School Policy

We're Bored

Yesterday after a class of the lower level tenth graders that I
thought went reasonably well, I was approached by two kids, Winnie
and Ricky. Winnie asked if I also taught the eleventh grade English
class as well. I said I did.
Winnie explained that they knew everything that I was teaching and
going over, so "It's really boring for us." She suggested that maybe
I could give them some of the material I'm giving the eleventh graders.

I said, "I'll talk to my supervisor. I'm not sure what to do. I
don't want you to be bored."

Winnie walked out the door saying, "We're going to talk to our mentor
- just so you know." It felt like a little threat. It felt like she
were saying, "You're boring us and teaching us material we already
know and we're going to report you. It was sort of gross. Winnie is
a snobby bitch anyway. She's one of those kids that's smart and,
while not conventionally pretty (her eyes are a little too small and
close together), she's pretty enough and everything is in the right
place. Ricky just stood silently the whole time. He's tall, with
bad skin and a ridiculous haircut (his bangs are too short and he's
working a mullet). He looks like he was plucked right off a trailer
park in Texas and set down in The Hague.

When I saw my supervisor, Henri, I explained the situation. Henri
said, "Wendy and Ricky are repeating the tenth grade. That's why
they know everything already. But that's where they are. This can't
really be helped." He called over Bart, who is in some sort of
supervisory/mentor capacity with the lower tenth graders. Like maybe
he's the mentor. Bart explained that they knew this was the
situation. He said last year they were actually higher tenth
graders, but were told they had to repeat the tenth grade and start
the lower track.

Later in the day, Bart saw me in the hall and said he had talked to
Winnie and Ricky and that, "We agreed that you would do your best to
teach them well." Bart is one of those guys with curly hair, big
lips, cheekbones, and a good jaw that should be attractive. But
he's got these eyes that are a little stunned looking and he's
probably not as gay as he looks. His English sucks, so I don't know
what he meant. It sounded like, "I explained to them that you don't
really know what you're doing, but they have to put up with you." It
should have been, "I told the little rats that this is what happens
when you repeat a grade, and that they need to sit down, shut up and
learn everything this time."

Last night I was rehearsing what I was going to say to them when I
see them. I don't want to be a total bitch, but I was pushed around
by little bitches like that in high school. I'm not going to be
pushed around again, twenty-three years later. Winnie left out
valuable information when she was attacking my teaching. "We are
repeating the tenth grade" would have changed everything.

posted by Philip @ 9:39 AM