Last week in review at school...

So...last week seems so long ago. Well, you were there for the health class that I taught. We kind of had a sub. Coach Ozz was there in and out the entire time. He would come in, yell at the kids, get them going, and then leave again. Jeopardy went alright. They participated more than I thought. Well, there were some of the trouble kids that participated more than I thought. Derrick actually got into it and really enjoyed it. Antoine stayed in class but slept. Anthony finally started keeping score and enjoyed writing on the board. They got a little rowdy and I finally stopped and made them do writing assignments because they were too out of control. ON Wednesday Nicole and I went to the Life Skills Training at DCPS and so the health class had a sub and they were TERRIBLE. So, we have now tighted up on them completely. We have given them a seating charting according to last name. They had to do work out of the book on Wednesday where they couldnt' talk to anyone becuase of the way they behaved. It was Derrick's birthday. Nicole went and got him a cupcake and he sent her an email on Sunday thanking her and askign about make-up work. HUGE. He still is defiant and direspectful in class but bit by bit. A lot of the class on Wednesday I was alone with the kids in the room. Anthony was acting up. I gave him a warning, kicked hiim out of class, told him he could come back in but didn't want to. He kept bouncing tennis balls everywhere. I had enough of him and told him I was writing him up. He got all upset because he didn't want to be written up. He already had Saturday suspension. So, I told him that if he behaved and proved it to me he woudln't be written up. So, he behaved and did his work. He came back into class and disrupted everything and started bouncing the ball all over the walls. I said to him, "Anthony, remember our deal." He said ok and turned around, went back outside and started doing his work. He came back in 5 minutes until class was over and started writing on the white board. I said hey, we have 5 minutes left, don't screw up now and he was great. I congratulated him as he left the room, told him he wasn' tgoing to get written up, and that he was a good kid. He was very happy. He also continued to tell me that on Saturday they were doign teh 2nd annual vigil for his friend "smoke" that was shot and killed. He even told me waht he was goign to wear adn what they were doing. He is a good kid deep down. I hope it went well for him. We will have him tomorrow and I will see how it went.

PE classes went fine last week. We were in a transition period until we could get on the tennis courts. We started our tennis unit right now, which is what I will be doing my TWS on. We are learnign with PE, testing, trying...whatever you want to call it.

So, the Life Training Skills was really good. It was nice to be in a different setting and learn some new things. We had a really good time and met some really good people.

We also ahve a student who is goign to be hoem alone forthe next month. His mom is going to El Salvador for the next month to take care of a sick family member. He is staying here. Wow. The thigns these kids have to do.

Today we had an interesting event occur. Yesterday a young man was shot and killed. In our Day 2 period 3 class there is a girl named Jazmin. This young man that was shot and killed was Jazmin's godbrother. He lived with her and her mom. He was shot by a "hood" that killed this boy's older brother a few months ago in the same place. The older brother was 17 and the one killed this weekend was 14. They both lived with Jazmin. She is having a very difficult time. Apparently the boy's mother is in jail and didn't even know about it. Jazmin does not have a father figure in her lief and has only met her father a couple of times. Her father figure was always her grandfather. She was the favorite as well. About two years ago they were driving in a car and the grandfather had a heart attack and died in front of her. She claims that that is a part of her behavioral problems, along with many other things. She is a student that does have behavioral problems and a mouth on her. I asked her to do somethign today and she yelled in my face, "NOOOOOO". Oh the joys of teaching! :) She has a couple of friends inthe class with her that struggle as well, one of them has a 10 month old son and she is 17. HOwever, they can be very positive influences on each other and at times very negative, depends on their moods. All three girls like Nicole and me quite a lot. They tell us we are their favorite teachers and give us hugs. But one of them has Leigh and tells her the same things. :) They are great girls though. I like them a lot. So many of the student are effected right now by teh death of this 14 year old that was killed. I am not sure waht school he went to. I don't think ours.