Classroom Update

It's been two weeks since my last post... things have been a little crazy to say the least.

Today I'm home sick with some head/chest cold or maybe it's a sinus infection - either way, that means that I'm getting a lot of planning done, as well as updating the blog.

As far as updating what's been happening in the classroom, several things in particular stand out in my mind.

1) DCA - My students took their first DCA (District Common Assessment - it's a TAKS benchmark exam) for Science this past Thursday. I anticipate the scores should be hovering somewhere around 65-70%, just under our class goal of 80%. Hopefully, I'll be getting the scores sometime early this week.

2) Taylor showed some very concerning signs 2 weeks ago. One day, he came and just stood beside me, waiting to be recognized. When I asked him what he needed, his reply was "A father." Another day, he flat out lied to me and said that both of my partner teachers had given him a failing conduct grade for the day. In fact, he had received two "A's." Yet another day, he told me that his mom was moving him to another set of teachers. When I talked to her that afternoon, she said that he was lieing again.

I spent last week meeting with all his teachers and the school counselor to try and figure out a way to turn his misbehavior around and get to the bottom of all these public cries for help. Something is going on at home; something is so bad in his life right now that his public behavior at school (in front of all his peers, nonetheless) is completely uncharacteristic of an 11 year-old, but more like a 6 year-old, complete with tantrums and crying. Together, his teachers and counselor decided to recommend his seeing a pyschologist. I think it's a very good idea - hopefully we can convince the district and the mother that it is warranted.

3) Antonio was expelled from school last week for a third sexually-inappropriate outburst. We've been struggling with him for about 4 weeks now, trying to get to the bottom of what's going on at home. His other teachers and I suspect there might be some sexually abuse going on at home by his grandfather, as we also suspect the mother is leaving Antonio at home completely alone while she goes to work.

The first incident occured in my classroom about 4 weeks ago. We were taking a test and he raises his hand. Over the course of the next 5 minutes, we engaged in a conversation of his asking me to go to the bathroom, and my reminding him that the bathroom was off-limits during a test. Eventually, Antonio let me know that he had an erection, and his behavior showed me that he a) had no idea what was going on, and b) didn't know what to do. I gave him a few minutes to settle down and then let him go to the bathroom. I talked to him afterwards, letting him know that it was completely normal for his age and that nothing was wrong with him. He seemed okay with that.

The second incident occured in my partner teacher's classroom. She intercepted a note from him to one of the girls in the classroom. When she read it, she discovered it was of an inappropriate and sexually-explicit nature. When she talked to Iris (the intended target of the ntoe), Iris said that she was completely uncomfortable by Antonio's behavior towards her and that it had occurred before.

The final straw occured last week in chorus class, when for whatever reason Antonio pulled down his pants in front of a group of girls. His underwear was still on, but regardless, this was quite a red flag.

Over the course of the next few weeks, the administration will be working with district psychologists and Antonio's mother to figure out what it going on at home and determine whether Child Protective Services will be involved.

That's about where I stand coming into the classroom this week. Despite how bad it sounds with Taylor and Antonio, I really am excited about the general upbeat nature my students have after taking the DCA. They said it seemed "easy," so we'll see how that plays out in the scores this week.