don-tizzle

Mama is ALL TALK and NO ACTION. No secret hideaways or surprise-ambushes. I should have known though. I mean, if Mama was really as tough as she pretended to be on the phone, would her son act like a donkey at school?

Probably not.

Today in third block I asked the kids to draw a bird's-eye view of the classroom to illustrate remote sensing. It was fairly quiet in there for THAT class (meaning only 5 people were talking and the rest were merely making strange noises, beating on the desk, farting and/or humming). "Okay, I want you to draw what a bird would see if he were flying over your heads right now! What would a bird see?"

"A buncha 'special' children," Brandon said under his breath. I bit my lip to stifle a giggle.

I pulled Dontravius out of class while the rest were "doing their work."

Let me give Dontravius some context. He was suspended from days 2-12 for fighting. The day he returned he almost started another fight in my room. The Warm-Up that particular day was to reflect on your performance in science thus far. I found Dontravius' on the floor after he left, balled up. It said, "I haven't done anything well yet. I just got back. I need to change my attitude and my grades. I need to try my best and do good in here."

The next day I returned it to him with a note on it that told him I was proud of him for being honest and I wanted to help him reach those goals; to let me know if there was any way I could help him. When I put it on his desk, he picked it up. "What the hell is this?" He read it, laughed and pushed it aside. For the rest of class he was an ass. He'd smirk when I'd get frustrated, make fun of the students who would comply with my directions, etc. etc. He's been no better ever since.

ANYWAYS. Today he strolled in 15 minutes late sans pencil or paper, plopped down, put his feet up on the desk and went on an expletive-filled rant about how "wack" RMS is. I called him out in the hall and took a deep breath. Was there anything I could say to him that would even phase him? This dude is a notorious "thug" at our school. He's always suspended, always cussing out teachers and starting fights. He's gotten lectured and yelled at more in the past 3 years than I probably have in my life total. What could I say that hadn't already been said--a million times over. I looked up at him and began slowly.

"Dontravius...I read on your student survey that you wanted to be a doctor or a lawyer. Is that right?" He nodded. "Okay. I don't know if anyone's ever told you this before...but that is NEVER going to happen unless something changes. Doctors don't curse at people in the office and start fights with their employees. Lawyers don't push over chairs and throw stuff across the courtroom. You are perfectly capable of being either one, but only IF you start acting right. How can you make good enough grades to get into college when you're acting like a total fool already in 8th grade? It's not going to get easier!"

"How was I acting like a fool?"

Seriously!?

"Well, wandering around the room while I was teaching...refusing to do the work...yelling...instigating things with classmates...I mean....Dontravius do you really not know what you were doing five minutes ago?"

He shook his head.

"Well maybe I'm the first person to tell you, but this shit's not gonna fly in med school. You need to fix this NOW before it's too late." Whoops. I said I wasn't going to cuss this year.

Dontravius marched his happy ass into class and took down every single note I gave them. He didn't interrupt once. Well, except at the end when I was explaining how to chart reflectance curves (kill me). I sat down to let them practice and he came up to my desk.

"Uh, I need yo help."

"Yeah that's funny because I explained how to do it when you were turned around in your chair at the end, talking to Jaequon."

He gave me a blank look, paper still held out. Sigh. How was I going to turn him away when he finally cared enough about something school-related to get out of his desk and walk the three feet to me to ask a question? As the rest of the class fell to chaos, Dontravius and I got our spectral analysis on.

Lord, show me how to love Dontravius with the same patience you love me.