"You have GOT to be kidding me!"

[thegiraffe]

These words were said by my Principal, upon walking into the office and seeing four 5th grade boys (the oldest kids in the school - 10/11 years old) sitting in the office in the corrals. I saw them before she did, and told their teacher who was in the other part of the office that I was only shocked by one of them.

Me: Shocked!
J: Teacher

J: Well, one of them is innocent...he's probably the one you're surprised about. He has the evidence on his arms.
Me: What'd they do - hit him or something?
J: No. They were biting each other.
Me: *blink* You've GOT to be kidding me.....


So yes, ladies and gentlemen. Today is Thursday. It's Thursday MORNING...so who knows what's going to happen today and tomorrow. This week, so far we've had:

-a kindergartener pull the fire alarm and evacuate all of the staff (it was after school)
-a kindergartener 'finger paint' on the walls in the bathroom.....but it wasn't paint.
-a second grader write a 'hate list' and then pretend to shoot his classmates (maliciously) at the lunch table. He's gone...thank goodness!
-5th graders biting...aah!


and numerous other things that I can't think of at the moment.

Christmas break can NOT come too soon.

[Irving Patrick Freleigh]

Just what kind of school are you teaching at?

Good Lord, kids are rowdy these days.

[MystyGlyttyr]

Sounds about normal for a day when I was in elementary school. Except no one's set a fire or robbed anyone else yet. (Those were both me, heh heh. Oops.)

[crazylegs]

Just what kind of school are you teaching at?

Good Lord, kids are rowdy these days.

Betcha didn't know teachers are taught restraint techniques...

[WanderingSaint]

Sounds about normal for the school I was in NF. I was stabbed though the hand by a classmate with a pencil because he was bored in third grade. Someone from fourth grade kept setting fire to the garbage cans during prayer... and this gem:

N=nutjob sixth grader
F=fricksticks, or nutjobs cronies
S=random second grader in the wrong place at the wrong time

N: Check it out! My dad let me wear his steel toed boots 'cause I fit 'em!
F: Cool! They really steel?
N: Yeah! Hurt like a bugger! Watch this!

*turns around and kicks S passing behind him in the FACE*

*S falls to the ground, crack her head on the concrete, and starts screeching*

N: *turns back to buds* See!

... Girl had to go to the hospital for stitches. Numbnuts was suspended for three days. Sad part was, N was one of the hall guards.

... thank goodness we got the chance to move overseas.

[XCashier]

N: Check it out! My dad let me wear his steel toed boots 'cause I fit 'em!
F: Cool! They really steel?
N: Yeah! Hurt like a bugger! Watch this!

*turns around and kicks S passing behind him in the FACE*

Just hauled off and kicked a smaller child?! Sounds like he's related to these two brats.

Suspended for three days? That's it?! He should've been sent to Juvenile Detention Hall.

[blas]

Dontcha know little Pweshus can't go to Juvie? That's for hardknock kids, not little Jimmy. Little Jimmy just gets aggressive sometimes!

[WanderingSaint]

We were in bumfuck Newfoundland, there wasn't a juvie hall for at least five hours drive from we were, which was in 'The City' (Saint Johns).

He was still hall monitor after he returned.

But if it makes you feel better, he was behind two grades, and two years latter he shot himself in the eye with a BB gun and is now blind in said eye. Last I heard from someone from the town I met by accident a while back, he's actually in jail for robbery and assault while drunk. Doesn't suprise me since he was drunk in class a lot anyway.

The kid who stabbed me apparently died in a car crash less then a year after I left... when he decided to steal a car and go for a joyride (he was 11).

The girl that used to steal my toys dropped out of school at 13 and had a kid. I have no idea what she's up to now.

... a LOT of winners at that school.

These kids weren't 'Pweshuses'. They were the kids of people that didn't give to craps.

.. well, except for Toy Stealer. She was a 'pweshus'. Had an entire basement playroom FULL of toys and a majore kleptomaniac problem to boot.

[blas]

Hahah I know what you mean there about kids like that.

All the girls who used to call me a "slut" and a "whore", and I mean they'd stop in the hallway to call me that, most of them have already had 1 or 2 kids out of wedlock. And guess what? Most of them dropped out senior year. And guess what else? They never got a chance to kick the shit out of me like they wanted to (one said "I'd do anything to break your Barbie face!") because they were all on probation for various drug, alcohol, and assault charges. Ha ha ha ha.

Wow I hate kids and teenagers so much.....and to think, things have not changed since our parents were kids. I feel for giraffe every time I read one of her stories. She qualifies for Sainthood. She truly does.

All hail giraffe!

[XCashier]

I feel for giraffe every time I read one of her stories.

I feel for caring teachers like Giraffe and conscientious students who truly are trying to do well and get ahead. Both get swamped and overwhelmed by the masses who are quite happy with their own mediocrity.

[Saydrah]

-a kindergartener 'finger paint' on the walls in the bathroom.....but it wasn't paint.
.

Giraffe... I really hate to bring this up and put more worries on your plate, but I'm a psych student (animal behavior really but my undergrad school doesn't offer a very good AB program, so mostly human psych right now) and a good friend of mine is a special ed teacher of over 20 years, and both my texts and my friend have mentioned that this specific behavior is highly indicative of sexual abuse. If the child is not DD or LD in a severe enough way that this use of fecal matter doesn't come as a surprise, I would highly recommend investigating his reasons for this behavior further.

[thegiraffe]

Giraffe... I really hate to bring this up and put more worries on your plate, but I'm a psych student (animal behavior really but my undergrad school doesn't offer a very good AB program, so mostly human psych right now) and a good friend of mine is a special ed teacher of over 20 years, and both my texts and my friend have mentioned that this specific behavior is highly indicative of sexual abuse. If the child is not DD or LD in a severe enough way that this use of fecal matter doesn't come as a surprise, I would highly recommend investigating his reasons for this behavior further.

My undergrad is in psych, too. I don't think sexual abuse is an issue here...two weeks or so ago, he colored on the same bathroom walls with crayons (and was made to clean it up). This child is a constant behavior problem. It's partially a parental issue, but partially an impulse issue. I wouldn't be surprised if he is diagnosed with conduct disorder in the future (which typically manifests into adult antisocial personality disorder and has a high comorbidity with ADHD). He's intentionally defiant and oppositional, has very little disregard for the consequences of his actions on himself or others, and has little to no impulse control.

Unfortunately, because of how the school systems are, he'll likely be labeled 'hopeless'. He's a smart kid, he just needs to be taught how to behave.

[ditchdj]

Just what kind of school are you teaching at?

Good Lord, kids are rowdy these days.

Heh, dont get me started about working with kids in Indianapolis! There was one teacher that told me he's even used "pressure point control" to stop girls from fighting and even broke a kid's arm to force him to drop a gun. It was always so much fun to hear the parents bitching and screaming at teachers for their "darling angel" kids getting into trouble since they can do no wrong at all because they all like to play the "I didnt do it" card. "My kid doesnt have a problem. YOU got the problem!" Yeah right lady. If you know what takes to be a teacher why dont you get YOUR fat ass in the classroom and sub and tutor for a week and see what it's like. Then they all piss and moan about how IPS can't find enough teachers or subs.

[AKWalMartCartGuy]

good god, elementary school sounds like it's worse than high school at least on the staff. at least high school tries to hide it

[thegiraffe]

I'm at a borderline Title-I school (low income/SES). We have generally really good kids, but everyone kinda snapped this past week.

We were in school until Dec. 21, which is the latest I can remember being in school, and I grew up in the school district I now work in. Our school isn't inner-city, and most of our kids aren't 'at-risk', we just had a tough week. We ALL had a tough week.

Two weeks off is just what the doctor ordered