The kids whom we are talking about in this discussion of kid pigs/jackals are very rare, and usually, as I suspect is true in other classrooms right now, it is one kid who, if allowed, brings one or two others along with him into a kind of “cell” in the classroom. If we haven’t perked up our ears to our inner red flags and acted firmly by now (it’s really too late now in late November), that cell will have us up at night with the kind of worry that only teachers can know – a deep, visceral kind of worry that prevents sleep. We can’t let that happen to us.
I am dealing with such a situation right now with two boys in one class. It is the worst situation of my career. Below is a copy of a recent email sent by my department chair to our administration, published here with her permission. This the kind of support we SHOULD be getting from a department chair. As you can see below, my department chair is not afraid of anyone.
To all concerned:
I had [this student] in my class last year for a few days. He sat by the window and one day opened the window. I asked him to close it and he immediately was defiant, then complied but only after a few minutes. His first reaction was “Why? I’m hot.” After this incident, I then looked up his Summary on IC and discovered that he had been misplaced. I let the counselors know and he was placed into Mr. Slavic’s class. When [this student] was in my room I was nervous and red flags were going up. I did not feel safe and I felt that this child would be a detriment to the learning of others in the classroom. I was relieved that he was placed in another class. He since has sometimes visited friends in my Period 9 and one day said: “Miss, I miss this class…NOT”…. in a real loud voice, 2 feet away from me. He did this to call attention to himself.
Mr. Slavic and I have taught for more than 25 years. We are professionals and if you calculate the span of the 25 years, we can estimate that we have taught more than 5,000 students each (this is a conservative number). When a teacher such as Mr. Slavic says that a child is unable or unwilling to respect the educational process, he must be supported unconditonally.
Since World Languages is not a DPS requirement to graduate, I strongly urge that these children be placed in another elective in order for Mr. Slavic to proceed into second semester without interruption to the learning process and that the benefit of other students be considered. In this way we can support the school-wide goals of college readiness for the majority of the students in Mr. Slavic’s class. It would be a shame, a moral disgrace to the other children if we continue to hold [this student and another one] in Mr. Slavic’s classes to the detriment of the education of the others.
Jane Little