Monday, March 27, 2006

Go Away, Little Girl

I had to take Bulletproof at his word today. The computers were down for the better part of the day and I couldn't check to see if Go Away had been transferred from my class.

I heard her, though, during passing period. She told her friend that she was being transferred. I didn't stick around to hear what reason she gave for her departure. And did I care? I think you know the answer.

Class went along in comparative bliss. It wasn't perfect, but the malicious tone of days past was gone. End of Instruction exam review plodded along without question. One kid even noticed out loud how much quieter everything was without...and then I cut him off. We weren't going to discuss Go Away. In my mind, though, I basked in her absence. Glorious.

Lunch splits our class time this hour and I ran into a principal (not Bulletproof). He pulled me aside to tell me that Go Away was already in Bulletproof's office for refusing to review for the End of Instruction exam in her new class (Go Away is repeating English II and has already tested). She told her new teacher that Ms Educat told her she didn't have to review (lie #1) and with her middle and index fingers crossed, told her new teacher that she and Ms Educat were "like this" (lie #2. I later told Bulletproof that if she removed the index finger, she'd be much closer to the truth).

So now her second English II teacher has Miss Go Away removed from her class. She failed English II with her last year and therefore cannot repeat the course in her classroom.

I have already sent an email apology to her third English II teacher, a dear friend of mine, and promised to knit her something.

Wouldn't it be great if we could worry about helping this child and not tolerating her?

3 comments:

Jim Jannotti said...

I don't know... there were a couple of kids during my youth ministry years who refused to be "helped." Technically the answer to the "wouldn't it be better if we could help Go Away?" question is yes, but it's wishful thinking.

Even the best teachers (such as yourself) can only teach those who believe there are things they need to learn.

I hope you don't second guess yourself. You've been WAY more than fair in this.

educat said...

Nope. I wish it could be different but I have very few regrets where this one is concerned.

I can load up my patience and love and bag of tricks more and more--and students like her make me resolve to do just that. But they'll always be extreme cases like this one.

The Queen said...

I'm really loving Austermann STEP sock yarn if you think she might like a nice pair of socks. It's a little like knitting with a PUFFs tissue since it has jojoba and aloe infused in the yarn--weird idea, but it *is* very soft and is knitting up very nicely. It's 75% superwash wool and 25% manmade, so it can be washed in the usual manner.