Pullout is not PC

Man, today was tough. Even the janitor told me she thought today was rough - and she doesn't have to teach! It was mostly due to the fact that nobody wanted to be back in school, including the teacher.

I tried to teach a lesson on goal setting today, making note of the 3 weeks we have left in the semester and 3 weeks we have until the next big science benchmark exam. I thought it would be a perfect segue into "hard-work" mode for the next 3 weeks, but I was fooled.

I had to send Migueal out of my class again today. This is probably the 7th school day in a row that he's been removed from my classroom for his outbursts. I was warned at the beginning of the year about his bipolar disorder, but never had any problems out of him until about a month ago. That's when he realized how popular he becomes when he shouts disrespectful things at Mr. Wilson during class.

Today I asked to borrow his mapping packet to use as an example in front of the class. In a boisterous response, he shouted, "No! Get your own, man!" I looked down at him from my post in front of his desk with the most serious face I could muster. He looked right back and was just daring me to respond. Of course the rest of the class was in a complete uproar at this point, and so I decided enough was enough. I kicked him out of the room and called the AP's office to come pick him up. I hate having him removed from my classroom; I can't help but feel like I'm quitting on him. But, should I really forsake 28 other students for him?

I also got another new student today. My two partner teachers and I are Jeremy's third set of teachers so far this year at Miller - and we've only had 13 weeks of school! After a bit of detective work during our planning periods, we discovered that Jeremy was initially moved due to his making terristic threats to all the black students in his class (Jeremy is a white student). Turns out that he was moved a second time for the same reason, only this time he threatened to kill all the 6th-grade teachers at school that he didn't like. Needless to say, I hope that I'm not on his list, but it wouldn't be the first time I was on someone's hit list, now would it?

I can't help but feel overwhelmed in a system that sends children like Migueal and Jeremy to my classroom with the deep psycological problems they suffer from, expecing that I will be able to get them where they need to be academically. The problem is not that I can't bring them up to a sixth-grade level, it's that I can't give them the individualized resources they need and give all my other students what they need at the same time.

It's not fair to treat Migueal and Jeremy like every other student - they aren't like other students! They have psycological disorders that require medicine, therapy, one-on-one attention, and instruction in a resource-room type environment. However, due to No Child Left Behind and a new state law, all pullout programs have officially ended at Miller Intermediate. No students are pulled out of general education classrooms for small-setting instruction anymore. Texas has decided it is more politically correct to have "inclusion" classrooms.

Too bad "inclusion" really means Migueal and Jeremy will be excluded from learning because they are being denied the resources they so desperately need to excel. WHAT IS WRONG WITH THESE PEOPLE?!