2006

Problem solved... for me at least

I have an update on that demonseed student I mentioned two posts ago. She is history. I wish I could say it was because she was expelled or sent to the "special" school as reader Teri so amusingly referred to it. Nah, in the end she simply moved. That means some other poor teachers in another local district get to deal with her.

Picture the scene: This morning, I pulled up my grade/attendance program on my computer. I click through my classes to check for changes (it is only the second week of school so I am still getting drops and additions). I click on the dreaded period this girl is in, and a flag pops up saying The following student(s) has been dropped from this class: And there was her name.
I clicked through the rest of my periods just to make sure she hadn't simply been relocated to another one of my classes, but nope, she was gone. I asked around and some other relieved teachers were all to happy to giddily inform me that she moved away.

With her gone, that class is now a dream to teach. Not only are her disruptions gone, but her vast influence on fence-straddling students departed with her, so these other students shaped up as well. I swear, one of the most frustrating things about teaching is the influence that one bad apple can have on 30 other young people in the same room, and hell, 900 other youngsters on an entire campus. I can think of a lot of students at my school who are probably, literally, crying with joy that this girl is gone. For them, a major source of bullying is no longer there. Unfortunately, all I can think of are the students and teachers elsewhere who have no idea what is about to come crashing down upon them.

Good Day to You, Sir

2 comments:

Dan Edwards said...

Didn't you see the super teacher Clark in ghetto NYC movie (the guy who wrote the 55 book/list)last sunday night? It is possible to work miracles with such students if you have the right amounts of love, patience, gumption and a bit of arrogance and mental instability.

However, I KNOW that feeling of having such a student as you were enduring, LEAVE. Sadly, school administration bends over backward for the best interest of the tiny minority of "should not be in regular school" to the expense of the majority.

Teri said...

maybe you can do some investigative work, find out where she went and send an anonymous letter to the school.....

good riddance!